VeganMoFo 2017 #8: Recipe Round-Up: Salad Samurai

8th: You do make friends with salad – A salad to win anyone’s heart.

Salads can be very, very sad things, but they shouldn't be. A good salad is an absolute delight, and can range from a simple side salad to a meal-sized salad packed full of flavours and textures for a more filling meal. Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero is a must for any salad lover. The book is divided into salads for each season, as well as an additional 'Sweet and Savoury' chapter. You can see what else I have made from this book here.

East West Roasted Corn Salad (Summer): This is a creamy, sweet corn salad. It is meant to be a bit spicy, but I only used a smidge of sriracha for a gentle heat. You can make your own cashew dressing or use vegan mayo. I only had a jar of Melrose mayo to use up, which isn't really that good, so that is not the salads fault. Vegenaise forever! As well as corn, the creamy dressing also coats coriander, basil (I used regular), lemongrass tofu and tomatoes and is topped with some garam masala toasted coconut. I also served this over some brown rice with some baby spinach.
Rating: :)



Spinach and Sweet Potato Crunch Bowl (Fall): The green here is meant to be collards, but we don't have those here so I subbed chopped baby spinach instead. This is such a lovely combination! Roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, Sriracha & Smoke Pecans and a lovely smoky orange vinaigrette. The pecans are very easy to make in the oven. I made a third of the recipe to serve with the salad, and I decreased the sriracha for a gentle heat only. I served the salad with some hot fresh bread rolls, which were great for mopping up leftover dressing from the bottom of the bowl.
Rating: Salad :D, Pecans :)



Gingery Beets & Lentils with Tahini and Agave Nectar (Winter): This salad is just a fabulous combination of flavours. The beets are roasted and tossed with lentils, carrots (which I also roasted), lots of parsley and a ginger orange vinaigrette. I cut down on the oil in the vinaigrette a little so it wasn't too oily for me. Then it is all drizzed with delicious Lemon Tahini Dressing and some dark agave. The lemon tahini dressing is super easy to make, and quite delicious. I only ended up needing about half the recipe for this, but it was more than OK to have leftover dressing on hand. I served it all over some baby spinach.
Rating: Salad :D, Dressing :)



Avocado Tofu Breakfast Bowl with Carrot Ginger Dressing: Salad bowls for breakfast? Yes please! Corn, cherry tomatoes, black beans and greens make the base of this bowl, tossed with some Carrot and Ginger Chia Dressing. I also tossed through a bit of leftover quinoa I had. This is topped with avocado and a Smoke & Spice rubbed tofu. I only needed half the amount of rub to coat my tofu, and I found the tofu on its own a little bitter and dry, but all is fixed when it comes together. It is all topped off with crushed sweet potato chips. The carrot and chia dressing is drinkable, and super easy to make.
Rating: Bowl :D, Dressing :D



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post - Month of Sahara



Nothing was safe from Sahara making a bed on it, she loved all the layers to be underneath her. Anything left on the bed, be it clothes or an empty laundry bag (as seen here), she would make it her snooze spot.