Kitchen Sink Salad

I totally almost drove to Chipotle for a salad today. As I sat around and considered this option, I realized there was more than enough good stuff to make lunch right here at home. When you've got greens, plus a reasonably well stocked pantry and fridge you've alwaaays got the goods for a healthy salad. Some items I always have to choose from are dried fruit, nuts, seeds & random produce.

Today's Lunch
Spring Mix
Tomato
Onion
Carrot
Bell Pepper
Cucumber
Apple
frozen Peas
frozen Corn
Sunflower Seeds
Raisins
Dulse

Taco Salad

Buttermylk Ranch
1/2 c thick cashew milk*
1.5 t lemon juice
1 small clove garlic grated
1 T scallions, minced
1 t paprika
salt & pepper

whisk the ingredients together and let em sit for at least 20 minutes.
*here is my recipe for cashew milk. for a thicker milk add much less water. try 1 part cashews 1.5-2 parts water. 

Walnut Taco Meat
1 c walnuts, soaked 2 hours
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
few pinches cayenne
2 t hemp oil
salt

drain & rinse the walnuts. throw em in the food processor with the seasonings & salt. drizzle in the oil as the machine is running. Once you're happy with the texture of ground walnuts (should look a bit like ground beef) it is ready to go!

 For lunch today (and dinner last night!) I loaded lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, guacamole, plus a little salsa with the walnut taco meat & my Ranch dressing. It was suuuper good. Just go easy on the guac & salsa or else your salad could get goopy. And who wants goop? enjoy!

Spicy Spring Slaw

In this forum.. I'm forced to be the critic of my own food. So let me tell you how happy I am with this salad. The name "Spicy Spring Slaw" doesn't really give it justice. "Crisp, Cool, Creamy, Crunchy, Sweet, Spicy, Salty, Pretty, Seasonal, Healthy Spring Slaw" would be more accurate. I'm sure Ill eat a version of this everyday for at least the next 2 weeks.

There are lots of substitutions that can be made too!  Try:

Avocado instead of banana

ramen noodles

cucumber

bell pepper

sunflower seeds

cashews

pear

more fresh herbs

coconut

fennel

jiacama

lime zest

orange wedges

quinoa

So, use what you've got. Make a spring slaw! For someone like me.. who can easily become housebound watching netflix, reading, cooking, or lounging, this is a perfect example of an energizing spring dish to get me moving and feeling good.

Usually, I cut the radishes and carrots into flower shapes! Which really adds to the experience of enjoying this salad. Ill have a post soon about how to do that. Always a crowd pleaser.. even when you're the only one eating :)

SLAW
Nappa cabbage 1/2 head, cut into strips
1 apple, julienned
2 scallions, diced
daikon radish, 4-5 inches, cut into rounds
1 watermelon radish, cut into rounds
red radish, 3 small, cut into rounds
1 carrot, peeled into strips
sugar snap peas, handful, diced small
cilantro,1 handful minced
1/3 c broccoli with stems, minced
1 banana, sliced into rounds
sesame seeds, to garnish
kelp noodles optional
1/2 c sea vegetable, rehydrated optional

Prep each ingredient accordingly and toss together in a large bowl. You can keep this slaw for a couple days, just leave it undressed in a large ziplock or large food storage container.


DRESSING
1/4 ume plum vinegar, or use a rice wine vinegar
2 T shoyu
2 T white miso
2T siracha, or sambal olek
1 1/2 T sweetener (agave, honey, raw sugar, palm sugar etc. )
3 T fresh ginger
1 T sesame oil
3/4 c Tea oil, or other mild flavored oil

Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

raw Superfood Salad w Mustard Tahini Dressing

 

I've been eating this salad everyday this week.. ya know its just one of those things. I've got all the ingredients in my fridge and I'm just hooked.

Spinach

Romaine

Fennugreek Sprouts

Watermelon Radish

Tomato

Avocado

Sunflower Seeds

 Bee Pollen

Dulse

Dressing

1 part tahini

1 part mustard

agave

lemon

soysauce

water to thin it out

Sea Vegetable Salad

The benefits of eating sea vegetables are immense. They are loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes and minerals like iodine, vitamin B, vitmain K, folate, magnesium, calcium, iron, and tryptophan. Once ingested they help to regulate blood sugar and carbohydrate metabolism, they bring valuable anti-inflammatory cardiovascular benefits, they play a role in reducing the risk for estrogen-related cancers, plus they help make you look and feel fantastic!

