Better Than Chicken Salad Alternative!

How many bridal shower, baby showers, or parties have you been to with the little rolls of chicken salad or tuna salad sandwiches? I love those little things! I love the textures of good chicken salad. Since I don't eat meat in my diet as a staple I wanted to find a delicious, easy, healthy alternative to have for lunches and snacks! Well I had this recipe come into my mind, because I saw a picture of it months ago on another blog. It uses garbanzo beans in place of the tuna or chicken!

Open a can of those babies they honestly smell a little like the canned meats. I fell in love with this sandwich. The first time I made it I'm pretty sure I had a wrap, a sandwich and a slice of bread with some on it...in one sitting! Carb overload...I'd say so.

The beauty of this spread is you can add whatever you want in it and it has turned out great every time for me. The first time I added broccoli slaw and sun dried tomatoes in the mix, next I added red peppers with a dash of Annies roasted red pepper dressing, this time around I made it traditional chicken salad style with grapes and celery! Fantastic every way you do it. I'm going to do the traditional style recipe, but keep in mind you can add whatever you'd like and it will be amazing.

Step 1- drain, rinse and mash the beans with a potato masher

Step 2- add 1 1/2 T mayo or veganaise, 1/2 c cut up grapes, 1/2 cup chopped celery.

Step 3- Mix it all together

Step 4- devour it on your favorite wrap or sandwich!

My family loved this! I haven't been this obsessed with a recipe in a long time, very rarely will I make something multiple times in a week...well this one hits the spot! Enjoy...yay for easy lunches! Lettuce wraps would be great, and maybe some chopped up pickle or plain cucumber...just some extra thoughts of mine.

Trying New Things, And Delicious Collard Greens

Do you know about the kid face? The face that is a mix between fear and disgust? When your child looks up at you and is mentally saying 

 "You can't be serious! You really want me to eat that?"

That is the face my daughter gave me last night when I placed a side of collard greens on her plate!

We have never had collard greens before! Last night we hadn't had basically anything that I served before. 

Last night was a night of trying new things. I decided I wanted to try collard greens. If I'm going to eat plant based I better branch out and eat more than spinach and romaine lettuce or my meals may get a little bit boring. I tried the greens raw in a salad before, and well they were very bitter. So I decided to saute them with some flavor.

We also tried Quinoa pasta for the first time! I loved it, it didn't taste any different to me, but it is a little bit lower in carbohydrates so that was a fantastic find it is also gluten free! The box also gave some awesome sounding recipes that I can't wait to try out!

We also tried Boca ground crumbles in our sauce in place of ground beef. Boca is soy based, but didn't taste like soy. Really I find it is a great ground beef replacement. I think the lentil meatballs are healthier since I'm sure the Boca crumbles have sodium in them, but if the lentils don't do it for you, this is another alternative!

Back to my daughter story about the greens. Well she kept saying her lettuce was wet, that was funny. My son didn't even give them a chance unfortunately, and try reasoning with and 18 month old. It's not the easiest thing. But, my daughter was required to try at least one bite. It was an enjoyable moment. 

I watched the face. It was a face for about 5 minutes trying to figure out if she liked it or not. Then she distracted herself as most 3 year old's do, and she swallowed it.  I asked her if she liked it and she said she did, so success in my mind!

I think these make a beautiful side dish. It is a nice way to add some extra greens into your diet. It uses some oil, maybe you like them raw which is probably better, but I used very little oil and liked the end result.  It is bright and colorful and for the holidays I keep thinking Thanksgiving! Awesome!

Collard Greens

1 Bunch of collard greens

2 tsp coconut oil

1/2 c sun dried tomatoes

1/2 onion

1 garlic clove shredded

1/4 c sunflower nuts

Heat oil in large skillet. Add collard greens with onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Heat for 15 minutes, mixing occasionally to make sure the greens are wilting and coated. Add sunflower nuts. Mix and heat another 5 minutes until the greens are very wilted and onions are cooked and browned. Enjoy! You can top these with your favorite dressing if you'd like or vinegar. I thought they were great without it. 

Add any nut in place of sunflower nuts. I think pine nuts, or almond slivers would be great.

