Pasta Salad with Black Beans (Vegan recipe)

Memorial day is right around the corner and if you are looking for a dish to make, then here's an easy to make and tasty Pasta Salad with black beans and veggies. It's completely vegan, if you use vegan mayo but if you have regular mayo then go ahead and use it instead.

I am always looking for opportunities to try new dishes, so last weekend I took this pasta dish when I went to meet my blog buddies, Sushma, Rajani, Usha, Mir and Amara. The good thing about this dish is it can be made ahead of time and chilled until ready to serve, which makes it a great dish to make for picnics. barbecues or for take along lunches.

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Russian Grated Beet Salad for #Food of the World

We are visiting Russia this month for the #Food of the World event. I picked a very easy Russian grated beet salad from Natasha's Kitchen.

I have tried a few Russian recipes in the past and for this month I was planning to try my hand at baking a Russian bread, but time just slipped out of my hand and I finally had to pick something relatively simple. That is when I landed on Natasha's grated beet salad.

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Taco Salad (Vegetarian Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# : Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Taste of Home Top 100 recipes of 2015

Dish: Taco Salad
Today's dish from Taste of Home top 100 recipes is this delicious Taco Salad. I wanted to make taco salad for a while now and when I saw it on the top 100 I knew I had to give it a try. Original recipe also has cooked meat but I omitted it and just made the rest of the recipe.

Key to this recipe is the dressing that is made with Thousand Island dressing. You can either use store bought Thousand Island dressing or make it yourself at home. I didn't want to buy a jar since I know I will let it sit in the fridge for god knows how long.

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Honey Mustard Sauce

Buffet on Table: Week 3 -- Condiments from Countries

Day 14: US -- Honey Mustard Sauce

Today's condiment is extremely simple to make with just 3 ingredients. It can be used as a dip or dressing or as a sandwich spread.

This recipe was not on my initial list, but then this sauce sounded just too good not to try. I recently bought a small jar of whole grain mustard and it went right into this delicious sauce. If you don't have access to store bought mustard, then make it right at home -- here's America Test Kitchen recipe on how to make it at right at home.

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Vegetarian Hoagie Sandwich

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Hoagie Sandwich

We are starting a brand new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'American Sandwiches'. Didn't realize that there are around 70-80 different types of sandwiches in the US until I saw the list of sandwiches on Wiki that Valli shared with us. More than 90% of these are meat based, so after carefully looking through all my options, I picked 3 sandwiches that were vegetarian and those we knew I would be making again and again. 

For the first day, I made Hoagie sandwich. This is a kind of submarine sandwich and has quite a few different names like a sub, wedge, hoagie, hero, grinder etc. it is interesting to know that there are about 13 different names for this very sandwich in US. A submarine sandwich basically consists of a long roll of Italian or French bread that is split width wise either into two pieces or opened in a "V" on one side, and filled with a variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables, seasonings, and sauces.

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Vegan Curried Eggless 'Egg' Salad

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Meatless Dishes
Dish: Vegetarian Curried 'Egg' Salad

Day 2 of BM# 31 and today I'm remaking my favorite Egg salad into a meatless dish. There are a ton of recipes that use only tofu, but the tricky part of making good eggless egg salad is getting the creaminess right. Egg yolks give that creaminess and using only tofu might make the salad too dry.
For those of you who never tasted Egg salad, it is a mayonnaise based salad with chopped boiled eggs and then seasoned and flavored as per taste. I think the first time I ate an egg salad was during my Masters while working at the deli. The owner used to make me an egg salad sandwich on rye bread with all the fixings and it was super yummy!! I've peeled a zillion eggs during my stint at the deli and learnt how to make a good egg salad too. But today it's about this eggless tofu salad :-)

So when I found this recipe that uses pureed chickpeas I knew this would be a winner. The pureed chickpeas mimic real yolk in both texture and taste. The only thing I would do differently next time is not to pulse tofu in the food processor. I think I like bit more texture to my salad and I would break tofu into bigger chunks rather than pulse to crumbles the next time I make this salad.

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Egg salad with Caramelized Onions

Cole slaws, potato salads & egg salads are not highly preferred dishes for picnics since these are mayonnaise based and at higher temperatures mayo tends to go bad. But I could not stop myself from making this dish, since I love egg salad and caramelized onions and I was sure the combination of both would be delicious. I wasn't wrong; the end result was creamy, yummy and irresistible. You could serve it as is or with bread, wrapped or sandwiched. I enjoyed it with bread as a late afternoon snack with whole-wheat bread.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times magazine.
Ingredients:
Eggs – 4, boiled, cooled and peeled
Onions – 2 medium, thinly sliced
Garlic – 1 clove, finely minced
Dried thyme – ½tsp
Mayonnaise – 2-3tbsp
Dijon mustard – 1tsp
Hot sauce – ½tsp (or more if you are adventurous)
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a medium sauté pan; add chopped onions and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally until onions are nicely browned (not burned) and caramelized, takes about 15-20 minutes.
• Add the minced garlic and thyme; cook for couple of minutes. Season the onions with salt and pepper. If the onions start to stick to the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of water and scrape up the brown bits. Once completely cooked, set the onions aside until cooled.
• Cube the boiled eggs.
• Add cooled caramelized onions, mayo, mustard, hot sauce, salt and pepper to the eggs and mix gently to incorporate.

That’s it the dish is ready to serve or take-along. Make sure that egg salad is kept as cool as possible or eat it as soon as you can (just like I did, right after making it ;-))

Let’s check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 5 of BM#6.