Big Tuna

There are a multitude of things that I have encountered as a new vegan that just blow my mind.

• Why do I crave Chinese food so much when I was never a big fan before?
• How can vegan donuts from Sweet Theory Bakery be better than any donuts I've ever had?
• Why am I so apprehensive about Vegenaise when I've spent my whole life loving mayo and I am actually less bothered by the ingredients in the vegan stuff?
• Who can actually stomach SeaSnax?
• Why do I think that falafel is going to taste like crabcakes and why don't I just go ahead and make/try them and get over it already?
• How is it possible that so many delicious meals can be made from such easy ingredients, most of which are standards around our house anyway? 

 

I'll give away a little piece of myself right now. I have a small set of things that are sacred to me. Things that are intricately connected to my being in ways that they cannot be removed. They are literally embedded in my bones, and they will be a part of me until I die. One of these things is tuna salad.

 

I know, I know, that sounds ridiculous. But I'm being really serious. Tuna salad has been a huge part of my life. My family lived with my grandparents growing up, and even when we didn't live there, we were always there. My grandfather died when I was 14, and my grandmother is now 94 years old, and she's a tough lady. And while my idea of a "great cook" has changed over the years, she is who I think of when I hear someone talking about southern cooking. A lot of my memories growing up revolve around the kitchen and her and my mom cooking. And one thing will stand out to me always is that everyone always said she made the best tuna salad they ever had.

 

Frankly, it wasn't my kinda thing. She put eggs and raw onions in it, and it just wasn't my favorite. My favorite, hands down, was my moms. Lots of mayo, chopped dill pickles, and topped with mayo. Delicious. While the other kids had PB&J or bought their school lunch, I was pampered with tuna sandwiches. Kids thought I was weird, but man did I love those sandwiches. One of my favorite memories with my mom was one summer when each of us took a can of tuna, made individual tuna salads, split them, and had a recipe contest. Mom's was clearly the winner.

 

For years and years, I ate more than my share of mercury-filled tuna. Knowing what I do now about mercury, I'm kinda surprised I've never had mercury poisoning. Friends still make comments on how many tuna sandwiches I've eaten in my lifetime. I'm pretty sure I've tried the majority of tuna salads in the greater Jacksonville area, and I've made just as many of those sandwiches myself, using my mom's recipe (with a few minor adjustments).

 

 

So one of the things I've missed most in these six weeks of being vegan is tuna sandwiches. Last week I attempted a mock salad made with almonds, and it was good, but it was not an adequate replacement. After seeing tons of recipes using chickpeas, I decided to put my old tuna recipe to the chickpea challenge. I knew it wouldn't come close to the same, but, maybe it would be enough to satiate that tuna craving that's been lurking.

 

 

Ingredients

1 15oz can chickpeas (or feel free to make them from scratch)

1/3 to 1/2 cup Vegenaise (I like a lot of "mayo", so if you don't, scale it back and go from there)

1/4 cup dill pickles, chopped

Dash salt

Dash pepper

Dash garlic powder

Dash lemon juice

 

Directions

Toss the rinsed chickpeas into your food processor, pulse until they're chopped but not pasty (you can do this by hand, but it's so much easier this way). Empty into a bowl and chop pickles to the fineness of your liking. Add all ingredients, adjust seasonings to taste. Throw in the fridge to chill and let the flavors meld.

 

So the first bite I took was like "eh... okay... that's a chickpea with vegenaise" but bites two and three became revolutionary. What?? This is good! And it reminds me of tuna salad!!

 

Look. I'm okay with kale not reminding me of anything but, well, kale. And I'm okay with a green smoothie not reminding me of a milkshake. These things can just be good in their own right. But if I'm making a cheesy sauce or eating a vegan donut or making cream of mushroom soup or having a veggie burger or making fake tuna salad... I want it to be reminiscent of the old food item. And it looks like I found a winner. I'm gonna stuff that mix in pita pocket and enjoy the crap out of it for lunch tomorrow. Vegan win.

 

And, you know what? This is just the next chapter of me and tuna salad. We don't have to break our lifelong bond. We just mixed it up a little. 

Harpoon Louie's

Friday night, my parents watched the wee one while Newman and I went out to dinner. This is something that doesn't happen all that often, and this was the first time we've been out to a restaurant since the veganism began. I told him that we were going to my parents' house for dinner, so he was completely surprised when he found out we got to go out together. Yay!

Now the issue was where to go. I had been researching all day, trying to have a couple of places in mind in case he wasn't in the mood for Mexican (which he wasn't), etc. I found that Happy Cow was pretty helpful. Have you ever used it? It has restaurant listings and reviews and is searchable by location. It gave me a few ideas, so I was armed with options.

We ended up at Harpoon Louie's. I'd been there a few times years ago, and he had been there once a long time ago as well. I knew they had some vegan options, and I figured it was worth a shot. To be sure, I did call ahead and was assured that they were vegan friendly. As a side note, I had seen several reviews stating that they had a separate vegan menu, and I did not experience this. However, their regular menu has all vegetarian and vegan items noted, which Newman noticed and thought was really helpful.

