Halal B.L.T. Breakfast Salad

3 halal turkey strips
1/2 cup diced tomato
2 hands full of organic baby greens
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
a sprinkle of black sesame seeds
Alcohol free cooking spray


This is what the package looks like, on the turkey strips. They taste like bacon, because the taste that makes bacon taste like bacon is the smoke flavor. So this is a fabulous invention, and a rare treat for me. If you look closely, you can see it has the halal symbol on it.

Spray cooking spray and sprinkle black sesame seeds into the skillet, lay your strips in it and brown them until crispy. When done, remove the bacon, spray a little more and turn off the heat. Cook your egg whites in it, it will still be hot enough to cook them without more heat. Unless you used a very light skillet, then you might still want a very low heat to cook the egg whites.

Pile your organic baby greens on the plate.
Arranged your bacon, diced tomato, and egg whites on the plate.

I use a little Spicy Brown mustard on my eggs.

This is a very delicious and healthy breakfast.

The bacon is a rare treat for me, in fact it is the last remaining processed meat that I will occasionally eat. I'm just crazy about that smoky flavor

It is made from turkey, so it is very low in fat.

World's Most Fabulous Tuna Sandwich

2 slices seeded Rye bread
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray

Spray each side of both slices with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.



Toast the bread in a skillet. An Iron skillet is wonderful for this, but any skillet will work.

1 can chunk light tuna in water

2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish

Drain the water out of the tuna and add the relish.

1 tsp. Marmite

Spread it out thinly on one slice of the rye toast. Marmite has a strong flavor so it really has to be spread thinly in order to avoid over-powering the other flavors. Marmite adds B-vitamins that are often missing in a nearly vegan diet.

Miracle Whip

French's Spicey Brown mustard

Miracle whip is better than mayonnaise, because it is much lower in fat. So, spread the Miracle Whip on, any amount you like. You can measure it precisely, or just slather it on. Then drop some mustard on top of that, also any amount you like. I would not want to overpower the other flavors with mustard, just enhance them.

Add a handful of Organic baby Arugula and top it with the tuna, then close your sandwich.

There you have it, you eat with your eyes first, so cut it in an attractive triangle and slowly enjoy each bite.

Note: Traditionally the Miracle Whip would have been mixed into the tuna, like a tuna salad, before making the sandwhich. To my mouth, however, the tuna robs the miracle whip of its creamy texture, so I prefer to spread it on the bread so I can actually taste it and feel it on my tongue when I'm eating it.

Vegan Zucchini Bread

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 Tablespoon cornstarch +
1 Tablespoons water
1 cup almond milk or hemp milk
2 inches vanilla bean, scraped out of the hull
2 cups grated zucchini (1 medium)
zest of 2 to 3 lemons

1. Use a wire whisk to fluff the dry ingredients until well blended, in a large bowl.
2. Add walnuts now, if they are desired.
3. Grate the squash and measure it into another bowl.
4. Make a paste with the cornstarch and water, add to squash and incorporate with a wooden spoon.
5. Add almond or hemp milk and stir together gently.
6. Add zest of lemon.
7. Now gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with your wooden spoon.
8. Let the batter rest on the counter, while you preheat the oven at 350 degrees farenheit.

9. Spray the inside of three bread pans or a large cake pan with alcohol free cooking spray and divide the batter evenly between the bread pans, or pour it all in the large cake pan and bake it about 45 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Serve warm, with plain yogurt or vegan cream cheese.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

1/2 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick

Preheat the oven at 450 degrees Farenheit.

Whisk the olive oil and sweet potatoes together until creamy.

Add the Bisquick and use a fork or pastry cutter to cut it into the wet mixture.

End product should be soft and lumpy, like regular biscuit dough.

Roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut with a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or just with the top of a drinking glass.

