Salads

Buffalo Tempeh Salad from Little House of Veggies

Morgan's vegan recipe for buffalo tempeh salad and ranch dressing is really packed with that satisfying buffalo flavor for those of us obsessed with all things buffalo.  The ranch dressing recipe is perfect, too.

Just make sure to toss the crispy, oven-baked tempeh in the sauce just before eating.  Also, because there's so much rich flavor in one dish - the buffalo sauce, avocado, beans, and ranch dressing - a little serving of this filled me up.

Kale and White Bean Caesar Salad

I highly recommend this salad! Just not the dressing (I tried a healthy raw vegan caesar dressing which turned out to have a check beside every important category except 'tasty' - it wasn't bad, the salad was still yum, but we can do better).

Go find yourself a good caesar dressing recipe (UPDATE: I suspect this one might be perfect!!) and make this delicious, beautiful, healthy salad.

Kale & White Bean Caesar Salad

1. Chop up a whole ton of dinosaur kale.  I mean really chop it. I hate big leaves in my salad, and for kale you especially want to "tame" it by chopping it to bits with a big chef's knife.
2. Massage the leaves with your (good) caesar dressing. Besides coating the leaves very well, massaging helps tenderize the kale, so they say.
3. Toss in some sundried tomatoes (in oil, or dried ones reconstituted by soaking in warm water for 15 minutes), navy or other white beans (isn't it ironic that navy beans are white?), and homemade croutons (cut bread into squares, toss with oil and salt, toast under a double broiler).
4. Season heavily with black pepper. If your caesar dressing isn't salty enough, you can add salt to taste to the salad.

Sexy tattooed arms not included.

Barley Salad and a Brief Rant about Glycemic Indexes


There really is a grain (pun intended) of truth, in some - and I mean some - of the low-carb diets, like the South Beach Diet.  However, only because they advise against processed grains, not because they suggest refraining from all grains.  Processed grains - sweets, snacks, breads, white rice, and white pasta - keep me hungry, make me feel tired and gross, make me gain weight, and worst of all, make me crave more processed grains!

But whole grains - brown rice, millet, whole wheat berries, quinoa, 100% whole wheat pasta, and the subject of today's post, barley - keep me full, give me a calm, happy energy, and let me be my proper weight.  Simple as that.  So why would I give them up in favor of meat and cheese, which are scientifically known to cause heart disease and, in the case of processed meat, diabetes?  I wouldn't.

Barley, in particular, has a very low glycemic index, which means it won't make your blood sugar go all crazy, which means you won't go all crazy.  It's basically like eating a vegetable.  And the health benefits are tremendous.  I won't go into all that here; you can easily search "barley health benefits" and see for yourself.  See why low-carb diets don't make sense?

Now - if you live in a city like Atlanta, you can easily find barley in most any grocery store.  You can buy a huge container of hulled barley for about two bucks at the farmers market (another myth about a healthy diet is that it costs more - not so).  But if you live in a small town, like the one where I grew up, it can be harder to find whole grains.  And many companies put the words "Whole Grain" on their packaged products to trick you.  So don't be fooled.  If the ingredients contain more than one or two things, it isn't whole grain.  Simple.  But you have options.

If you order shoes or clothes or books online, then why wouldn't you order food?  It's easy to order non-perishable food online for pretty cheap.  Order enough of it and it'll last you for a long, long time.

What to do with it once you get it?  Steam it like you would rice (2 cups water to 1 cup hulled barley) until it's soft but still has a bite.  Make a stir fry, add a little soy sauce, or make a really good salad like I made this morning.

My salad contained:
cooked barley
celery
tomato
daikon
parsley
ume plums
golden raisins
shoyu-roasted pumpkin seeds
black chickpeas
lime juice
olive oil
fresh ground pink peppercorns
salt

You can use whatever vegetables, herbs, nuts/seeds, dried fruit, and citrus juice (or vinegar) you have at home.  The important thing is that you include crunchy vegetables, one fresh herb, one type of crunchy nut or seed, and citrus juice or vinegar for a little tang.  I like to add the ume plums because they give salads a tangy burst of flavor, and raisins because of their chewy texture and sweet taste, which contrasts nicely with the salty salad.

