The Creamer Dilemma

Recipes: Scalloped Potatoes, Chickpea Salad

How are you doing so far this new year? I made non-dairy chocolate chip cookies and ate too many on Day 2. But I also had the healthiest lunch imaginable, an open-faced, chickpea salad (sort of like egg salad) sandwich on 2 slices of Ezekiel raisin bread. Each included mixed greens that sprinkled & massaged in balsamic, diced tomatoes, paper-thin onion slices.

Chickpea Salad  
1 can chickpeas
1 tablespoon mustard
1-2 tbsps dill relish
1  teaspoon of tamari
A generous shake of kala namak black salt
A stalk of chopped celery
1/4 cup or so of chopped onion
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 tsp celery seed
Black pepper. 

Pulse in blender/processor. Adjust seasonings to taste.

The Coffee Creamer Dilemma

Caffeine is not a recommended part of a whole food plant-based lifestyle, so if you choose to indulge, realize you’re stepping off the plan a little bit, and try to keep it minimal.

All of this below pertains to decaf, which I am still drinking, and probably a little bit too much.

When we first went plant-based, hubs and I were swilling plant-based French vanilla coffee creamer by the name-brands we recognized from the old days, Coffee Mate, Cremora, etc. I was wailing whenever I couldn’t find plant-based pumpkin spice or peppermint mocha.

But as we fine-turned our habits and watched Forks Over Knives repeatedly, we got the memo and read the ingredients on our plant-based substitute creamers; oil and sugar. That’s about it.

I wound up adjusting to drinking my decaf black. Hubby’s been using a little bit of soy milk.

Then came Christmas 2024

We received the gift we never knew we always wanted; a milk frother.

This little device makes even soy milk into a foamy delight. Totally solves the entire creamer dilemma. You’re welcome.

Mine is the Froth-n-Go by Zulay. It’s rechargeable and came with three heads, the purposes for two of which I know not at all.

Just look what it does, though!

Foam the milk in its own cup, pour over the coffee, then drink the coffee through the foam. Lance likes to add just a pinch of sugar before foaming.

I still drink most of my too-many cups of decaf black, but sometimes for a treat, I foam it up and make it special. Problem solved.

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 to 5 cups of russet potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/4”.

• 2 cups yellow onion, sliced thin, spirals separated

• 2.5 cups soy milk

• 1 tsp dijon mustard

• 3/4 cup whole grain flour

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon reduced sodium tamari

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp salt

• plenty of black pepper

• For bacon-like flavor add.

• 2 tsps maple syrup with 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke *Or more, see intstructions

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 400º

To save scrubbing, use silicone bakeware. I haven’t tried a parchment liner with something this wet, so I don't know how it would be. I baked mine in Pyrex, and the cleanup was a bear.

I didn’t take a photo of my scalloped potatoes, and I apologize. We ate them so fast, I forgot. But they were delicious. Here’s how I made them and they were excellent.

1. Peel the potatoes and slice to about 1/4” thick. You want them pretty thin.
   Ditto the onions.

2. Layer potatoes and onions into a big, rectangular cake pan.

3. Set aside.

4. In a saucepan, stir together all the other ingredients and heat, stirring, until it begins to thicken. You’re going to think it’s not thick enough. But traditionally scalloped potatoes have a thinner sauce, and they’re truly better if you don’t over-thicken the sauce. It continues to thicken while baking.

5. Here is where you taste test the sauce. If you don’t feel it has enough bacon-flavor, add a little more maple and smoke.
   *There is a vegan bacon seasoning, and while I know it’s tasty, I believe it has a small amount of oil, even though it’s sold as a powder. I haven’t investigated the other ingredients yet. Feel free to look into this yourself. If healthful, it could be a great addition to this recipe, which traditionally uses bacon.

6. Pour the sauce over the potatoes in the pan. Poke around with a fork to be sure the sauce thoroughly soaks the potatoes. Leave an inch of space above the potatoes so they don’t overflow. Even then, I always put a baking sheet underneath them to catch any spills. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, into which you’ve poked a few steam holes.

7. Bake at 400º for 30 to 40 minutes, then test with fork. As soon as the potatoes are fork-tender, uncover the pan, turn on convection or “air bake” if you have it, or not if you don’t, and bake another ten minutes or so to brown the tops of the potatoes. (I haven’t tried it, but 2 minutes under the broiler might also work for this.)
   

   And that’s it. Serve. This is a great dish for feeding a large number of people at once. Also great for leftovers, another reason you don’t want that sauce too thick. Softer is better for leftovers.

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