This is incredible and I’ve been making it a lot.

Things have been rough lately so I took a break from social media but I am at least half back and will be posting more recipes.

I sometimes double this recipe to be able to use all the rice noodles that come in one pack, but that makes a lot of food.

Easy Mac and Cheese

SO Like I did another recipe recently but I had a stay in the hospital and I am struggling to do basic stuff so here’s a recipe to tide you over.

https://www.facebook.com/BuzzFeedVideo/videos/1816371208503753/?fref=nf

I am absolutely in love with chickpeas right now and I saved the bean water and froze it for later because my energy was low.

I was having bad reading comprehension the day I cooked this and threw everything together at the same time, I had it covered when I baked it though, and did it for 45 minutes straight and it worked out pretty well. I suspect following the instructions would get even tastier results, imagine that!

I also used way more of some of the ingredients than required because I bought packs of zucchini and squash and those weighed over a pound, so I added more basil, thyme, and garlic. If you wanted to use dried herbs, use much much less. I am thinking a tbsp of basil and 2 tsp of thyme. Maybe a bit more but dried herbs are strong. The spices are very minimal so when it is cooked, feel free to add more since you will be able to do it to taste. It’s not a naturally spicy dish, but as I recently posted, habanero peppers, guys!

I just need to start adding diced habanero peppers to everything I cook (ghost peppers are not available in my area) but everyone around me and probably some portion of my readers are not too keen on that level of heat.

I generally keep spices simple because they are expensive but making food hotter isn’t too expensive and only requires a few base ingredients.

I am making a chickpea ratatouille recipe today, and will be getting some aquafaba out of it, (horribly I threw away the last 4 cans worth I had.)

I’m debating making a sweet from the aquafaba but my boyfriend looks at me with this judgmental, silent look when I suggest such things, blah blah blah you’re a type 1 diabetic blah blah...

I could try meringues again, mastering them is sort of the beginner level of using aquafaba. On that note, if you are interested in experimenting with bean water (you can also get it from cooking dried beans after soaking them,) a great resource on Facebook can be found here: Vegan Meringues - Hits and Misses!

It goes way beyond meringues and into some very weird experimental cooking. It’s great and super informative.

Sweet Potato Potpie

This makes two pies, you could half the recipe and make one pie, if you prefer.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the sausages into pieces and fry them up and set them aside.

Next make the roux. Put the flour and the olive oil in a sauce pan and cook at medium heat about 5 minutes until lightly toasted, (it will change color to a bit browner than it starts out as.)

Add the onion and sautee until it is translucent, then add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft. 

Add vegetable broth, frozen vegetables, sausage, and spices. Mix well.

Spoon mixture into two of the pie crusts until full. For each pie, take another pie crust and flip it upside down over top of the pie, so that the crust falls out of the tin on top of the filled pie, (some coaxing may be required. Don’t worry if it breaks up, just put the dough pieces on top, I call this a frankenpie.) Remove any excess dough. Poke holes in the top of the pies with a fork.

Place the pies in the oven for 30-40 minutes on a baking sheet. Remove and let sit about 10 minutes before serving.

The sausage makes this more expensive, so it is definitely optional. I have tried it with and without and it is good both ways.

Switched pastry cutter to pastry blender on the mock tuna recipe, had the wrong tool listed

Made potpie and sweet potato potpie today. Need to figure out measurements, and I didn’t use spices so I need to figure out what I want to do for that. (I never measure anything, and forgot to do it for posterity.)

Mock Tuna Salad

1 (19 oz) can chickpeas, drained and mashed 2 tbsp Just Mayo or other vegan mayonnaise 2 tsp spicy brown mustard 1 tbsp sweet pickle relish 2 green onions, chopped salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, combine garbanzo beans, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, chopped green onions, salt and pepper. Mix well.

The original, (non-vegan,) recipe for this is here.

Okay, so I accidentally made this with 2 tbsp spicy brown mustard instead of 2 tsp. I think either works really well. I also quadrupled the recipe, (so that’s actually 8 tbsp spicy brown mustard in my case.)

Just Mayo is the cheapest pre-made vegan mayo I have seen and is available in a number of regular grocery stores. It’s about $4 for a large bottle, versus, say, Vegenaise at $10+ for a large bottle.

I’m pretty sure you could use a small white onion, diced, in place of the green onions if you prefer.

Mashing the chickpeas was pretty labor intensive when I started out with a potato masher. My mom suggested a pastry blender instead, which sounds weird, but it worked really well. I advise getting one just for mashing purposes because mashers are just awful. The chickpeas will be fairly firm so prepare for a workout if you use a masher. After that is done, there’s pretty much no more effort involved, however.

I had this in a pita with hummus and a tomato, which is chickpeas with more chickpeas but it was very good. Fresh jalapenos would be another good addition if you like it spicy

I hope I don’t offend other vegans but...

Lettuce is so not an acceptable substitute for bread, or a tortilla, or anything that other foods might be stuffed in.

Seriously, stop using it for that. It’s just depressing.

I’ll be trying this recipe when I go into town. I’ll make an official post about it after I’ve tried it out.

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/16659/mock-tuna-salad/