Patriotic Fruit Salad

Layer strawberries, blueberries, and vanilla yogurt in glass bowl.

Enjoy how pretty it looks and how yummy it tastes!

Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes and Creamy Cajun Rice

I got both these recipes from vegandad and decided to try them because my husband will love anything with the word "cajun" in it! I made them both on the same day and we had cajun night. Vegan dad had made them very mild so his children wouldn't revolt, and both recipes were very tasty but a bit bland. Next time I will add a bit more spice for us all, and alot more for my husband and I.

Crispy Cajun Chickpea Cakes

1 T oil
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1 celery stalk, diced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper (should have used more than a pinch)
1 tsp hot sauce (should have used a bit more)
2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 T flour
1 T cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute onion, green pepper and celery for 5-7 minutes until softened. Remove from heat.



Place chickpeas in a food processor along with the onion mixture from the stove and pulse until chickpeas are no longer whole, but don't process them too much. I don't have a food processor (well, just a one cup size one) so I used my blender instead. This proved to be difficult because the blender could only pulse what was on the very bottom, leaving everything whole on top. I ended up scooping everything out of the blender and trying again with very small amounts each time. In this way I was finally able to pulse the entire mixture.


Place processed chickpea/onion mixture in a bowl and add spices, hot sauce, and parsley. Mix well. Add flour and cornstarch and mix well again. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.


Heat oil in frying pan (or spray with non stick spray) over medium high heat. Shape chickpea mixture into patties and fry until crispy and browned, flipping a few times. If you have trouble forming the patties, add a bit more cornstarch to hold it all together.


Creamy Cajun Rice

2 T oil
2 T margarine (I skipped this and just used oil)
2 T flour
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp paprika
cayenne pepper to taste
3 cups water
1 cup long grain rice (I used brown)
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chopped seitan (optional and since I had no idea what this was, I skipped it)
1 cup soy (I skipped this also since I wasn't using seitan)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)

Heat oil and margarine in large pot over medium heat. Add flour and stir constantly for a minute or so, until flour becomes a nice golden brown and has a nutty smell. Add onion, green pepper, celery and bay leaves. Fry for another minute. Add water and rice and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to bubbling, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until rice is cooked (about 15 minutes). Stir frequently. Add seitan, if using, and soy. Cook until liquid thickens a bit. Stir in green onions and chopped parsley. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Cost of chickpea cakes:

can of chickpeas 79 cents
pepper $1
onion 50 cents
celery $1
spices (?? less than $1)

approximately $2.59 divided by 7 people = 37 cents per person

Cost of creamy cajun rice:

pepper $1
onion 50 cents
celery $1
rice ~$1
spices ~$1

$4.50 divided by 7 people = 64 cents per person

Inexpensive, delicious and filling!

Verdict: Will definitely make again. The children all liked the chickpea cakes but really loved the rice, except for the diced pepper. Next time I'll chop those smaller. :-) My husband loved the meal and asked for more cayenne pepper next time!