i recently visited my good friend rose in san francisco, who always inspires me when we share the kitchen. our first night in town, exhausted from traveling, she made us a delicious dinner which included something she called a winter salad. it involved wilted napa cabbage, warm apples and apple cider vinegar.
while this isn’t exactly rose’s recipe, she sure did inspire me to create a winter salad of my own. it still includes napa cabbage, along with crunchy bits of sugar snap peas and sweet morsels of red onion roasted with fresh rosemary and dill. the apple cider vinegar carries over as well, to help the flavors of the herbs pop.
great with a bowl of soup and a piece of toast on a gloomy winter day. enjoy!
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this is one of those recipes that happened on accident, based on the limited contents of my fridge. thankfully, the lemon and cilantro’s bright flavors compliment the hardiness of the whole wheat and toasted almonds in all the right ways. at first i thought it might be a sort of pasta salad, served cold and perfect for a picnic or packed lunch. but as i couldn’t resist nibbling on it immediately, i realized it could also be served as a warm pasta dish with dinner.
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this salad celebrates both the cool and the spicy – the juiciness of the cucumbers and the cool mint taste help to defuse the sharp bite of the jalepeno, creating a broad taste profile that is intriguing to the tastebuds.
and because quinoa is a fluffy high-protein gain while cucumbers are light and watery, this dish is both filling and light. the perfect snack or accompaniment to any meal.
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i love bruschetta. it has tomato and basil – some of my favorite fresh summer flavors – and in this incarnation i even threw in some roasted eggplant. but what i don’t love is trying to balance all those delicious veggies on top of a little piece of toast before it finds its way to my mouth. i figured it would be much easier to just chop up the bread too and toss it all together as a salad.
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the cool thing about purslane is it’s a succulent! while most lettuce greens you eat are delicate and thin, this one is thicker, crispy, lemony and slightly salty. they are a very different texture than other edible greens. and while it is considered a weed, purslane is the highest source of omega-3 fatty acids amongst leafy vegetables.
it can be sautéd, stewed or used as a substitution for spinach, but it makes an amazing salad because of it’s fresh taste and texture. i’ve mixed it here with roasted corn because it is one of my favorite summer foods, radish for a crisp bit of spiciness and dill because, besides being a flavor i always enjoy, it never fails lighten up any dish.
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Also posted in sauce | Tagged corn, dill, dressing, purslane, radish |
there’s not too much to wakame seaweed. it’s a little salty, has a subtly sweet flavor, and contains small amounts of fiber, iron and calcium. but what makes it special is the presence of a compound called fucoxanthin, which has been associated with helping to burn fatty tissue.
you can get a big bag of dried wakame super cheap in china town (i found mine for $2.19) and use it in salads, soups, or even just with rice. for this recipe i simply soaked some in water, put the seaweed in a mixing bowl with some other veggies, and tossed it all with a simple asian dressing. the result? a filling and tasty raw salad.
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i’ve been on quite the salad kick lately. it’s just so easy to toss together lettuce, tomatoes, maybe some cucumber or green apple, top with pumpkin or sunflower seeds and finish off with a simple homemade dressing.
this recipe has been a big favorite of mine lately – it takes on the flavor and creaminess of the hummus, gets a spice kick from my all-time favorite sauce – sriracha – and only has 4 ingredients so it literally does take a minute to make.
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lately, whenever i go home, my sister will give me a ridiculous amount of bread from her work. my favorites are the rosemary or kalamata olive loaves, but there was so much this last time that i couldn’t eat it all before it went stale.
thankfully, that is the perfect time to make croutons – after the bread is too hard to eat but before it starts growing fur. it just requires a little oil, some of your favorite spices and a little oven time and you have got yourself a pan full of salad’s best friend. but as we found, when the salad runs out they are still the perfect little snack all on their own.
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Also posted in snack | Tagged croutons, pepper |
caesar dressing can be a tasty and tangy way to spice up nearly any dish, but most versions contain at least one non-vegan ingredient, be it parmesan cheese, milk, anchovies, or even raw eggs. what most don’t realize is that the zesty flavor of caesar dressing can be easily achieved without these ingredients, using only some garlic, nutritional yeast, mustard, and tamari sauce.
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dark greens are one of my favorite things to eat, but i don’t quite have the stomach to enjoy them raw. i like to lightly steam or sauté greens like kale or collard, and man can it be easy and tasty. this recipe only has four ingredients and can be used for any of your heavy green vegetables.
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