Thankfully, my pantry is currently stocked with sea vegetables.
I use kombu whenever I cook grains, beans, and soups. It add loads of nutrients,especially minerals, and aids in the digestion of your food. And you'll never even notice it was there.. you just pull it out and discard it after cooking.
Dulse granules and strips are also quite versatile, subtle and delicious. The granules can be sprinkled into smoothies, salads, pretty much anything.. and all youll notice is red specks and a maybe a slightly salty flavor. The Dulse strips can be fried in a little oil and eaten on a sandwich.. my classmates and I used to make DLTs all the time w avocado.. dulse, lettuce, tomato & avocado.. yum!
Wakame rehydrates into green strips that are perfect to toss into salads, soups and sandwiches.
Hijiki rehydrates into brown strips and is great served with vegetable stirfrys.

Many sea vegetables can be added to super food snacks like bars and cookies too. Look forward to lots of sea vegetable focused recipes coming soon!

Recently, on a visit to the local Japanese grocery store, Asahi, I picked up this 

GORGEOUS bag of mixed sea vegetables. It was a little pricey, 

$18.99!! but totally worth it. Ill get at least 12 servings from this bag, 

because the seaweed rehydrates 8 to10x its dehydrated size!

Here is a photo of the sea veg, immediately after I covered it in cool, filtered water

And, here is 5 minutes later after it has been completely rehydrated.

I drained it well and added it to a spinach salad for lunch. Delicious!

The sea vegetables that are included in this mix are Wakame, Suginoriaka, Suginoriao, Akanori, Tsunomataaka, and Suginorishiro. Lucky me! I couldn't pass this up.

raw Berry Asparagus Salad w Avo Dressing

Salad
spinach
basil
mint
blueberries
strawberries
sugarsnap peas
asparagus
fennugreek sprouts
slivered almonds
cacao nibs

Dressing
2 small avacados
juice of 3 oranges
salt
dry herbs
onion

Chickpea Eggplant Puttanesca on a bed of Arugula

Spring is Coming!!! I picked these edible flowers at Green Gate Farms. I work there about twice a week doing all kinds of different tasks. Just about every time I go I do something different. I always get to pick some food and take it home with me. The white flowers are from the arugula plants and the yellow are from a more mild green called Mizuna.

2 c cooked Garbanzos (chickpeas)
1/4 onion
3 cloves garlic
olive oil
jar of good puttanesca sauce  (I cheated!! I had one in my freezer)
capers and green olives, if desired (too make it more puttanesca-ey)
1 eggplant roasted and chopped (see previous post Roasting Eggplant)
Arugula

Heat the olive oil and cook the onion until it softens and becomes translucent. Add the chickpeas & garlic then cook for an additional minute. Stir in the pasta sauce, eggplant, capers and green olives (if desired)

Serve very warm on a bed of Arugula.

Tangerine Quinoa Slaw

1/2 c red quinoa
1 c filtered water
1/2 red bell pepper, small diced
1/2 jalapeno, minced
8 sugar snap peas, sliced thin longwise
1 scallion, sliced very thin
2 tangerines, supremed (see previous post Supreme Citrus)
1 small avocado, diced
cilantro, minced
salt


Rinse the quinoa well. Grains and beans are often pretty dirty.
Bring the water to a boil, add the quinoa, and cook until all of the water has cooked into the grain.
Prepare the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and once the quinoa has cooled, stir it into the mix. Adjust the salt to taste.The flavor of this salad is best if you let it marinate and get happier overnight.

4 Courses

Fresh Figs, Arugula, Roquefort, toasted Pecans & a Balsamic glaze


Homemade Focaccia topped with Caramelized Onions, Roasted Garlic & fresh herbs

Zuchinni Noodles with a black olive medley, roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers, fresh basil, toasted pinenuts & parmesan
Berries, Cherries, baked Banana & Cashew Cream


Salad
Arugula
Tiger Stripe Figs (best Ive ever tasted, as if they were filled w strawberry jam)
Roquefort cheese
Toasted Pecans
Balsamic Reduction

Focaccia
adapted from Tal Ronnen's Conscious Cook

Dough:
1 T sugar
3c warm water
1 packet active dry yeast6 c all purpose unbleached flour
sea salt
1/3 c extra virg olive oil

Following the recipe from this book really stressed me out. I had to change his 1 1/2 c warm water to 3c.. because the dough was incredibly dry and never would have worked. Thankfully we just completed our breads courses at school & I am familiar with how the dough should feel. Also, he set the oven temp for 400 degrees, which I thought was way too low for the bread to cook thoroughly w a golden top. ugh. So basically, I am using a different recipe next time & you should too. But don't let this discourage you from baking your own focaccia! Its so good. Even though I wasn't thrilled with it I ate the whole thing, and my dinner guest loved it!