What I Did With the Chickpeas

I posted previously on black garbanzos. I couldn't figure out what to do with them. A couple days ago, I put them in a bowl of water to soak, with still no plan for a recipe.  Then it hit me.

The whole reason I bought the black variety was because they're so pretty. I could have bought the cheaper, white version most of us are familiar with.  Here I was, trying to come up with some kind of crazy concoction, when the best way to show off the color was a simple salad.

First though, let me tell you how I cooked the chickpeas last night.

Though I had no idea how I'd eat them, I did know they had to be cooked. I looked in the spice cabinet and selected the only two bottles I've never used. Cardamom and a Chinese Five Spice, which I bought for a dollar at the farmers market.  I simmered the beans in water, a bay leaf, and these spices for around an hour, since I didn't want them to get too soft and lose the pretty skins.  (By the way, simmering beans falls into that category with letting bread rise or making a vegetable broth, which requires no brain power, attention, focus, work, or any of that nonsense. Mindless productivity, I like to call it). The beans came out delicate and fragrant. Perfect.

And the salad:
2 handfuls of arugula and spinach
1 umeboshi plum, chopped
a handful of black chickpeas
a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds
a drizzle of hemp oil
fresh lemon juice

I know I need to eat something like this when I start to feel tired or draggy and my jeans get a little tight. This is usually after a few days of sugar abandon. Meaning, I abandon self-control in favor of sugar.

And in celebration of simplicity, something that tastes best when left well enough alone:

Chickpea Salad

Tastes just like tuna salad but BETTER.  The secret is pulsing the chickpeas in the food processor to give them that chunky tuna texture. This is based on Colleen's (below) recipe for "Better than Tuna Salad."  You can watch Colleen prepare it here.
Here's my take on it, which is pretty much the exact same except I used more mustard, seeds instead of nuts, and fresh lemon juice.

Chickpea Salad:
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 c veganaise
1-2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 red bell pepper
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, peeled and diced
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
1/2 c pan-toasted nuts (I used pumpkin seeds.)
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
S&P to taste

Pulse the chickpeas in the food processor (or mash them with a fork) just enough to get them chunky and flaky (like canned tuna), then transfer to a bowl.  Add chopped veggies.  Stir in mayo/mustard combo and lemon juice.  Season with S&P.  Stir in parsley and nuts last.  Serve over greens or in a sandwich.

Salad is for Lunch

Part One

Salad is best consumed for lunch.  Make sure you heap your plate high with lightly dressed if dressed at all (trust me, you get used to this so quickly) spinach or arugula or romaine.  Add as many fruits and veggies as you want.  Hell, you can even top it with a scoop of macaroni and cheese if you want, now that you have the important leafy base, the one that's going to fill you up without putting you to sleep afterward. Lay off the cheese, nuts, and croutons, please.  Toppings are clever little things that fool you into thinking you're being calorie-frugal when really you may as well eat a snickers bar if you're going to pelt your salad with goat cheese, pine nuts, and sesame sticks.  At least macaroni and cheese doesn't pretend to be lowfat.  Finally, make sure you add some lean protein.  Otherwise you're going to starve.

Part Two

Salad does not belong at a dinner party.  I say this, having made dozens of salads for dozens of dinner parties.  They're pretty, they add color, and they're a light vegetarian accompaniment to heavier dishes. But now it occurs to me that while I love a salad for lunch, I never, ever enjoy eating salad for dinner.  When I eat a salad for dinner, I am going through the motions, putting forkfuls in my mouth without any real enjoyment.  So from now on, I am not going to subject my dinner guests to salad.  Instead I'm going to get right to the point with the stuff people actually want to eat.  No one will have to clear the obligatory salad plate before getting to the hot stuff, ever again, not while I'm in charge.

And below, a salad which does little to illustrate my point.  I've actually made it several times before and it's one of my favorites.  Mine doesn't look like that though.  Hmm.  Anyway, here's the recipe.