Summer Salad Slam!

If I had my way, I'd exist on smoothies and salads for the entire summer. I love their taste, nutrition, ease of preparation, flexibility, and portability. I also love the fact that I don't have to turn on the oven and make the kitchen any hotter than it already is!

Here are some salads I've been enjoying lately:

Roasted Portobello Salad (except I sub eggplant for the 'shrooms!) from Veganomicon, with a side of millet:

Roasted Cauliflower and Rice Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette from 1,000 Vegan Recipes:

Lightened Up Protein Power Goddess Bowl from Oh She Glows, with a side of Chickpea Pancake with Rosemary from 1,000 Vegan Recipes:

Arugula and Apple Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing (1,000 Vegan Recipes), frozen Alexia fries, Basic Baked Tempeh (Appetite for Reduction), carrot sticks, and roasted chickpeas:

Umm...I can't remember where this recipe came from. It appears to be massaged kale, apples, carrots, and something else?? I'm sure it was tasty!

Raw Mediterranean Kale Salad from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen:

Romaine and Grape Tomato Salad with Avocado and Baby Peas (1,000 Vegan Recipes) and Forty-Clove Chickpeas & Broccoli (Appetite for Reduction):

A completely random salad made with baby arugula, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber, celery, carrots, fava beans, roasted red peppers, nutritional yeast, chopped green olives, pine nuts, capers, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar. Yummmm.

My new obsession - Purple Kale Salad with Creamy Apricot Ginger Dressing, Walnuts, and Apples from Choosing Raw:

I've been eating it by the boatload lately. Here it is with some brown lentils and more socca (my other new obsession):

This is the simple but tasty Chopped Salad (1,000 Vegan Recipes), served with Basic Baked Tempeh (Appetite for Reduction) and a baked potato. The romaine lettuce was fresh from a friend's garden and it was so tender and delicious!

Creamy Curry Pasta and Vegetable Salad (1,000 Vegan Recipes) with some steamed broccoli:

And, finally, another delicious smoothie creation. This one had spirulina, hemp protein powder, hemp seeds, spinach, pineapple, coconut water, and ginger. So tangy and refreshing!

What are your favorite summery salads?

Appetite for Reduction Blitz

Anyone who's ever read my blog knows that I am quite fond of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction. I have tried 79 recipes (and counting!!) from this cookbook, and it's the one that I reach for when I want something quick, healthy, and filling. Here are some things from AFR that I've made recently:

Tamarind Quinoa (left) and Curried Chickpeas & Greens:

Quinoa Puttanesca, arugula & tomato salad with white balsamic vinaigrette, and garlic bread:

Portobello Pepper Steak Stew, served over a baked sweet potato:

I substituted tempeh for the seitan, white onion for the red onion, and omitted the red pepper flakes. I wouldn't really call it a stew per se...it was more like what goes into a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. No matter, it was still tasty! Next time I'm going to add some banana peppers, Daiya mozzarella, and a torpedo roll and make a vegan Philly Cheez!

Finally, this was a dish I wanted to love, but it fell a little flat for me. This is Pasta de los Angeles (with brown rice penne instead of whole wheat angel hair pasta):

It's fresh jalapeno, garlic, tomatoes, spinach, black beans, shallots, lime zest, and lime juice tossed with pasta. It's supposed to have 1 cup of fresh cilantro in there, too, but I didn't have any on hand. Maybe that would have made the difference?? I don't know. I mean, I love Mexican flavors, and I love pasta, but I didn't love them together. Oh well. My hubby and son seemed to like it, though. And besides, there was bound to be a recipe or two that I wasn't crazy about!

If you have AFR, what are some of your favorite dishes?

My Pasta Salad, with a Twist

I've blogged about my pasta salad before. Not to toot my own horn, but that pasta salad is pretty darn delicious. I've brought it to countless potlucks, cookouts, and parties, and it's always a hit.

That being said, it is a pasta salad. Pasta salads are usually something I crave in the summer time, not the dead of winter. But for some reason, I had a hankering for pasta salad the other day.

Now, my pasta salad recipe is not complicated: it's basically just pasta, fresh veggies, canned chickpeas, and a dressing made of Vegenaise, Italian dressing, salt, pepper, dried dill, and dijon mustard. Pretty basic stuff.

Until you realize:

You have no Italian dressing.

You only have a couple of tablespoons of Vegenaise.

You don't have the required veggies.

Hmmm.

I would not be deterred. And I sure as heck wasn't making a trip to the grocery store!

No bell pepper? No problem...I just used some jarred roasted red pepper.

Not enough tomato or celery? No problem...I just used what I had. I added extra cucumber to make up for it.

No dressing? No biggie...I just made a batch of the Mediterranean Olive Oil and Lemon Vinaigrette from Veganomicon. I mixed this dressing with the last bit of Vegenaise and dijon mustard. Worked like a charm!

I mixed everything together and then served it on a big bed of baby arugula for some extra greens.

I love it when an experiment turns out well!

Penne with Marinara Puttanesca, Spinach, and Garlic Bread

There are some nights when I am just too tired, too unmotivated, too whatever to cook. These are nights when I should really just get some takeout. And then I remember something:

You're vegan.

And you're cheap.

The end.

Takeout just isn't on my radar anymore.

Fortunately, I always have some pasta, canned tomatoes, frozen veggies, and frozen bread on hand.

Voila, dinner is served.

The sauce is Marinara Puttanesca from Appetite for Reduction. It's simply canned crushed tomatoes, kalamata olives, capers, and spices, and it takes mere minutes to make. Even a tired Mommy can throw this dinner together in 20 minutes.