Onions:
2 onions
vegan Butter (Earth Balance)
1 head roasted garlic
salt
thyme rosemary sage

Thinly slice 2 onions, and throw them in a pot with the butter & cover. Stir them often. Once they are golden brown and super soft add 1T Balsamic Vinegar and sea salt. Allow to cool, then stir in roasted garlic, fresh sage rosemary & thyme.

Zucchini Pasta
1 large zucchini
1/4 red onion diced
1-2 cloves garlic minced
olive medley
roasted tomatoes (or sundried)
roasted bell pepper
fresh tomato
fresh basil
salt
pepper
Parmesan
toasted pine nuts

First of all, for this dish you need a Spiralizer to cut your squash into noodle strands. I love this tool. I works on most hard fruits and vegetables like potatoes, apples, pears, winter squash, radishes...

Start by heating oil in the pan, then adding onion. After several minutes, they're soft & delicious add olives & garlic. Let cook another minutes, then add the roasted tomatoes, roasted bell pepper. Let them heat up, then toss in fresh tomato, fresh basil, toasted pine nuts & turn off heat. The olives will make this dish quite salty, so you may not need to salt it. Garnish w fresh parm & cracked pepper.

Cashew Cream
Cashew cream is so easy and its one of my classmates favorite things to make.

1 c cashews
1 T maple syrup
1/4 fresh vanilla bean pod seeded
water

Soak Cashews for up to 3 hours. They'll fatten and even take on a purplish hue. If you don't have the time to soak this long, boil water and use this hot water to blend them.
Place the cashews in a blender and cover with 1in water. Add fresh vanilla and maple syrup and puree until smooth. Enjoy

I served with blueberries, cherries, strawberries & a baked banana.

to bake a banana, place a banana in its peel on a tray in an oven at 350. Bake until the peel is black and juice is starting to ooze out. Amazing.

Cleanse: Guacamole Quinoa Salad

Pressed Salad with Mustard Tahini dressing

All kinds of fruit & veg are great for pressed salads. The idea is that you slice them thin, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, gently massage, and set a plate & heavy object atop the salad for at least 1 hour.
In this process, water is released from the vegetables, making them easier to eat raw, and producing a dish high in mineral quality, alkalizing, rich with fiber and digestive enzymes.

This salad contains:
Carrot, Daikon Radish, Red Radishes, Savoy Cabbage, Cucumber & Apple

Dressing:
3 parts Tahini
2 parts Stone Ground Mustard
dash lemon & shoyu (or tamari)
agave nectar (or honey or brown rice syrup)
garlic, minced
water to reach desired consistency

This salad might seem boring, but believe me its exciting! Its one of our favorite things to eat/prepare different versions of at school. Its healthy crisp & delicious. The dressing is actually quite sweet, and if you like mustard you'll love this dressing!

As an alternative you could add fresh herbs, nuts, dried fruits, onion, pear, citrus juice.. Enjoy!

Herb Fest 2011

top row: dill, bay leaves, tarragon, unknown, thyme, chives and chervil
bottom row: spearmint, peppermint, lemon thyme, sage, rosemary, marjoram, oregano & summer savory

chopping up garlic to add to the herb butter
a salad with organic edible flowers

herb & flower butter


Its Herb Fest at work.. which doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. I mean, it isn't a "festival" like one would imagine. We are just selling more varieties of herbs and products featuring herbs this week. But there was one perk.. I got to bring home all these glorious herbs and find ways to use them!! The Foodies were given several BOXES of herbs to demonstrate uses for, in the store, but we couldn't possibly use them all. Thank goodness.



Herb & Flower Butter
-1 tub Earth Balance Buttery Spread
-tarragon
-dill
-marjoram
-summer savory
-sage
-rosemary
-thyme
-chervil
-chives
-garlic
-lemon juice
-salt

I am going to freeze this in an ice cube tray, or else I'm afraid it will get yucky. I'll thaw out one at a time and use it as needed. You wouldn't friggin believe how good it is. I gave Anna a little bit on a cracker, and the first thing she said was, "you should bottle it and sell it."

