salad!!

For some reason or another, salad is something that I often overlook when it comes to meal preparation. Then, I remember it, and am overjoyed by the deliciousness of fresh vegetables.

SALAD!!



I usually don't toss my salads, because I like to be able to eat bits and pieces of whatever I want. I also prefer salads if they have a few cold, fresh vegetables, and a few warm cooked ones.
This salad incorporated:
-fresh spinach and green leaf lettuce
-grated beets and carrots
-sliced cucumber
-lightly steamed yellow beans (just a few minutes, so they remain a little crispy. yellow beans are a little sweeter than the green ones, and they are DIVINE.)
-boiled new potatoes
-lightly broiled , sliced, yellow zucchini (once again, a little sweeter than green zuc. i coated the slices in olive oil, and then tossed them in the toaster oven at 350 F, for about 10-15 minutes)

WONDERFUL!

For the salad dressing, I combined:
-several tablespoons of sweet chilli sauce
-a few teaspoons of sesame oil
-a splash of apple cider vinegar
-a splash of maple syrup

The salad dressing was ok, but it was the topping for the new potatoes that was really amazing.

Potato topping:
-half a cup of tofutti fake sour cream
-6 to 10 drops of hickory liquid smoke (if you see this stuff, buy it! it's delicious.)
-between 1 and 2 teaspoons of lime juice
-between 1 and 2 teaspoons of maple syrup

The only thing that would have improved this salad, would have been the addition of some pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds, and some pea shoots or sunflower sprouts. Otherwise, it was the perfect summer dinner!!

Salad! Salad! Salad!

more tofu burgers! peanut sauce! baby bok choy!

Once again, marinated a whole whack of tofu in my go to marinade of tamari, sesame oil, sriracha, garlic and ginger.
Shredded up some carrots and beets, and sliced up some zucchini and spinach for toppings.
On the bun (errr.... multi-grain bread): dijon mustard, ketchup, and the most delicious mayo spread ever!
I bought some super amazing liquid hickory smoke the other week, and decided that it would probably taste great mixed into some vegan mayo with a bit of maple syrup. HEAVEN! I am going to start putting this on pretty much everything.





Along side the tofu burger is some lightly steamed baby bok choy slathered with a tasty peanut sauce.
In the peanut sauce:
peanut butter (obvs) about 1/2 a cup
teaspoon of chilli paste
garlic - lots of it
small can of coconut milk
a few splashes of tamari
ginger
lots of like juice
teaspoon of rice vinegar
tablespoon of maple syrup

Mix mix mix, and add water until desired thickness is reached.
It's good to play around with the proportions a bit until you find the peanut sauce that is perfect for you.

Ps. Did you know that you can buy coconut milk in tetra packs??? It's a bit cheaper, and nice to just have hanging out in the fridge, say... to add to coffee (delicious!), or to hot chocolate, or cherry flavoured soda (vegan italian sodas, whaaaaat?). I should probably just devote a whole post to coconut milk sometime soon...