By Elizabeth Herman | Posted: March 06, 2019
Vegan cooking takes creativity for those who haven’t always conceived of foods without animal products. But these recipes show how simple it is to create a traditional American style snack food, crackers with “tuna,” with only plant based ingredients.
For example, you can spread anything on these crackers. They are great with plain avocado, almond butter, hummus, jams and preserves, etc. The mayonnaise can be spread on vegan burgers or any other type of sandwich. If you’d rather not have a salad, you can use the vegan “tuna” protein, without the added vegetables and spices, in a casserole. Feel free to create your own vegan meals as needed!
Whole wheat vegan crackers
Ingredients:
⅔ C. whole wheat flour
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
1 or 2 Tbs. seeds of choice: sesame, hemp, sunflower, pumpkin, poppy, flax, chia or any combination thereof, here you can be creative.
¾ C. water
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix the flour, salt, black pepper and seeds.
Add the water and mix well.
Spread the moist batter evenly on a half size baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Cover the mat almost to the edges.
Place in oven for 10 minutes, and then remove from oven and score the batter with a spatula into 2 inch squares.
Put the scored crackers back for 20 minutes.
At the end of the 20 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the baking sheet inside for 30 more minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the crackers from the oven and test for doneness.
If any of the crackers are still soft and/or moist, put them back in the oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes, turn off the oven, and leave inside for 25 more minutes. You will know they are done because they are hard, crisp, crunchy, and dry.
Homemade vegan mayonnaise
Ingredients:
⅓ C. soy milk
1 C. mild oil of choice, grapeseed, olive, sunflower, etc.
1 tsp. mustard
Juice of half a lemon
Salt to tast
Directions
Place soy milk, mustard, lemon juice and salt in blender or food processor. Pulse a few times just to blend.
Start to blend continuously as you slowly add all of the oil in a steady, thin stream to the above mixture.
Once all the oil is blended in, continue blending until the mayonnaise has set into a thick, stiff, creamy texture, and is white or slightly off white in color.
Homemade vegan tuna salad
Ingredients:
1 C. raw almonds soaked overnight and drained
½ C. raw unsalted sunflower seeds soaked overnight and drained
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
dulse seaweed or other sea vegetable to taste
salt to taste
½ C. diced celery
1 tbsp. capers, pickle relish or diced pimentos
1 tbsp. white vinegar
½ C. vegan mayonnaise or to taste
black pepper to taste
lime or lemon zest to taste
mustard to taste
fresh dill weed to taste, chopped (optional)
Directions
Place olive oil, soaked almonds and sunflower seeds in the food processor and grind to a course texture, as small as possible. Pulse to prevent it from becoming too smooth. You don’t want to puree them.
Add seaweed, salt to taste, and mix well until it tastes like the ocean. You may make this mixture ahead of time and add the rest of the ingredients right before serving.
Add celery, capers, relish or pimentos, more seaweed as needed, mayonnaise, the rest of the ingredients and chopped fresh dill to taste.
Spread on whole wheat crackers, bread, or raw vegetables.
Spread the salad on crackers, bread, or crisp veggies of your choice and enjoy! This is also delicious as a scoop salad, stuffed into to an open half of an avocado or on top of half a tomato, for a refreshing, satisfying carb free meal!
By Elizabeth Herman - PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, and Literature, she offers writing support to clients, teaches locally, lives in Boone, NC, and volunteers for a better world.