LOTS MORE HERB RECIPES COMING SOON

Jicama Slaw

jicama is pronounced (pick-a-mah)
It is the root of a plant, and has a potato like peel. Sometimes they are covered in a thick wax to preserve the freshness. It tastes moist and sweet, with the flavor of a subtle pear and the texture of a water chestnut. The root is the only edible part of the jicama plant, the rest is very poisonous! cool!

This makes an enormous batch, so eat it with friends, or have it for lunch/dinner/snack for a couple days. It really hits the spot now that the seasons are changing, as it is light, cool and crisp.

1 head nappa cabbage
1 colored bell pepper
2 apples
1 pear
1 cucumber, seeded
1/4 sweet onion sliced
4-5 scallions
1 smallish jiacama
cilantro
sunflower seeds
ramen noodles (optional)

dressing
2 parts neutral oil (grapeseed, canola)
1 part sesame oil (lots of flavor!)
1 part rice vinegar
1 part mirin (japanese sweet rice wine)
.5 part soy sauce
lime juice
1 clove garlic
1 small piece ginger

Basically, slice all of the salad ingredients up and toss them together. The ramen I bought didn't have the crunch I was going for. I bought organic ramen, and it tasted too... raw. It just wasnt something you'd want to find in your salad, it would have been like buying some spaghetti off the shelf , breaking it up and tossing that in.. not good
Put the dressing ingredients into a blender and puree. Taste it, if you want it sweeter add more mirin. Basically season it to your tastes, this is just an outline to work with. Anna is crazy about this dressing though.
If you are going to keep the salad around for a few days, keep the dressing in a separate container and dress as you go.

Kale Sauté

½ bunch kale (doesn’t matter what kind)
¼ large red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/3 lemon
toasted pinenuts
parmesan
drizzle balsamic vinegar
salt pepper
red pepper flakes
Italian herb blend
cherry tomatoes

Adding lemon, or any citrus to your green vegetables is a good idea. It makes all the super fantastic nutrients easier for your digestive system to absorb!


Wash Kale thoroughly. Seriously. Then, strip the leaves off of the tough stems. Shred the leaves with a sharp knife. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the onion, salt, pepper, red pepper and herbs. Cook until the onion is tender. Add the minced garlic and cook an additional minute. Then add the shredded kale to the pan and toss until it wilts and cooks down. This only takes a minute. Don’t cook it too long, the longer it cooks, the more precious nutrients are destroyed by heat! Finally add the tomatoes, pinenuts, parmesan, balsamic and lemon juice. Heres to our health!

Massaged Kale Salad

½ bunch Kale, roughly chopped
1 lemon
honey to taste
1t black vinegar
3t olive oil
salt
1 mango, diced
1 scallion, diced
½ red bell pepper, diced
guacamole

Kale would normally be considered too tough for a salad green, and it is usually cooked. However a "massaged kale salad" calls for salt & an acid to be massaged into the greens, and tenderizes them nicely.

Chop Kale, and cut the lemon in half. Put one half to the side, and squeeze the other over the kale. Sprinkle the Kale with salt, be reasonable & don’t over salt. The salt plus the acidity of the lemon will tenderize the Kale. Massage these ingredients into the kale for a couple minutes. Then in a small bowl whisk together the honey, vinegar and olive oil. Dice up the other ingredients, then top the salad and dress it to taste!

From what I understand traditional guacamole has avocado, lime & salt. I always like to add a sprinkle of cumin, loads of cilantro, red onion & tomato. Avocados are much more reasonably priced in Texas, than Missouri, and people here can’t get enough of them! This salad really satisfied my greens craving and I’ve been thinking about it so much that I am buying another head of Kale tomorrow!

Egg Salad

I made egg salad because I had the parsley pesto in my fridge.. and I thought.. I really looove pesto in my egg salad! Plus, I never buy egg salad anywhere.. unless maybe I’m at a nicer restaurant for lunch. Who knows how long it has been sitting in that gas station or cafeteria, gross!

1/3 roasted red bell pepper, diced
1 scallion, diced
2 ½ T Mayo
3T Pesto
1T relish
1t mustard
dash vinegar
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
salt & pepper

First make the dressing, and adjust it to your tastes. Use whatever you have on hand, that’s what I did!
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and gently add the eggs, reduce the boil so that the eggs don’t break. On the side, prepare a bowl with ice water. After 10 minutes, remove the eggs from the boiling water, and place them in the “ice bath.” After about 5minutes, they should peel easily.
Dice up the eggs, and add the dressing a little at a time until you’ve reached your desired consistency & flavor.

