More Big-Ass Salads

I tried to think of a more delicate title to this post, but let's call a spade a spade, shall we? These are some big-ass salads!

Baby romaine, chopped cucumber, celery, and tomato, drizzled with Jalapeno-Tahini Dressing from Ani's Raw Food Essentials. This dressing was kick-ass...fresh jalapeno, fresh garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and Braggs. The jalapeno was making my lips tingle!

This salad accompanied a bowl of Smoked Tomato and Jalapeno Soup, because, you know, I just can't get enough of that soup. This dinner was muy caliente!

This salad happened completely by accident...

It was 5:30 and I had no plan for dinner. Time was ticking away. Desperate, I started rooting around in my pantry and grabbed some canned lentils. I threw them in a pot and added a bunch of seasonings - cumin, chili powder, coriander, pepper, etc...

Then I opened the crisper and grabbed whatever was there. Luckily, I had some cucumber, avocado, and scallions in there, along with a couple of tomatoes from the kitchen counter. Chop, chop, chop!

I had the dregs of some baby romaine in the fridge, as well as an unopened container of Tofutti sour cream that had been sitting there since approximately April :) Aha, I'll make a Mexican salad! I tossed everything - lentils, veggies, sour cream - over the lettuce. It was a little bit lacking in salt, so I ended up crumbling some tortilla chips on top and drizzling it with lots of Cholula Chipotle hot sauce. Much better!

Finally, I was craving some Fig & Pistachio Salad from Choosing Raw and made some big bowls to enjoy. I also baked 4 softball-sized beets that had been lurking in the crisper for about a week. Then I added some cannellini beans, and finally some frozen broccoli for my broccoli-loving son. It was a totally random assortment of stuff, but it was good, and filling!

Summer may be almost over, but that doesn't mean I won't be eating more big-ass salads! I'll eat them even when it's 20 degrees out and snowing. My love for salad knows no season!

Summer Lovin' Curried Corn and Veggie Chowder

I've been waiting for summer to roll around so I could make the Summer Lovin' Curried Corn and Veggie Chowder from Appetite for Reduction. Unfortunately, I just got the memo that summer is here - and in fact, is almost gone. Ah well, better late than never.

This recipe is just brimming with my favorite ingredients: zucchini, carrots, curry powder, shallots, red bell pepper, ginger, coconut milk, and lime. However, the undisputed star of this dish is the fresh, sweet, just-been-picked corn that only the summer months bring. I bought 3 ears at the local farmer's market, along with my customary tomatoes, peaches, and apples. I couldn't wait to get home and get this soup simmering!

After slicing off the juicy kernels, I broke the cobs in half and added them to the pot. This simple step adds lots of extra corn-y flavor. After cooking for about 30 minutes, the soup was ready. I removed the corn cobs and used my immersion blender to blend about half the soup in the pot, giving the finished product a thick body along with some chunks of veggies.

With some thickly sliced beefsteak tomatoes and a pinch of sea salt, this was a perfect late-summer meal that was enjoyed by all!

I also used some of my farmer's market bounty to make a yummy dinner of Syrian Bread Salad (from 1,000 Vegan Recipes), Masala Baked Tempeh (from AFR), and steamed zucchini and yellow squash. This meal had such a pleasing contrast of textures and flavors, from the chewy Indian-flavored tempeh, to the juicy Middle Eastern-flavored salad, to the straight up all-American steamed garden veggies.

Finally, for movie night, we wanted to have something delicious and fun, so I made a giant salad with baby lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, and celery. I topped the salad with a mustard vinaigrette, Dr. Praeger's veggie patty, Trader Joe's roasted corn, and some Alexia sweet potato tots. It really satisfied that burger-and-fries craving in a healthy way!

What are some favorite summer dishes that you have to make again before summer ends? I think, for me, it has to be more Smoky Tomato & Jalapeno raw soup, some grilled pizza, and panzanella-style salads. I want to enjoy these flavorful tomatoes while I can!

Eat Raw, Eat Well

To me, nothing tastes better on a hot summer day than a crisp, crunchy salad and a bowl of cool, flavorful soup. I do tend to eat a high-raw diet in the summertime, only because it's what my body craves and what makes me feel the best. The problem is, I eat lots of salad and I tend to make the same few variations. I also love raw soups when they're done right, but I've only had about a 50/50 track record with them. I'm always looking for new ideas and inspiration, so I was psyched when my library got a copy of Eat Raw, Eat Well by Douglas McNish.

This book has 400 raw recipes (!!) for soups, salads, salad dressings, dips, entrees, desserts, breakfast items, snacks, and everything else you can imagine. What really drew me in was how simple and basic the recipes seemed to be...minimal ingredients, not a lot of fussy prep to be done, and not a ton of recipes requiring a dehydrator. I do have a dehydrator, by the way, but I pretty much loathe using it. It must take me 30 minutes to clean the damn thing every time I use it, so I don't use it very often. No-dehydrator-required raw recipes are always a plus in my book!

Because I love raw soups (but often strike out with them), I immediately turned to the soup chapter. The first recipe that caught my eye was the Red Pepper and Tomato Bisque, which seemed like a  perfect way to use my abundance of yellow tomatoes! It was my kind of recipe: just tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, avocado, sea salt, dried basil, water, and EVOO.

I really liked the clean, simple flavors of the soup. Nothing complicated or fancy, just straight-up delicious! I also made a big arugula salad with cucumbers, celery, and peppers, topped with the luscious Walnut Mustard Vinaigrette from Let Them Eat Vegan! New favorite salad dressing alert!!

Since the first soup turned out so well, I was definitely eager to try another one. I hit up the farmer's market for some fresh produce, including those juicy tomatoes and the two jalapenos you see at the bottom left. I had plans for these babies.

