A Couple of Recent Delicious Salads

Today I won't be giving you recipes, since these salads were thrown together from inspiration according to what was on hand, and there was no measuring. I'm sure you vegans out there do the same thing -- from bits and pieces you create culinary masterpieces. These are just a couple of salads I came up with that turned out to be delicious and pretty too.

The base of the salad above was a handful of arugula. Then I added a handful of thinly sliced purple and green cabbages, thinly sliced radishes, a small homegrown tomato and half an avocado. I dressed this salad with Annie's Goddess dressing, thinned with Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar. The tang of the vinegar was great with the fatty avocado chunks. This salad was voluptuous and crunchy. There was a different flavor and texture in each bite. Yum.

This next salad combination turned out to be a bit like an antipasto. Strong flavors were a lovely foil to the mild spinach. I sauteed some red onion, and cooked a couple of pieces of Lightlife Bac'n, then cut it into little pieces. I let these cool before adding them to the salad, but you could add them right away if you like your spinach a little "wilted". I also added a couple of chopped martini olives (green with pimiento) and some chick peas. I dressed this salad with the Goddess dressing combination, which was good, but the vinegar was just another similar strong flavor, so next time I might try this with a sweeter dressing, maybe something with agave and bac'n -- an idea for the future!

The spinach salad was eaten at lunch, and contained plenty of nutrition - calcium, vitamins, protein. The first salad was eaten at dinner (I made one for my husband too -- he loved it!) That one was also packed with nutrition, but since the rest of my family was having fettucini alfredo, I wanted something more to eat. So here's what I had instead of the alfredo:

Mmmm -- this looks so good to me! It may not be too pretty to the average Joe, but I bet you vegans know what I mean. This is a pillowy whole wheat flatbread spread with artichoke and spinach hummus and topped off with a bit of leftover red quinoa. This, along with the voluptuous salad provided such a satisfying and delicious dinner.

By far the most common question we vegans face is, of course, "where do you get your protein?" Well, here's one way we get our protein! Quinoa is such a protein-rich grain, and paired here with protein-rich hummus, I had a real double whammy of the nutrient. I ought to do the math so I can find out how much chicken a non-vegan would have to eat to get this much protein. This was a wonderful meal.

I love being inventive and finding different ways to use up perfectly good food before it gets wasted. Doing this makes me feel my larder is very bountiful indeed. Enjoy getting creative with your food!