Lazy Week

Clearly I have been a little hit and miss this week, but my husband was off of work and we spent some great quality time together. Let's just say a park and a Frisbee were involved. Anywho, I feel really guilty neglecting my blog, so I will make it up to you by (hopefully) posting 3 recipes in the next 24 hours. I forgot to take pictures for one of my own recipes that I wanted to share with you, but I will share it anyway and take pictures and post them later. So here's your first recipe, and it comes to us from Veggie Grettie, and can be found here:
http://veggiegrettie.com/2012/04/20/vegan-tuna-chicken-salad-sandwich-recipe/ All pictures have been taken from there.

There have always been a handful of dishes that I have been perfectly capable of making, but it just seems to taste better when my mom makes it. Tuna salad is one of those dishes. I used to eat it religiously all throughout college, but it was never the same as when my mother did it. I used the very same process, spices, and ingredients, but I was missing something. Love, maybe? Either way, this recipe allows me to branch out and do something completely different to make it my own, but then add some of my mother's special touches. This recipe is pretty impressive all on its own, but I have added just a few spices to liven it up. You can add the same spices to your regular tuna to give it a little tune up as well.

I ate this with an easy sweet bread that I made, that I will be sharing with you guys a bit later.

Shopping List by Department:


Produce

• celery
• onion

Dry Foods (Canned/Boxed)

• dijon mustard
• 2-15 oz. cans of chickpeas
• jar of dill pickles
• small jar of sweet gherkins

Spices

• ground red pepper
• dried parsley
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt

Other

• Vegenaise (if you're not going vegan, feel free to use Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise) 

Recipe

• 2-15 oz cans chickpeas (Eden Organics Low Sodium BPA free)
• 1/3 c. dill pickle juice
• 3 Tbs. Vegenaise
• 1/2 an onion, finely diced
• 1 stalk of celery, finely diced
• 1/4 c. sweet gherkin pickles, finely diced
• 1/4 c. dill pickles, finely diced
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. garlic poweder
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (or more to taste)
• salt to taste

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas.

2. Place 1 cup of the chickpeas in the food processor with the pickle juice and Vegenaise. Blend until very smooth (you may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times). Pour the chickpea/pickle/mayo mixture into a bowl.

3. Place the remaining chickpeas in the food processor (no need to clean it) and pulse until it reaches the texture you desire.

4. Combine the chickpea/pickle/mayo mixture, texturized chickpeas, chopped onions, celery, pickles, and spices in a bowl and fold together gently. (Instead of chopping everything, I threw the onions and pickles in my Ninja and let 'er rip. I was hungry...and impatient.)

NOTE - The mixture will firm-up a bit once it has been refrigerated.
Also, there is a trick my mom showed me a few years ago regarding celery. If you take a vegetable peeler and lightly shave off the outer layer, it will make those pesky little strings visable and you can just pull them out. If you're not sure which strings I am referring to, cut the bottom end off of your stalk, and you should see several dark green dots. Those are the ends of the strings.

Serve over toasted bread, crackers, on top of salad, etc.