I had to try the Smoked Tomato and Jalapeno Soup. It was just calling my name.

I was intrigued that the recipe called for everything to be blended in a food processor, rather than a blender. Every other raw soup I've made has come out of the Vita-Mix. I was a little skeptical, but I decided to roll with it, and man, am I glad I did. This soup was AWESOME!! Holy moly...this might be my favorite raw soup EVER!! The flavors were so deep and complex, and the texture was thick and a little chunky. If I had used the Vita-Mix, that lovely texture would have been lost. This soup has fresh tomatoes, soaked sun-dried tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, lemon juice, hemp oil (I used EVOO), smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, and sea salt. The smoked paprika brought this soup to another level, I swear. I am going to have to add it to other raw soups! My hubby loved this soup, too, and asked me to make it again (which I did, later that week!)

I served the soup with a big salad on the side...baby spinach, baby arugula, yellow tomatoes, celery, purple pepper, cucumber, and avocado, topped with Detox Vinaigrette from the book. I found the vinaigrette to be a little...timid in flavor. I prefer big, bold flavors for my dressings, so I wasn't that impressed. Still, I liked that it included dulse in the ingredients. I love dulse!

 Overall, this was a very satisfying meal. That soup...to die for!

I think I might need to buy this book!

Raw Soup, Raw Soup, and More Raw Soup

I have a strange relationship with raw soups. When they are good, they are soooo good. And when they're bad, they are soooo bad. I'll never forget the raw cauliflower soup I made a couple of years ago. It was so horrible. I still have nightmares about that soup. It was also the soup that wouldn't die. It just so happened that the recipe made a huge quantity, so I was stuck with tons of this leftover vomit soup. I ended up freezing it in a large ziploc bag, and every now and again I would break off a hunk, defrost it, gag it down, and wish I had no tastebuds. (The question I ask myself now is: why? Why did I make myself keep eating this? I know you don't like to waste food, but you could have made an exception, just this once!!) Ahem. Anyway, this post is not about the cauliflower soup. 

It's about some raw soups that I love, like Gena's Raw Tortilla Soup.

I love raw soup-and-salad combos in the summer months. It made for a wonderful dinner al fresco!

This is another raw soup I enjoyed recently - Red Pepper and Tomato Bisque from Eat Raw, Eat Well:

I know, it doesn't look that attractive (at all), but it was mighty tasty, and easy to make, too. Just throw everything (red peppers, tomatoes, avocado, EVOO, seasonings) in the Vita-Mix and pulverize!

However, there was a recent raw soup fail. I couldn't manage to take a decent picture of it, which should have been my first clue. I won't say where the recipe came from, but it was supposed to be a raw curry soup. It was somewhat better the next day (as many raw soups often are), but I wouldn't make it again.

At least I didn't have to freeze any leftovers!

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!

My "CSA" Salad

Several years ago, we purchased a share in a local CSA. I think CSA's are fantastic, and they can be wonderful if they are run well. Unfortunately, our experience was not so wonderful. I won't go into details, but let's just say the farm didn't treat its subscribers very well (lack of communication, small quantities of food, extremely small variety of vegetables, and poor quality were my main gripes). It didn't surprise me when the farm went out of business a couple of years ago.

Nevertheless, I did learn many things during my CSA summer. One of them was how to take a random assortment of veggies (turnip, beets, fennel) and turn it into a kick-booty salad.

I call this a CSA Salad, and I posted the recipe on VegWeb. It has a base of steamed bulgur, which is then tossed with a variety of raw, chopped veggies, toasted walnuts, and vinaigrette. My favorite veggies to use include beets, carrots, celery, cucumber, fennel, turnip, spinach, and scallions, but you can use whatever you have on hand. The vinaigrette takes two minutes to whip up, and in no time, you have a crunchy, tangy, vitamin-loaded plate of goodness.

Sometimes I'll add a can of chickpeas in there, but it doesn't even really need it. I've also had success substituting millet for the bulgur to make it gluten-free, but I prefer it with the bulgur. It tastes great freshly made and even better the next day.

Breakdown of a Main-Dish Salad

I love salad. Like, love, love, love salad. I eat salad every day. I make salad at home, and I order salad when I go out to eat. I bring salad to other people's houses when I visit. But sometimes I have a hard time thinking of new recipes for salad.

Some days I like my salads to be nice and light, but other days, I want something hearty and substantial. I was feeling particularly hungry this day, so I grabbed everything out of the produce drawer and started chopping. Zucchini, red pepper, curly kale, collard greens, celery...they all made the cut. I transferred everything to a giant platter (below) and just set it in the fridge for later assembly.

I threw some quinoa on the stove, and in 15 minutes, I had my pseudo-grain ready. Honestly, sometimes I wish quinoa was a grain, because it would be so much easier to just say "here's my grain." But, nooooooo.

I grabbed a big bowl and spooned some quinoa on the bottom, layering the chopped veggies on top. For extra satiety and protein, I added some baked tempeh, cut into cubes. The dressing is Caesar Chavez Dressing from Appetite for Reduction:

A salad like this is great because you are hitting so many nutritional bases at once: green leafies, protein (quinoa and tempeh), fat (from the cashew-based dressing), and carbs (quinoa, veggies). Not to mention, there is a TON of fiber in this dish. I think green leafies deserve their own category because they are so important to our diet!

I think the best part is that this is a salad you can put together piece-meal; often, I will make the dressing and cook and cool the grain in the morning. During my son's nap or quiet time, I'll marinate the tempeh and chop the veggies. When dinner time rolls around, all I have to do is assemble the salads and eat! I love meals like that :)

I haven't gotten any reader comments in, like, forever, so someone out there, please leave me a comment and let me know about your favorite salads! Thank you!!

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?