While the sauce was simmering, I boiled the pasta (I used brown rice penne from Trader Joe's), cooked the frozen spinach, and broiled some garlic bread (whole grain bread, Earth Balance, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning). Easy peasy.

It's delicious, nutritious comfort food that you can whip up in minutes. Believe me, if it were any harder, we would have been eating cereal for dinner :)

Vegan MoFo Day 7: The Ocean State

I am a Rhode Islander, and proud of it. Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 states, just 1,045 square miles. You can drive north to south, or east to west, in about an hour's time. But being a small state doesn't mean Rhode Island (or Rhode Islanders) don't have personality. Oh yes, we do. Some might even say we have a bit of a Napoleonic complex. We are fiercely proud of our state and its various claims to fame. We were the first colony to declare its independence from Britain. We are home to the oldest existing synagogue in the USA (Touro Synagogue, in my hometown of Newport). Our unofficial state mascot is a 58-foot long blue termite named Nibbles Woodaway, who wears a blinking red nose and antlers at Christmas and greets passersby on Route 95 in Providence. We have a Dancing Cop, historic mansions, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, our own brand of English, and an official state drink called coffee milk. We are also lampooned featured prominently on Family Guy. Like I said, we have personality.

Rhode Island's motto is "The Ocean State." Tourists and locals alike flock to our beaches and coastlines, including our beautiful Narragansett Bay. Rhode Island is also a foodie's paradise, with amazing Italian restaurants on our world-famous Federal Hill in Providence, seafood restaurants galore ("chowda!), and more donut shops per capita than anywhere else in the USA. Yes, we are proud of our food lore.

This month, I will be featuring some of my home state's various food traditions. Since Rhode Island is so well known for its seafood, I thought I'd start with a vegan take on a classic dish, spaghetti with clam sauce. I chose the very appropriately-named Inspired by Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce, from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

Brown rice spaghetti is tossed with a garlicky sauce flavored with white wine, broth, basil, oregano, white miso, kelp powder, crushed red pepper, and fresh parsley. Cannellini beans stand in for the clams, which is genius. I have to say, even when I was an omni, I never enjoyed clams. I used to pick them out of my clam cakes and just eat the greasy fried batter. I thought (and still think) that steamers look and taste like giant loogeys. And while I've eaten my fair share of clam chowder over the years, I never really liked the actual clams. Mostly I just liked the potatoes. And, apparently, the chemicals. So, yeah, I'm not sure why I chose this recipe, but I really, really liked it! Go figure. Maybe if I'd been eating cannellini cakes and chowder all these years, I'd be singing a different tune.

The pasta and beans were pretty substantial, so I rounded out the meal with some simple steamed green beans and garlic bread.

 It was simple, tasty, and free of loogeys, which makes it a winner in my book.

Preparing for the Storm

Maybe you've heard...there's a hurricane coming this way! I mean, has anyone else been talking about anything else for the last 3-4 days? It's not good for the anxiety-prone like me to turn on the news. Oh, if you cover all the windows in your house except one, and that one window gets blown out, your whole roof may blow off! And please have 1 gallon of water per person for 3-7 days. Gaaaah! It doesn't take much to freak me out. Where on Earth am I going to find 21 gallons of water, when everyone in the state of RI is at the stores buying up every last container of water, milk, and bread? I just went to the store and they only had a few cases of small bottles of water. I am filling jugs at home and praying we don't need it!

Whew. This hurricane is making me crazy! I was too rattled to even think about cooking last night. So I just made a big batch of my son's favorite noochy pasta for dinner. I figured all 3 of us could use some comfort food!

Noochy Pasta
Serves 2 hungry adults & 1 hungry toddler

1/2 lb whole wheat shells
Veggies, to taste: I used 1 small yellow squash, julienned; plus frozen peas, frozen lima beans, frozen butternut squash, frozen spinach, and frozen broccoli
Earth Balance buttery spread, to taste
Nutritional yeast, to taste
Bragg Liquid Aminos, to taste (can sub sea salt, soy sauce, tamari, etc)

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add ingredients one-by-one based on the amount of time each requires to cook. I start with the frozen lima beans (12-14 minutes), then add the butternut squash, pasta, spinach, broccoli, peas, etc. as the clock ticks down.

After everything is cooked, drain well and return to pot. Add Earth Balance, nooch, and Braggs, to taste.  What's not to love here? You use one pot (plus one colander), get some whole grains, tons of veggies, tons of protein and B vitamins from the nooch, vitamins and amino acids from the Braggs, and delicious faux-buttery-goodness (and omega fatty acids!) from the EB. Win-win-win!

This morning, my hubby, son and I wanted to get a good, long run in before the storm arrived. We ran an old favorite route that I haven't run in over 2 years! It was about 8.25 miles, and it felt great. Humid, but great! I was happy to rehydrate with some coconut water and a big chocolate-cherry smoothie :)

After breakfast, we got cleaned up and then headed to the store to pick up some emergency supplies. For me, that meant: bananas, avocados, tomatoes, a yellow pepper, 2 loaves of bread, some crackers (for my hubby), and 10 cans of organic beans (chickpeas, black beans, cannellinis). Hey, some people were stockpiling Doritos and Coca-Cola; whatever floats your boat!

After we got home, I was pretty doggone hungry. Running 8 miles will do that to you :) I wanted to make something quick and filling. Since I had just bought tomatoes and still had a bunch of basil left, I thought of the White Bean & Walnut Bruschetta from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. Only, instead of serving the topping on crostini, I just toasted up 3 slices of the bread I just purchased and put it on top of that. Easy peasy!

This was exactly what my body was craving - beans, nuts, veggies, and bread!

Well, I'm off to obsess and stress more about this hurricane. Stay safe out there! xoxo