Spray baking dish with cooking spray and place biscuits with a little space between each one, to allow room for rising.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Hint: My family likes small biscuits, so I make ours small. You may make yours bigger and thicker by not rolling the dough out so thin, and by using a bigger cutting device. You may need to increase your baking time if you make them bigger, but not by much. For bigger biscuits 12 to 15 minutes should be enough.

Zucchini Fritters

Helpful hint: you can pulse your zucchini, garlic and shallot in the food processor if you have one. It gets much finer then the grater does it. But if you don't have a food processor, a regular old hand held grater from the Dollar Tree works just fine. I have done it both ways.

3 small zucchinis, shredded, about 2 cups
1 large shallot, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, grated
1 cup heart smart Bisquick
3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (adjust to taste)
1/3 cup oatbran
3 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
1 Tablespoon paprika
salt
1/2 cup almond milk

Mix all ingredients together gently, avoid over-mixing. Let it sit for at least ten minutes before cooking, to allow the chemistry a chance to marry the ingredients together very well. I have let it sit as long as an hour before cooking it. Heat an iron skillet on high, when it gets hot, cover the bottom with extra virgin olive oil, and dip your fritter batter with a 1/4 cup or large spoon to make your fritters uniform in size. Cook over medium heat to avoid scorching the outside before they are cooked through. Add more olive oil as needed.

My family will eat a plate full of these and nothing else in one meal.

hint: I cook mine in a seperate skillet with alcohol-free extra virgin olive oil cooking spray, from either crisco or mazola.

Eggless Banana Oat Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1 and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Quick oats
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup almond or soy milk
1 and 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 and 1/2 cups Sugar in the Raw
In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients, except sugar.
In another bowl mix together milk, sugar and the mashed bananas, combine thoroughly.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture, a wooden spoon is perfect for this task.
Let the batter rest for about 10 to fifteen minutes.


Spray the inside of the muffin tins with alcohol-free cooking spray, fill the muffin cups to the top, because this muffin does not rise exceptionally high.
Makes 48 mini muffins. I use the tin once, and when they are finished, I place the first batch on paper towels to cool, while I bake the rest of the batter.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  

Note: If you do not have a mini muffin tin, you can just use a regular one, but increase the cooking time to at least 30 minutes.

Fabulous Blueberry Muffins! (no eggs needed)

My husband and kids looove these muffins.

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp corn starch
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup Sugar in the Raw
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries, thawed
cinnamon to taste

Topping:
1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/3 cup plain flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
3 Tablespoons melted butter
cinnamon to taste
Mash together with a fork until the topping is crumbly.

Move rack to the middle level of the oven. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a muffin tin with alcohol-free cooking spray. In one bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, combine water and cornstarch. Whisk until blended. Add milk and sugar. Whisk in the butter and immediately pour liquid into the dry mixture, along with the blueberries. Pour the melted butter in with the wet ingredients just before you are ready to add the dry ingredients so it doesn't begin to harden before you are ready to mix everything together. A wooden spoon, is probably the best utensil to blend all ingredients gently,without overmixing your batter. Divide your batter in a muffin tin that makes twelve muffins. Sprinkle the topping mixture by Tablespoonful onto the top of each muffin before popping them into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, when you can prick them with a toothpick and it comes out clean, they are done, or just take them out when the topping is a beautiful, crunchy brown color.

Hot Skillet! I actually vegan-ized them without ruining them!
Substitute organic unrefined coconut oil for the butter, and use non-dairy milk, like soy, hemp or almond milk instead of regular whole milk!!!! You can even use the coconut oil in the topping, instead of butter. You melt it before using it, just like you do butter, and you really don't taste coconut when you eat them.

Vegan Waffles

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons brown rice flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup applesauce

Mix all dry ingredients together very well, gently stir in the wet ingredients. Do not over mix, but don't leave it lumpy either. Just stop mixing as soon as all ingredients are well combined. Heat the waffle maker and cook according to the instructions that came with your waffle maker.

