Gingered Daikon Carrot Slaw

I bought too many daikon radishes and needed a way to use them up after making Spicy Sesame Noodles. I found this recipe on one of my favorite vegan food blogs, Melomeals. I had a friend over for dinner that night, she loved this salad! In fact, she just asked me for the recipe yesterday (Here you go, Lisa!) so I figured I should post it. Here you go, hope you enjoy it!

Gingered Daikon Carrot Slaw

Gingered Daikon Carrot Slaw 

2 large carrots
1/2 of a 12 inch daikon
1 heaping tablespoon fresh ginger
handful of fresh basil, cilantro or mint (or a mixture of them all)
3 tablespoons vegan mayo
Siracha to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
Juice of 1 big lime
pinch lime zest
1 T apple cider vinegar
fresh pepper
Grate or chop carrots, daikon and ginger in a food processor
Toss with the rest of the ingredients.. season to your liking

Grate carrots, daikon and ginger in food processor

Add the rest of the ingredients

Toss well

Serve!

Tofu Salad – For Sandwiches OR Sushi Wraps

Are your kids tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? This Tofu Salad makes great sandwiches, even my toddler agrees!

I like it wrapped in a Nori sheet with a little avocado, carrot, red chard and a spiralized daikon radish – topped with Sriracha, of course! I serve this with Wasabi Ginger Dressing on the side. I love my veggie sushi!

Toddler Approved!

This is another great recipe from Melomeals: Vegan For $3.33 A Day!

Tofu Salad 

  • 4 ounces extra firm tofu, crumbled
  • 1 tablespoon vegan mayo
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion
  • 1 big clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • siracha to taste
  • 1 tablespoon chopped celery
  • 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
  • soy sauce or braggs to taste
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • Wasabi to taste
  • splash apple cider vinegar
To build the wrap, I placed the greens on the bottom, then the daikon, tofu salad, avocado and cilantro and wrapped it up.

Mix salad ingredients together

Here's my Tofu Salad Sushi Wrap!

Delish!

Kale Avocado Salad

This is a super easy kale salad recipe with tons of flavor! This recipe is from my favorite food movie Planeat. I’ve served this a few times now and everyone loves it! This picture is terrible… just trust me, it’s really good!

Kale Avocado Salad

Kale Avocado Salad

1 head kale, any variety is great shredded – you can use chard or spinach

1 large tomato diced, or red bell pepper – I add both

1 1/2 avocado chopped

2 Tablespoons red onion, green onion, or leek fine diced – I like red onion the best but all three are good!

1 lemon juiced

1 Tablespoons sea salt – I use about 1/2 tsp, if that

pinch of cayenne

INSTRUCTIONS

In mixing bowl toss all ingredients together, squeezing as you mix to ‘wilt’ the kale and creaming the avocado. Serve immediately. This dish is also great to substitute the kale for chard or spinach

Massage all ingredients together

Kale Avocado Salad... YUM!

Spicy Tofu & Tempeh Buffalo Bites

These are SO GOOD and take less than 20 minutes to make! This was our Super Bowl splurge food and WOW it was good!! I haven’t used oil in so long it was a little odd to cook with it again but I don’t think this recipe would’ve worked without it. I only used a tiny bit so feel free to use whatever you wish.

I love anything (well, almost anything within my eating range) with buffalo wing sauce on it and these fit the bill!

Spicy Tofu & Tempeh Buffalo Bites

This recipes is from Babble food blog – created by Kathy from Healthy Happy Life vegan food blog. I really love her blog and I’ve made several things from it in the past, never been disappointed!

Tofu and Tempeh Buffalo Bites
vegan, adjust recipe for however many logs you would like to make

tofu logs (from extra firm tofu – I like Trader Joe’s High Protein Organic Extra Firm Tofu)
tempeh logs (from any variety of tempeh – I like Trader Joe’s Organic Tempeh)

safflower oil (for cooking)

hot sauce (I used Cholula and Frank’s Buffalo Hot Sauce)
nutritional yeast
salt/pepper
agave syrup or maple syrup – I used pure maple syrup

Dip: 2 Tbsp vegan mayo + 1 tsp sweetener (agave or maple syrup)

Directions:

