Time for a yummy lunch and on today’s menu is a crunchy, slightly sweet vegan broccoli salad, recipe below and some really tasty vegan cheese ball puffs.
This is probably the best broccoli salad recipe out there, because it is a take on the classic. But unlike the classic broccoli salad recipes that include bacon (sliced pig’s flesh) and mayonnaise this one includes vegan bacon or vegan Canadian back bacon and vegan mayonnaise. No cholesterol and way lower in fat too.
Now I’ll provide a recipe for how to make vegan mayonnaise one of these days but to make things quick and easy this recipe will use Earth Island Vegenaise now called Follow Your Heart Vegenaise. Any of them will do.
Best Bacon Broccoli Sans Oink Salad Recipe
This recipe will make around 4 to 6 tasty vegetarian salad side dishes but for a hungry man or woman this will make about 2 meals. Good as it is, you can also use it as a sandwich spread if you cut the broccoli and onion into pinky finger nail sized pieces.
2 heads broccoli (I also like to use a good portion of the stem – just peel off the tough outer layer)
1 package of vegan bacon about 200 to 225 grams or half a pound. Alternatively you can use about a half a cup of vegan bacon bits.
1 red onion
0.75 cup of walnut pieces or pecan pieces
raisins if you like that kinda thing in your salad. Totally optional at around 0.75 cups, though I prefer cranberries (try it… really!)
1 cup vegan mayo
0.5 cup sugar
0.25 cup white vinegar
Fry the slices of vegan bacon in a pan until nice and crispy but not burnt. I like to fry them in a non stick pan with a bit of oil to get them going.
While your bacon is frying – WATCH OUT… keep an eye on it! Prepare the dressing which is basically just mixing the vegan mayo with the sugar and vinegar until nice and smooth.
Cut up all the broccoli into really small pieces. The smaller the better for a sandwich spread, slightly larger for a side salad or salad meal. Also slice up the red onion into small chunks around 1/4 of an inch in size.
Add broccoli and onion and nuts and raisins or cranberries if you care for them into a salad bowl and set aside.
Once vegan bacon is finished cooking and if you have any left (I know you’ve been sampling ;)) cut the bacon into really small pieces like the onion or if it is crispy enough crumble it into the salad bowl.
Add the vegan mayo dressing and mix well. Bon appetite. Simples, tasty and easy!
Okay, to pair with the salad or even to have as great appies for a Sunday football and beer drinking get together these vegan cheese puffs are super easy and very tasty. Plus these cheese puffs are cholesterol free and low in fat compared to the other kinds of cheese puffs. There is nothing cheese ball about these vegan cheese balls 🙂
Why is it that the French have to fuck up really simple recipes and make them harder than they need to be? If you’ve ever tried to make original cheese puffs or gougeres as the French call it you know that you start with a pate a choux (pat a shoo) which is a half baked idea. Well, really, it’s a half cooked dough made over the stove.
Plus they want you to chuck in like 4 to 6 large eggs and a stick of butter into the mix. To make around a dozen decent sized cheese balls. Really? I feel my chest tightening just thinking about that!
On the other blog I write about called One Plate One Bowl I’m always looking to pare things down to the essentials. Same here with cooking. Simplify, simplify, simplify a wise man once said (Thoreau) and I couldn’t agree more.
Easy Vegan Cheese No Huffs Puffs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup shredded Daiya cheddar cheese or other vegan cheese (shred it though)
0.5 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 cup plain soy milk
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Get your oven ready by pre heating it to 400.
Combine the dry ingredients and mix well i.e. flour, yeast flakes, baking powder, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
Stir in the shredded vegan cheese and mix well. Add the soy milk and and mix well. Your batter should end up like a thick pancake butter. That is it should be quite wet but not very runny. Add more soy milk as required.
Dollop into a mini muffing pan or onto a cookie sheet in quarter sized balls. You can also place them in a muffin tin and have cheese scones or cheese muffins.
If making them around quarter sized for cheese balls then you’ll end up with around 18 or so.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until risen and lightly browned on the outside. Umm num num.