Tumeric Coleslaw

I am quite determined to use every last bit of produce in our fridge. That’s how this coleslaw came about. The first 4 ingredients were in the “crisper” drawer and drawing close to the end of their days. Not if I can help it.

The sprouts were sprouted on my counter top.. it takes about 2 ½ days to turn seeds into edible sprouts, and they are one of the healthiest things you can eat. The mix I am using now is a blend of lentils, alfalfa and mung beans. They are really crisp with a nutty flavor, that the store bought sprouts don’t have.

Making a dressing like this from scratch is something you get better at over time. I never measure anything, but I just keep tasting and adding until it is right. My advice is to start out with less mayonnaise than you would thing you’d need, because you can always add more later… and too much mayonnaise would be gross.

quarter head cabbage

1 carrot shredded

1 quarter cucumber chopped

½ avocado

fresh sprouts

mayo

lemon juice

dash vinegar

turmeric

siracha (chile sauce)

honey

mustard powder

salt & pepper

It is best to make the dressing on the side, then toss it in the ingredients. If the flavor isnt well balanced, then add additional seasonings to the slaw "to taste"

Broccoli Slaw Salad with Five-Spice Tofu

Here is another recipe that I adapted from Vegetarian Times. I love it for being so filling, flavorful and healthy, plus it brought new flavors and ingredients into my kitchen!

Dressing

2T sesame oil

2T Black Vingear* (Chinese vinegar made from grain not grapes!)

1t sriracha (immensely popular chile-garlic sauce)

1t brown sugar (Veg Times suggested white sugar (whatever.))

Salad

1lb broccoli sliced thin

1 red bell pepper sliced thin

1-2 shredded carrots

cilantro

green onion

walnuts

sesame seeds

5-Spice Tofu* but into matchsticks

Veg Times suggested using a 1lb bag of broccoli slaw, but at the store this products looked very dryed out, so I opted for very fresh broccoli!

--Also, the shredded carrot, walnuts and sesame seeds were my addition, they called for roasted peanuts.

*I have never seen Five Spice tofu before. Even at Chinese markets. So I bought firm tofu, sliced it thin, and rolled it in Chinese Five Spice.

Five Spice- encompasses all five flavors of sweet sour bitter pungent and salty. Most commonly includes: star anise, cinnamon, cloves, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds.

Black Vinegar- http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-black-vinegar.htm

I found a bottle for about 2$ at a Chinese market, it is sweet, malty and wonderful.

Cabbage Avacado Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing

This is my rendition of a recipe I adapted from Vegetarian Times.

I ate it every day for a week and have thought about it every day since. Thats no lie.

It is very filling, healthy, incredibly delicious, and gorgeous!!

Dressing:

1c carrot juice

3T ginger juice

(veg. times used shredded carrots and minced ginger in a blender, I prefer the juicer)

4T rice wine vingear

3 T white miso paste

2T sesame oil

1 T canola/grapeseed oil

2t maple syrup

Salad:

1 med. head radicchio thinly sliced

2 avacado

3/4 c sweet onion thinly sliced

(Veg. Times suggested 4c savoy cabbage as the base)

instead I used:

1 small head red cabbage thinly sliced

also my addition of

sesame seeds, sunflower kernels, and raisins

This is A LOT of salad of just one person. To keep things fresh, I prepped the dressing and chopped the cabbage, radicchio and onion in advance, then packed it into tupperware. When I was packing my lunch for the day I would cut the avacado, and wait to drizzle the dressing until it was time to eat!

If you do fish, this would go very nicely with a flaky, mild white fish (like Flounder) or salmon.

Late Summer Salad

Have you tried arugala? Its a spicy green gaining popularity. I love it! My farmer friend, Walker, grows lots of arugala in Columbia, MO.

I think mixed green salads are so much better when you add herbs. If you like flavorful greens, try adding a variety of your favorite herbs next time, it will be way more exciting.

Arugala

Basil

Mint

Cilantro

peaches

raspberries

toasted walnuts

I made a simple dressing with a few ingredients I had on hand. Just olive oil and balsamic vinegar would have been great though. I whisked balsamic, with a little strawberry rhubarb jam and stone ground mustard, then added the olive oil to the mix. plus salt and pepper.

If you do cheese, some fresh creamy goat cheese would go nicely with this as well.