Grabbing a seat outside, we saw we were there in time for happy hour, which is Monday through Friday from 3-7 p.m. They have drink specials, but they also have some of their apps marked down. Chips and a fresh salsa was $1. Chips were yellow corn and fresh, and the salsa was chunky and definitely not from a bottle. Spring Roll Bites (I'm guessing a smaller portion of their app Spring Rolls), were six halves of spring rolls with a tasty sweet and spicy sauce ($2.25). They are fried, but they are also vegan! Newman really liked them, which completely surprised me as he despises anything cruciferous, and these were filled with cabbage. The filling also included clear noodles and carrots, and they were awesome! He offered me the last one, and I fought the moral dilemma of letting him have it because, let's face it, any time I can get him to eat cabbage I'm happy, but my mouth won out, and I ate it instead. Oh well. Next time we're getting the whole order.

He had wanted a burger going in, and that's what he got. I had a couple of options including a few salads (minus the cheese) and a vegan bbq sandwich, but I decided to go with the veggie burger minus the yogurt sauce ($7.50). They both came with a choice of sides, but we both got the fries, and we were happy we did. Hot and crunchy on the outside, soft and potato-y on the inside, these were what fries should be. When the waitress sat down my burger open-faced, I took my fork to it and tried a bite first. Awesome!! I had Newman try a bite, and he agreed (although I'm sure he was happy to have his beef). Toppings included a nice slice of tomato, plenty of pickles, a large leaf of lettuce, and a thick slice of red onion. I promptly removed the onion and lettuce, added a large squirt of ketchup and a smaller one of yellow mustard, and I was in heaven.

I think I mentioned that I've never been a big burger fan. Meatloaf and meatballs were about the extent of my interest in ground meat. And even those had to be really good for me to be interested. But I could eat that burger every day. It was so great. Newman kept laughing at me because I looked so content.

 

 We agreed that we will most definitely be back. I'm thinking sooner rather than later. I could totally go for one of those burgers right now. In fact, I'm going to go work on researching a good burger recipe. Wish me luck.

 

 



Let's Get Physical

Hey, so, you know what sucks? Having a cold in the summer. But for the last week and a half, I've had one. Yesterday, I also woke up with a killer toothache. So... I'm kinda falling apart.

I'm on week five of veganism. I've cheated three times in small ways... I've had a brownie that contained eggs, some potato salad that contained mayo and eggs, and half of a cookie that I am assuming had both eggs and butter. But that's it! I've been doing pretty well! (Oh, and I've broken my no soda rule with a couple of Sierra Mist/Sprites while being sick.)

I've had a couple of people tell me that the reason I've been sick is that I'm detoxing. And that could certainly be true. I know the inside of my mouth feels a little rough, like I'm having an allergic reaction of sorts, and this cold has really messed with my ability to breath in that in feels like something heavy is sitting on my chest. So I was on some meds, and I keep my little inhaler close by, and I'm finally starting to feel better (except for the toothache).

Anyway, enough complaining. I'm down about 10 lbs, which is kinda awesome, and I've started having people tell me that I look like I'm losing weight, which is pretty cool too. The energy has started waning a bit, so I've decided to start taking a B-12 (started today), and I'm hoping that will help with that.

So what have I been eating? Lots of stuff! I have been really hungry for the past few days, and I've just been feeding myself with whatever will satisfy me.

One of my favorite dishes I had several times while I've been sick is a take on ramen noodles. I always want ramen when I'm sick, so the boyfriend and I made a vegan recipe with them. A co-worker started calling them Ramen Newmans, after the boyfriend, so here you go:

Ramen Newmans
Ingredients:
1 pkg ramen noodles (throw out the seasoning packet)
2 cups water
1 spoonful Better Than Bouillon Veggie
1-2 tbsp tamari GF soy sauce
1 tbsp chopped garlic
handful frozen corn and green peas
Directions:
Bring water, garlic and bouillon to a boil, add noodles and cook until soft. Turn off heat, add other ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, let the hot broth warm the frozen veggies, done!
For the first time the other night, I made a green smoothie. It was good! Well, I mean, it was good considering I added peanut butter, and I despise the taste of peanut butter. But could I taste the spinach? Nope. Do I need to find a replacement for the peanut butter that doesn't cost $14 a jar (cough, cashew butter, cough)? Yes. And, once I find that, I'll add a recipe.

One thing I find interesting about this is how I'm craving things that I normally would've never eaten. Example? Sloppy Joes. I've never, ever, ever been a fan of ground meat in dishes. I love meatloaf and meatballs, and I would occasionally have a burger, but loose ground meat always made me want to gag. I think I probably ate maybe one or two sloppy joes growing up, if that. But, for some reason, I've been desperately craving sloppy joes. I've made two recipes so far, the second one today, and I'm pretty happy with what I found. It's not exactly what I want, but I had a sandwich and a half from today's recipe, so I would say it's certainly edible.