Chickpea salad

I saw this recipe for chickpea salad on g+ about three weeks ago and since then I have made this salad three times. We like it that much. It is a similar to chicken salad and/or tuna salad but so much tastier and healthier. 

I have modified it a bit to suit our tastes. I don't ever use canned beans, I soak my own. I doubled the amount of celery as I love the crunch celery adds in these types of salads. I minced my carrots (I loathe shredded carrots), and I added capers and vegetarian fish sauce for color and flavor. The first time I made it, I followed the smashing instructions in the original recipe, that took a long time, now I just pulse it in a food processor which keeps it chunky and only takes about 5 seconds to do.

I sneak a spoonful of this salad every time I open the refrigerator if it is there, otherwise we eat it in a sandwich, on crackers, on lettuce, and I even put some in a veggie dog. 

carrots, celery, green onions, tofu, chickpeas, mayo, lemon, pickles, salt, and pepper

soak beans overnight if not longer

cook for an hour or so with salt until done

add beans, tofu, pickles, and mayo to food processor (you can add capers here instead)

blended, but still chunky

mince celery, carrots, and green onion

add mix and vegetables to a bowl and stir in lemon juice and veggie fish sauce

season to taste - more salt and some spicy

decide it needs some capers

enjoy on crackers, sandwiches

I already need to make more!

Mapo tofu

My kids love tofu, I mean love, love, love tofu. I hadn't ever made mapo tofu as it is traditionally prepared with ground beef and yet somehow it is always hiding on the vegetarian menu in chinese restaurants for those not aware of the preparation. Then one day after reading my favorite serious eats writer J. Kenji Alt-Lopez's recipe for mapo tofu, I realized, I make tacos, spaghetti, sloaf, sloppy joes, S.O.S., all with yves meatless ground, why not mapo tofu. I haven't looked back since. This is now a family favorite.

This time I did not have my usual two packages of meatless ground, so I subbed a package of tempeh. It was still good, but it is best with just meatless ground, so I will try to remember to always have two packages. One day I will actually make my own mapo sauce, but for now the House Foods packages are yum, yum, yummy.

tofu, fake meat, onions, celery, carrots, oil, and mapo tofu sauce (tempeh if desired)

drain your tofu (firm organic)

julienne your carrots, mince your celery, chop your onions

saute onions and celery in oil until softened

if you need to use tempeh fry it separately first

stir smeat into onions and celery and cook until browned adding more oil if needed

add carrots

then add sauce and simmer (with the kids we use two mild, one hot, feel free to go all hot)

cube your drained tofu

slowly fold it into simmering sauce (add tempeh also if using)

let simmer until tofu is just warmed through, it should act as a cool balance to the spicy sauce

serve with rice and chili paste

Go tofu!