1. Press your tofu dry and slice into logs. Slice tempeh into logs.
2. Add a few teaspoons of oil to a hot skillet.
3. When oil is hot, add in enough logs to fill the pan. Allow the tofu and tempeh to sear on both sides for a few minutes. You can add a sprinkle of salt/pepper to these naked logs to season.
4. Add in the hot sauce and maple syrup. You will want to add in about 1/2 tsp hot sauce for every log and 1/2 tsp maple or agave syrup for every 2-3 logs (depending how sweet you like them). Cook the sizzling logs in hot sauce and sweetener for another minutes.
5. With the logs still quite wet from the steam and sauces – add in a plentiful amount of nutritional yeast to the pan. I usually use about 1 cup for the entire skillet. The nutritional yeast acts as your ‘breading’ and creates a crusted over, cheezy-flavored coating. Add enough yeast until the pan is generally dry.
6. Add in a final splattering of hot sauce. You can add a lot for extra spicy bites. Just be sure to add another coating of nutritional yeast if the logs get too wet again.
7. When logs are crispy on the edges with plenty of browned spots – removed from skillet and cool on plate. Serve in a few minutes after allowing to cool.
8. Make your dipping sauce simply by swirling 2 Tbsp of Vegenaise (vegan mayo) with 1 tsp maple or agave syrup. Add in a dash of cayenne or any dip spices you would like toad. Pepper and celery seed are nice. I also like paprika.

Press water out of tofu using a press or heavy pot (I used my cast iron pan and a towel) - slice tofu & tempeh into logs

Brown logs in a little bit of safflower oil

Add hot sauce

YUMMY!!

 

Easy Roasted Garlic Marinara (Oil-Free)

I’ve tried a lot of marinara recipes but this one is my absolute favorite! That’s it, I’m never making another one again! This is really easy to make and the roasted garlic is a nice touch! Plus it freezes nicely. My toddler loved this too!

In an effort to reduce my pasta intake, I mixed the sauce with beans and pasta and served it over spinach (I got the idea from Melomeals!). It was delish!!!

Roasted Garlic Marinara with beans and pasta over spinach

Original recipe is from Melomeals… I changed it a bit to make it oil-free and a bit lower sodium.

Roasted Garlic Marinara

  • 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (for roasting the garlic)
  • 10 cloves garlic sliced
  • 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (I did less to make it toddler friendly)
    • 1 t marjoram
    • 1 t rosemary
    • 2 t dried basil
    • 2 T balsamic vinegar (for deglazing)
    • 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I used no-salt added canned tomatoes)
    • 28 oz can diced tomatoes with their liquid (I used tetra packed tomatoes)
    • Salt/Pepper to taste
    • 1 c fresh basil or parsley
    • 1 carrot, shredded (add to cut acidity instead of sugar)

    Method:

    1. In a cold pan place the balsamic vinegar and garlic in the pan. Turn heat to low and slowly caramelize the garlic This took me about 25-30 minutes.
    2. When garlic is golden and fragrant, turn heat up to medium and add the spices.
    3. Cook spices for 1 minutes, then deglaze with balsamic vinegar
    4. Add tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cover for 20 minutes
    5. Taste and adjust seasonings, stir in fresh herbs
    6. If the sauce is too acidic, add 1 shredded carrot or 2 t sugar (I added a shredded carrot)

    Roast garlic

    Add spices then tomatoes, simmer

    Add fresh basil

    Add carrot to cut acidity

    Yum!

     

Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas & Mustard Greens

I really like mustard greens, if you’ve never tried them this is a great starting point! This can be served as a side dish or a warm dinner salad. I like mine over quinoa for dinner! My toddler enjoyed this, she likes chasing the chickpeas around her plate. 🙂

Balsamic-Glazed Chickpeas & Mustard Greens

This recipe is from one of my favorite plant-based food blogs, Fat Free Vegan. She has such delicious recipes and lots of them! I changed the original recipe in an effort to reduce my sodium intake. 🙂

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces mustard greens – (I used one whole bunch)
  • 1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 4-6 tablespoons vegetable broth, divided – (I used water to saute to reduce sodium)
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce – (I used light soy sauce)
  • 1/4 teaspoon agave nectar or sugar – (I used agave)
  • 1 cup cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained – (I used cooked beans but you can used one can too)

Instructions

  1. Remove any large stems from the greens and discard. Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces.
  2. In a deep pot or wok, sauté the onion in a tablespoon or two of vegetable broth (or water saute) until mostly faded to pink, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and red pepper and another tablespoon of broth and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the mustard greens, 2 tablespoons of broth, and cook, stirring, until greens are wilted but still bright green, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the salt, if using. Remove greens and onions from pan with a slotted spoon and place in a serving dish, leaving any liquid in pan.
  3. Add the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, and agave or sugar to the liquid in the pan (if there is no liquid, add 2 tablespoons of broth). Add the chickpeas and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by about half. Spoon the chickpeas over the greens and drizzle the sauce over all.
  4. Serve warm, with additional balsamic vinegar at the table.
  5. YUMMY!!

Saute onions, add garlic and red pepper

Add greens, cook until wilted but still bright green. Remove from pan and place in serving dish.

Glaze the chickpeas and top

Delish!