*Notice: you can also use this recipe to make pumpkin waffles. To do this, substitute pureed pumpkin instead of the applesauce, and pumkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon.

Fluffy Eggless Pancakes

1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar in the Raw
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. baking powder
1 cup whole milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Mix dry ingredients gently. Add wet ingredients and gently fold in. May be slightly lumpy. Let the batter rest for about 10 minutes before cooking. May add fresh blueberries or other fruit to the batter just before cooking. Serve with pure maple syrup.

Chicken Wings

3 pounds, about 30, chicken wings
olive oil
salt

Rinse the wings and pat them dry with a paper towel. Cut the hard tips off each wing and discard them, then section each wing by cutting through the elbow joint with a sharp knife. In a large bowl, drizzle them with olive oil, add a few shakes of salt and toss them around in the bowl. Place the wing sections in a single layer in a baking dish and pop them under the broiler. Broil them until they are golden brown, flip them once and broil the other side. When the wings look perfectly golden on each side, toss them into the pot with the sauce. Recipe below.

Non-Alcoholic Bloody Mary Wing Sauce

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup Worcestershire Sauce
3 cups V-8 juice
3 Tablespoons grated or ground horseradish
2 Tablespoons hot sauce
Cornstarch powder, if needed

Pour lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, and V-8 into a medium, heavy-bottom pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the liquid will just simmer, uncovered, maybe 30 minutes. After it reduces somewhat, add the hot sauce, save the horse radish until just before adding the chicken wings. If the sauce appears more runny than you like, at the time when you'd like to add the chicken wings, whisk in about a teaspoon full of cornstarch, if it's still too runny, then repeat the process. You can always add more if you need to, but once you've put it in your sauce, you can never take it away. You want it to be like a barbeque sauce you'd buy from a store. Lastly, add your pre-cooked chicken wings and roll them gently around in the sauce, with a long spoon and cover the pot. Leave the heat on the lowest possible setting to make the sauce bubble a little until each wing is thoroughly coated and spicy. Serve hot or cold.

Vegan Cornbread Muffins

My husband looooooves these! I'm impressed that he likes something so American.

2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
6 Tablespoons boiling water
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup stone-ground, whole grain cornmeal
1/2 cup Sugar in the Raw
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 cup hemp milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Alcohol-free cooking spray, both Crisco and Mazola make it
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray

Place ground flax seed in a small glass dish, pour the boiling water into it, stir it a little and set it aside. Thouroughly mix your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Mix the wet ingredients together in another bowl then, just before stirring the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, dump the flax seed paste into the wet ingredients and give it a good mix. Then gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Do not over-mix. Now let the batter rest about ten minutes. Spray your muffin tins with the alcohol-free cooking spray, either Crisco or Mazola. Use a large spoon and fill your muffin tins equally with the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until you can prick it with a toothpick and it comes out clean. When done, and still hot, spray each muffin with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and cover tightly with foil until ready to serve. Great served with the Tempeh Chili, recipe below.

Tempeh Chili

2 cups frozen speckled brown butter beans
1 8-0z package soy tempeh, crumbled
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 bulb of garlic, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can Hunt's fire roasted tomatoes
3 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, chopped
1 Tablespoon dry oregano
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
salt to taste
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon paprika
V-8 juice

Boil the butter beans in about 4 cups of water and some salt, approximately 10 - 15 minutes, drain them and save the water. Chop all the veggies then put the olive oil in the bottom of your favorite chilly pot, heat it, then toss in the veggies and sautee them a couple of minutes. Crumble the tempeh into the pot, add the beans and continue to sautee about 5 minutes. Then add the fire roasted tomatoes and the chipotles, (found in a can with the hispanic foods in the grocery store). Add the spices and then pour in about half V-8 and half cooking water (that you saved from cooking the brown speckled butter beans). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer over low heat for about an hour. This recipe is very good served with vegan cornbread muffins. I topped the chili with fresh, mashed avacado instead of sour cream, and pico di gallo on the side.