Chickpea Salad

January 24, 2012 by aprilcball

My toddler has been a picky eater lately… she’s obsessed with cereal and that’s all she wants to eat! I decided to try a new sandwich option for her so I made this, I’ve been wanting to try it for awhile now. This recipe calls for Black Salt and in case you’ve never heard of it… it tastes just like eggs and it’s great in tofu scramble, sandwich type recipes.

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

Chickpea Salad

This recipe is from… can you guess?? Yep! Melomeals! 🙂

My hubby loves this salad mix on sandwiches and in collard wraps, I like it on mixed greens topped with avocado and pepper. Our toddler loves it on a sandwich or just by itself.

Chickpea Salad
2 c cooked and drained chickpeas – you could use 1 can of chickpeas too
½ c celery
2 c shredded carrots (I always have them on hand!)
¼ c onion, minced
2 T mustard
½ tsp black salt (this MAKES the salad!!)
2 T relish
½ cup Vegenaise
Ground pepper
2 tsp marjoram
½ tsp chipotle
2 T nutritional yeast
½ tsp lemon pepper
Pinch garlic powder
Salt/Pepper to taste

Mash the chickpeas a bit with a fork, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Let salad sit for an hour ( or even better, overnight ) before serving

Mash chickpeas

Add remaining ingredients, combine well

Refrigerate for at least an hour

Serve on salad

Here’s Melody’s Curried Chickpea Variation :
Remove relish, marjoram and chipotle
Add ½ c raisins, 1 T curry powder, ½ c cilantro and ½ c toasted sunflower seeds and 1 T apple cider vinegar

Oil-Free Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (AND Plant-Based RD info for you!) (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)

Oil-Free Raspberry Vinaigrette

January 11, 2012 by aprilcball

This is a great oil-free dressing with lots of lemon zing to it!

Salad with No-Oil Raspberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

* 1 Tbsp parsley

* 1 tsp fresh basil, finely chopped

* 1 Tbsp shallot, finely chopped

* 1/2 cup raspberry vinegar

* 2 tsp Dijon mustard, grainy style (I like the Trader Joe’s brand one)

* I add a teeny bit of Stevia to sweeten it up a bit

Directions:

* Blend all ingredients together until smooth, season to taste. I used my Magic Bullet to make this, so easy!

Makes about 1 cup

Blend all ingredients

Yum!

Dairy-Free Ranch Dressing

January 3, 2012 by aprilcball

I’ve been making this for years, tastes just like the real thing! This makes an excellent dip for veggies, salad dressing and anything else you top with ranch! My hubby likes it on his pizza. I recently served this with No-Buffalo Nuggets… Delish!!

No-Buffalo Nuggets with Vegan Ranch Dressing

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup vegan mayonnaise

* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

* 2 teaspoons parsley, chopped – I usually used dried parsley, turns out great!

* 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk (I star with 1/4 cup and add to make it thinner, depends on what I’m using it for – dip vs. dressing)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Whisk all ingredients together (or just put all ingredients into a container and shake until mixed) and chill before serving. Add a little more soy milk if you need to thin dressing.

Put all ingredients into a container, close and shake!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Sassy Spicy Ketchup (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)

Goaty Cashew Cheeze

November 13, 2011 by aprilcball

It’s crazy how much this tastes like goat cheese! I’m always amazed at how you can make “cheese” out of cashews and sauerkraut… sounds gross but it’s really good! You can use this cheeze on anything – pizza, salads, sandwiches, etc. I added this to my BBQ Tempeh Wrap with Goaty Cheeze today and it was awesome!

Ingredients

This recipe is from… again, Melomeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day.

Goaty Cashew

1 c cashews or almonds
1 c sauerkraut
2 T miso
2 t Dijon
1 t Umeboshi vinegar or apple cider vinegar
Pinch salt (optional)

Method:

Blend very well in either a high power blender or food processor
If you have a yogurt maker, culture overnight
If you don’t have a yogurt maker, let sit covered for 2 days – ON THE COUNTER! You can put it in the fridge if you are worried but I didn’t and it came out great!

Goaty Cheeze

Goaty Cashew Cheeze (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)
BBQ Tempeh Wrap with Goaty Cheeze (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)
AMAZING BBQ Tempeh, Broccoli & Goaty Cheeze Pizza (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)
Thai “Chik-n” Broccoli Orange Pizza with Goaty Cheeze (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)
Lentil Quinoa Stew with Red Chard (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)

AMAZING Kale Salad topped with Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles

October 21, 2011 by aprilcball

We eat a ton of kale salad but this one is the absolute best! I highly recommend this one, you WILL NOT be disappointed. I’ve added the Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles to make it more of a meal-type salad and it’s awesome! You can make this without the tempeh too, it’s so good either way! Plus, this salad keeps well in the fridge for a few days so it makes awesome leftovers!!

AMAZING Kale Salad topped with Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles

This salad recipe is from food blog Melomeals: VEGAN FOR $3.33 A DAY, one of my favorites!

Here is her recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups kale, destemmed and cut in a chiffonade – I use Black Kale/Lacinato or also called Elephant Kale
1/2 – 1 teaspoon best quality sea salt (smoked salt would be fabulous here!) – I use Alderwood Smoked Salt from World Spice Merchants but you can use regular salt if that’s all you have (Smoked salt is best though!!)
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar – I add a little extra
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon orange zest
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup chopped red cabbage
½ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 Tablespoons minced red onion
½ cup chopped green olives – make sure you mince them well
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Pinch nutmeg
½ cup raisins
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
Salt/pepper to taste if needed

Directions:

– In a large mixing bowl, add the kale, salt, orange juice, vinegar and garlic powder. Massage well with
your hands for several minutes.

– Add the rest of the ingredients and massage well

Let salad sit for 10 minutes; taste and adjust seasonings and enjoy!

For the Smoky Maple Tempeh Crumbles – you can use these in a lot of other dishes too, they are great in breakfast burritos, other salads and just by themselves! You can also keep them in cubes instead of mashing them.

* 2-4 blocks Organic Tempeh – from Trader Joe’s

* 2-4 tsp Liquid Smoke (depending on how smoky you like it!)

* 2-4 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup (depending on how sweet you like it!)

– I use 4 blocks of tempeh (from Trader Joe’s) so I have enough for leftovers (I always double this salad recipe for leftovers) – you can use 2 for a single batch of this salad

** Note: I used to cook these in oil but I’ve since removed oil from our diet. You can bake these crumbles on parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Stir every 10 minutes or so.

– Slice tempeh into cubes

– Boil tempeh in salted water for about 15 minutes

– Drain tempeh and transfer to mixing bowl

– Mash tempeh into crumbles

– Heat Safflower oil until hot and add crumbled tempeh

– Brown tempeh crumbles a bit then add Maple Syrup and Liquid Smoke – taste and add more if you like.

Top salad with crumbles once they’ve cooled… YUMMY!!!

Raw Collard & Apple Salad

October 4, 2011 by aprilcball

I love my greens! I enjoy hearty meal-type salads and I’ve been making a few lately that we really enjoy! Kale is my go-to salad green but I’ve been trying to venture out. I came across this Raw Collard and Apple Salad from my latest favorite vegan food blog MELOMEALS: Vegan for $3.33 A Day. You can use collard greens or kale – I used collard greens. I love the spiciness of the dijon mustard with the sweetness of the raisins! I’ve been eating this with my collard wraps for lunch, it’s just so awesome that it keeps in the fridge and doesn’t wilt and sog like regular salad!