day 16: not-chicken salad sandwich & sweet potato tots!

Today's lunch consisted of not-chicken salad sandwiches (recognize the leftover pita?) and . . . drum roll please . . . sweet potato tater tots. Oh. Em. Gee.

My dad used to make homemade chicken salad and I loved it. When I started to think about why I loved it so much, I realized that it was because my dad made it, not necessarily because there was chicken in it. So I wanted to see if I'd like a homemade non-meat 'chicken' salad just as much.

The result: tempeh not-chicken salad. And it was really good. The trick about tempeh is to steam it before using it in dishes. It takes the certain . . . je ne sais quoi (kind of like bitterness). . . out of it.

A couple of months ago, my friend Josh took me to one of his favorite sushi joints in Baltimore called Sticky Rice, and introduced me to sweet potato tots. They were really good. I saw Napoleon Dynamite on TV the other night and since then I've been craving tots. And since I had a big bag of sweet potatoes sitting on the counter I decided today would be the day to make them.

Don't tell the folks over at Sticky Rice, but mine are better ;)

Peace and love --
~Jo

Tempeh not-chicken salad

Makes 2 cups

1 package tempeh, cubed and steamed for 15 minutes
1/2 cup Veganaise or non-dairy mayo
1/8 cup dijon mustard
1 tablespoon relish
1 rib celery, diced
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Serve with lettuce on fresh bread.

Sweet potato tots

Makes about 40 tots

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly shredded

2 cups flour

1/4 cup non-dairy milk

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Salt and pepper to taste

Canola or olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Squeeze the excess water of the potatoes, place in a bowl. Add all of the other ingredients and mix well. If the potato mixture seems too wet, add more flour. You want the mixture to be dry enough so you can break pieces off and shape into tots.

Form the potatoes into tots and place on baking sheet. Drizzle with either canola or olive oil. This is important so they'll form a crust.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until brown and crispy.



Vegan ranch dressing
(dipping sauce pictured with tots)

Makes 1 1/2 cups

3/4 cup Veganaise or non-dairy mayo
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon Herbamare (or onion powder)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon parsley

Whisk all ingredients together. Serve with tots. Also tasty on salads.