A week of VEGAN - Meal plan - Day 5 -

Bonjour. Hola. Ni Hao. Aloha. G'day. Helloo, ect.  It's day 5 of this weeks meal plan.


Ok, lets do this thing.  LUNCH

I thought I'd try a mock tuna recipe from Happy Herbivore.  I couldn't imagine how it would taste and I was intrigued.  Now, hands up, I admit I didn't follow the recipe to the letter - anyone know what a dill pickle tastes like?  Well, I have not a clue, so for this 'mock tuna' recipe I used 'mock dill pickle'.  What?!...LIFE is an improvisation.

This was enough to make two rounds of sarnies.

Mock tuna sandwich


1/2 can of chickpeas drained
1 celery stalk
1 tbs capers
1 tbs dried dill
1/2 tsp onion granules
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tbs tamari or liquid aminos
1/4 tsp black salt (optional..it adds a little..erm, sort of...something?) if not use sea salt
1/2 nori sheet cut v.small or 1/2 tsp kelp

2 tbs vegan mayo
I used the recipe from the lovely Sarah Kramer - Vegan-Go-Go-Cookbook
3/4 cup tofu
2 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Blend until thick

I mixed up all the ingredients retaining a couple of tbs of the mayo to layer on top of the mock filling.

How hard can it be to photograph a sandwich! I took loads of pics....I hold my head in shame.  This is the best of the bunch.  It tasted good, but when I make it again I'll add finely chopped scallions to lift the flavours and, even though I LOVE my onion bread, it was not making BFF with the mock tuna. So sorry onion bread, you wouldn't be on the invite list.   Mock tuna needs to be the centre of attention between two slices of light, soft bread.  I'm also going to try it as a mock tuna melt....one day.

To the sink..MORE washing up!

What did I have for dinner you ask?

I wanted something easy...tasty, and I wanted tempeh.  That spoke to me of TEMPEH STIR FRY

Tempeh from Full of Beans at the Infinity foods store in Brighton.  The BEST I've found in the UK to date.  In the US, Trader Joes sells a rocking slab of fermented creaminess.

I splashed roughly a tbs of sesame oil into a pan and sauteed a clove of garlic and a chunk of ginger until golden.  Then added the veggies.

I chopped enough of the following for my sweet self.

kale

broccoli

carrots

cabbage

snap peas

sesame seeds

I stir fried these in with sauteed chopped garlic (one clove) and an inch of fresh ginger grated.

to season I used tamari and rice vinegar.  I heated through the tempeh for about 3 mins, once the vegetables were al dente.

Ready before you know it.  Well, not literally....and, well it's not my saying, it makes no sense to me either!

I sat with a fork and my bowl of plant offerings and watched some silly dating show on the TV about people being cooked for by blind dates.  My dinner was delicious but my choice of entertainment was wanting.

Once my plate was empty I went back to the kitchen.  It was filled with the aroma of warm, sweet almonds....

Dessert was an almond biscuit cookie type thing.  (Any names suggestions welcomed)

Makes about 12 (btw that is a not a tiny grass daisy..so you know for proportions).

2 cups almonds
1/2 cup spelt or gf flour
1/4 cup agave or other liquid sweetener
1/4 cup almond milk (unsweetened) begin with this amount, add more if necessary.  You don't want a wet dough, just enough to bind.
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tsp salt (I love the sweet n salty combo)
1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence

1/4  cup flaked almonds

preheat oven to 175

1. sift the flour into a large mixing bowl (not the almonds as too coarse).  Add almond flour.
2. add other dry ingredients and mix
3.add sweetener & essence
4.add vegan milk and mix gently to a dough
5.roll into crescents or rounds. 
6. pop into the oven until turning light gold.  Approx 10-15 mins.  Check if cooked with a tooth pick.
7. put on a baking rack to cool.  (I did not do this as I couldn't wait!)

Sweet, salty, crumbly, almondy...bliss x