Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Salad, Salad, and More Salad

Sorry for the little hiatus. Things have been busy here at Bananas for Smoothies-ville. Well, I guess busy isn't the right word. More like, distracting. Olympics to watch? Distracting. Books to read? Distracting. The Bachelorette? Distracting. Especially Arie. I've been too distracted by life to blog much about it. But it's time to get back to business!


Mmmm, business. This is the Syrian Bread Salad from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. It's one of those chop-everything-up-and-toss-it-all-together-type salads that I just adore.

I toasted some Trader Joe's mini pitas for just a few minutes to dry them out a bit.


Then I chopped-chopped-chopped the salad stuff: cucumbers, grape tomatoes, oil-cured olives, red onion, red pepper, and parsley. I tossed in the mini pitas and added the oil and vinegar.


I served the salad atop some mixed baby greens and Basic Baked Tempeh from Appetite for Reduction. This meal was a party in my mouth: juicy, salty, chewy, carb-y, crunchy. Yeah!


This was a fun and tasty recent Saturday dinner. I made a base salad of baby greens, chopped tomatoes, avocado, red pepper, and cucumber, then topped it with a Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger. I whisked together a simple dijon vinaigrette and drizzled it over the burger and salad. Some frozen Alexia fries (and lots of ketchup) completed the dish. I loved having a "decadent" meal that didn't leave me with a food hangover :) By the way, I never buy frozen veggie burgers EVER (not a big fan), but I grabbed a box of these burgers on my last Trader Joe's shopping trip. I love how they are vegetable-based and taste more like a croquette!

Finally, another salad - this one is the Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Toasted Cumin Seeds. This was one of the salads I hadn't yet prepared from Appetite for Reduction, mostly because...it didn't really appeal to me. And I was right. I didn't enjoy this :( I don't know what it is about cumin seeds, but apparently I am not a fan. I use ground cumin all the time and like it, but I don't enjoy the cumin seeds. I've made other dishes in the past with cumin seeds, and I never liked the flavor it added. So, now I know. No more cumin seeds! I piled it on top of some baby spinach and had some haricot verts and TJ's roasted corn on the side. That corn rocks! Seriously, yum. I could have eaten the entire bag!
I'll try to be better about posting more often!

4 comments:

Chef Amber Shea said...

Hi Bethany!
I saw your comment on Hannah K's review post of my cookbook Practically Raw, and I just wanted to say I agree with you SO much. Having a black-or-white mentality about food/diet can be genuinely dangerous - mentally and/or even physically. I hate it when people take the fun out of food and turn it into dogma!
So anyway, I just wanted to thank you for the kind comment and wish you luck on your continued recovery :)

Amber

Bethany said...

Hi Amber! Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and leave such a thoughtful comment. Your book sounds fantastic, and sincerely, it is much needed! There are so many raw books out there that do not even consider the possibility of cooked foods in the diet...which is crazy! I am going to get my hands on a copy of your book ASAP! :)

Hannah said...

For all the salads that I eat, I never think to add bread- Not even croutons! This looks freaking awesome, to say the least. I'll have to stock up on some good pita bread now.

Bethany said...

Hi Hannah! Oh, this salad is so fantastic...let me know if you'd like me to send you the recipe! Also, check out this earlier post http://bananasforsmoothies.blogspot.com/2011/10/vegan-mofo-day-25-san-francisco.html
on Tuscan Bread Salad - it is also really great!