#eggplantmonday!

Hello world! Happy belated Father's Day to all of the fathers out there leading by example, and raising both good citizens and future parents. It's not an easy task, and it is a very underrated title thanks to the media perpetuating the imagery of bad examples. Despite this, we appreciate you all! Now on to the food...

I have never been a big eggplant fan. I just don't enjoy the sogginess of it. Despite that, I do buy eggplant on occasion in an effort to create ways to get myself to like it. Yesterday, I was successfully able to eat eggplant without dry heaving [insert excited emoji]! Today, however, I elevated this recipe to a new level and will likely continue with the latter, unless of course my fridge is low on ingredients. The one thing I can say about being the best vegan you can be is having the best seasonings on hand. You will find it's truly a game changer, and it can make or break any given meal. I made two small grocery runs last week - one to Shop Rite out of convenience and the other to Whole Foods, also out of convenience. At Shop Rite, I picked up some Hampton Creek Just Mayo, Sriracha flavor. If you haven't heard of this brand, get familiar with them N O W ! They are also known for their cookie dough and cookies, and their website has tons of recipes to experiment with all of their product categories. The founder is a Harvard graduate who started this small company a few years ago, and now has both national and international contracts with major food distributors and universities! This is certainly a step in the right direction for both hopeful entrepreneurs and relentless vegans who will stop at nothing to create a standard of conscious, cruelty-free living. P R O G R E S S ! Enough with the tangents...I also grabbed some organic fajita seasoning from Whole Foods. My mom had some fajita wraps laying around in the house, and I wanted to make use of what we already had on deck. So I warmed up one wrap in a small pan just to take the chill off (no oil), removed and placed to the side. Then, I sautéed some chopped portabella mushrooms and diced eggplant, enough for one serving, in olive oil. After they browned nicely, I tossed in a nice dash of the fajita seasoning. I sautéed for about 2 more minutes, then I removed it from the heat. Today, since I was out of mushrooms, I replaced with diced red onion and diced red bell pepper. I also used more fajita seasoning the second day, and it definitely tasted better as a result. In a deep-enough bowl, I used a fork to mix a generous squirt of the Sriracha mayo with a tablespoonful of Trader Joe's Chipotle Salsa. I chopped up some lettuce and avocado, and tossed in the homemade dressing. I placed the veggies on the tortilla first, and then the tossed salad. V O I L A ! I must say: dicing the eggplant was clutch! After eating it this way, I realized that I may not dislike eggplants altogether. I think I just dislike sliced eggplant, or eggplant rounds. In this dish, it actually just took on the texture and taste of the mushrooms, which was the ideal scenario for me on day one. However, sometimes, since I eat mushroom fairly often, the taste gets a little annoying to me. The eggplant, pepper and onion combo was much better. The seasoning consumed the veggies, and the dressing was superb. The lettuce was nice and crisp. I used enough lettuce to make the meal filling, but still light. The chipotle salsa was just spicy enough to cut down the "mayo-y" taste. Avocado is always life, so there was nothing but smiles there! This is definitely a must-try recipe. Click the Hampton Creek link above to see what else they suggest. I will continue to experiment and let you know what to do and not to do. Please try these cruelty-free recipes and let me know what remixes you come up with, too. CIAO!

Peace, Kings & Queens

xoxo

Shanelle Julia Rosita Campbell