Reading Time: 3 minutesI am proud to say that in February of this year (2018), I released my very first cookbook. It’s called The Accidental Paleo: Easy Vegetarian Recipes for a Paleo Lifestyle. It’s filled with mostly plant-based, vegetarian recipes that are also a fit for paleo eaters.
My friend hosted a launch party for me last month, and I prepared a sampling of some of the recipes from the book. One of the appetizers I served was a creation I concocted from three separate recipes in the book. Everyone was raving about it, and asked me for the recipe, so I compiled it here in this article and video for you to see.
While this recipe’s name — sweet potato beet pesto vegan tuna bites — is a mouthful, you won’t have any trouble eating these. These vegan tuna bites are colorful and bright, elegant and beautiful, and so incredibly tasty that you definitely won’t want to eat just one (which explains why we ran out of those long before the party was over!).
Sweet Potato Beet Pesto Vegan Tuna Bites
These appetizers are colorful and bright, elegant and beautiful, and so incredibly tasty you won't want to eat just one.
Ingredients
For the sweet potato rounds:
- 2-4 medium-sized sweet potatoes sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
- 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
For the beet pesto:
- 10 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds roasted
- 1/4 cups pine nuts roasted
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 handful fresh basil
- 1 handful fresh cilantro
- 3 small to medium red beets cooked
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the vegan almond tuna:
- 1/2 cup almonds raw, soaked for 4 hours
- 1/2 cup cashews raw, soaked for 4 hours
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 1/2 red onion small diced
- 1 stalk celery chopped
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 handful parsley roughly chopped
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
For the sweet potato rounds:
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Place the sweet potatoes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with oil, sea salt, and pepper. Toss with your hands until coated.
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Spread potatoes out in an even layer and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tender.
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Set aside.
For the beet pesto:
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Blend everything except for the extra virgin olive oil together in a food processor.
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While the processor is running, slowly add 1 cup of olive oil and let it combine. If you want it to be more liquidy, add some more lemon juice or olive oil. Just be sure to taste as you go.
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Set aside.
For the vegan almond tuna:
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Pulse the nuts in a food processor for about 5-10 seconds, just to break the nuts up.
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Add the chickpeas and pulse again for 5 seconds, just to break up the chickpeas.
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Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until chunky but combined (another 5-10 seconds).
Assemble your appetizers:
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Get a beautiful serving platter, preferably white or some other color that will go well with the bright orange of the sweet potato, the vibrant red of the pesto, and the beautiful yellow tinted tuna.
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Place your sweet potatoes on the plate in a single layer. T
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Top each potato with a 1/4 teaspoon of pesto.
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Then, top each pesto-covered sweet potato with 1/4 teaspoon of tuna, squishing it down to ensure it doesn’t fall off when someone takes a bit.
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Serve and enjoy!
For a full lesson in how to make these amazing vegan tuna bites, watch this video:
You can check out her recipes for both food and for life at Delectable You. There you will also find over ninety cooking videos for your viewing pleasure.
Lauren lives in Malibu, California with her adventurer husband, Ted. Together they own a yoga studio called 5 Point Yoga, as well as an Adventure Yoga Retreats company that takes people all over the world doing yoga and, well, having adventures! Think skiing, yoga, and P90X in Jackson Hole, Mammoth, and Chamonix, surfing and yoga in Costa Rica, hiking Machu Piccu in Peru — you know, that kind of thing.
When she’s not cooking, recipe testing, and living and breathing health and wellness (and now chasing after her infant), she’s writing about it all on her blog. She’s also been published on The Good Men Project, Babble, Beyond Yoga, and The Elephant Journal, and has been regularly writing for a health and wellness PR firm for the last three years.
