LifeSoup by Cherie Dawn Haas

My discovery of capers came from a recipe that I looked up this week.

I had signed up to bring a vegan-friendly sandwich filler to a high school color guard event this weekend. When I didn’t see a good recipe in my current stash, I Googled something like “vegan-friendly sandwiches” and probably included the word “easy” or “beginner.”

This led me to the Forks Over Knives website. (If you’ve not heard of this, check it out…it’s a magazine, a movie, an app, and a website for the whole-foods plant-based life.)
I found the “No-Tuna” Salad Sandwich, and set out for several brand-new to me ingredients, including capers.

Kroger is one of the closest stores to my house (more on the challenges of vegan eating in rural areas later), so when I got there I used the Kroger app to look up capers to see what the packaging looked like. The app directed me to the section of store with olives and pickles.

They cost under $5 for a bottle, and the recipe called for only 1 teaspoon, so if you buy them, I’m guessing you’ll be able to use them for multiple recipes, which is nice. The capers are tiny and smell like relish.

According to bonappetit.com, capers are – believe it not – little pickled flower buds! Who’d have thought?

The recipe also called for Tahini, which I had only heard of as a character’s name on the Good Life.

Again, the Kroger app saved me by showing that Tahini was in the nearby International section. Tahini, I learned, is made from sesame seeds and is paste-like. It smells nutty. Mmm.

The “No-Tuna” Salad was easy to throw together once I had the ingredients – everything else is very basic (chickpeas is the main part of it). I asked my 16-year-old to dice the celery, pickle, and capers, and mash the chickpeas, so with the two of us together it only took a few minutes.

My advice from this, for those who are taking baby steps with me toward healthier eating, is to go ahead and try a recipe that calls for something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. You might have to Google it or be humble enough to ask someone for help (Where do you find this? What is it, actually?), but you’ll no doubt learn something new and, like this “No-Tuna” Salad, discover an easy, tasty new recipe.

What’s an unusual or new-to-you ingredient that I should know about? Tell me in the comments section!

Peace, love, and fire,
Cherie Dawn

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