Hawaiian Haystacks

As summer is kissing this year good-bye I feel the need to take full advantage of all the delicious, sweet fruit out there! Pineapple is one of the greatest gifts given to this earth! Okay, I'm sure there are a lot of other awesome things, but isn't pineapple so delicious!

I mean you throw it in some ice cream or make a tropical smoothie and you can be sitting on beach getting tan while there's a blizzard going on outside (I don't know why you'd eat ice cream during a blizzard, but in case you do...I'm sure that's how you feel)

Tonight I was missing Hawaiian haystacks. We haven't had them FOREVER! I also haven't made them with anything but cream of chicken soup before or without ham....and those two ingredients just aren't going to fly with me anymore. So I tried two sauces. The ginger vinaigrette and I made a creamy version of the dressing by using cashews. I'm still not sure which I like better. I'm also very open to another saucy idea so leave a comment if you have a tasty creation! I was satisfied with the Asian swing of these haystacks, and honestly I didn't miss the ham...yes you can do meatless and have a flavorful meal! Enjoy the last big of summer with chunky, tangy pineapple over your haystacks....you can thank me later :)

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 C uncooked Brown rice

1 C green onion

1 pineapple, chopped

1 C sweet peas

1 C corn

1 onion finely chopped

1 C shredded carrots

Rice Chow mein noodles, tortilla strips ( I used these) or nuts for some extra crunch 

* other toppings

Black Beans

Red Bell Pepper

Mango

Broccoli

Mushrooms

black olives

cashews

Ginger Vinaigrette Recipe 

Cashew Ginger Dressing

1/3 C raw cashews

1/2 T ground ginger

2 garlic cloves

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C almond milk

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook rice in rice cooker until very tender. Two options: you can leave your vegetables raw or if you're like me and have an onion texture issue you can saute some together for a stir fry taste. I sauteed the onion, peas,  carrots and corn for 5 minutes in a skillet to tenderize the vegetables. For the Cashew dressing add all ingredients to blender and blend for 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add pineapple, choice of dressing, and vegetables to the rice. Top with chow mein noodles. Enjoy

Rumbi Voodoo Salad

Today I decided to throw my kids for a loop and instead of doing "U" day we'll do "V" for alphabet days!!!

Honestly....it's because I just couldn't wait to try and recreate this salad.

Island foods to me have the most amazing flavors! I adore the sauces with fruit pour over coconut rice or noodles! I feel like I'm sitting on a sandy beach sipping pineapple juice with my little umbrella every time I eat a savory bit of coconut or mango! Delicious.

Well although my husband and I don't eat out much for the mere fact that we can't find a whole lot of healthy foods when we eat out, I did fall head over heals in love with my last salad from Rumbi Island Grill. If you haven't eaten there it's awesome! Unfortunately it doesn't span the country. It's only found in a few states in the West. But no tears....that is why I've recreated the salad for you here! So you can bring this savory salad with tangy dressing to your own dinner tables. I changed a few things from the original salad. It had feta cheese crumbled over it, but I didn't put it in my own. I also added nuts and seeds to mine as well as a few mandarin oranges! So tasty

This salad does include chicken. If your are looking for vegan options or vegetarian, it's simple to just take the chicken off. It will still be amazing, I promise! If you enjoy Asian sauces or ginger you will drink this dressing by itself!  Enjoy

Rumbi Voodoo Salad (2 salads)

4 C romaine lettuce

1 C tortilla strips

1 C cooked chicken, cubed

1 C raw cashew nuts

1/2 C almonds

1/4 C sunflower nuts

1/4 C celery

1/4 C mandarin oranges 

Ginger Dressing

1 T ground fresh ginger root (if using already ground ginger use 2 T)

1/3 C olive oil

1/4 C rice vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 C low sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 T honey

Place lettuce on plate and top with remaining ingredients in the desired amounts. 

For the dressing, place all the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend for one minute until everything is very well combined and there are no chunks. 

Pour a tablespoon over salad! Enjoy

Optional toppings

Carrots

broccoli

feta cheese

rice noodles

beets

corn

beans

rice

quinoa

etc.

source: Rumbi Island Grill