Roasted Corn & Qunioa Salad

Ahhhh, summer! The time of fresh, sweet corn is finally here and although I usually just like to roast it, coat it with lime juice and eat until there's nothing left, I did come this yummy recipe using some.

The Stuff

• 2 ears of roasted corn, kernels carefully removed
  
• 2 cups of cooked quinoa
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1-2 cups of shredded, raw cabbage (red looks more dramatic)
• 4 small tomatoes, diced
  
• 8oz tempeh
• 1 batch of Cilantro Citrus vinaigrette
• half a small head of Romaine or other crisp lettuce cut into big shreds
  
• 1 small avocado, thinly sliced
  
• 2 corn tortillas
• Spray canola oil
  

The Making

Slice the tempeh into 1/2 inch strips. Heat a skillet, or a cast-iron grill pan (preferred), coat with a little canola oil, and add tempeh. Cook tempeh on both sides, using a little spray oil before turning, until golden. Set aside and cut into small pieces (roughly diced) once it has been cooled.

Heat oven to 425F. Cut tortillas into very thin strips with a sharp knife. Spray tortilla strips with some oil while tossing. Place tortilla strips on a small baking rack and put into oven. Bake for 5 minutes, or until crispy. Set aside.

While the tempeh is cooking put the remaining ingredients, except salad dressing, together into a large mixing bowl. Once the tempeh has cooled and been diced up add it and the dressing to the bowl and toss all ingredients together until everything is evenly coated with the dressing.

Serve salad on a bed of Romaine lettuce, topped with avocado slices and some of the baked tortilla strips.

Raw Kale & Chickpea Salad

Last summer we picked up a raw kale salad from the deli at a co-op in Davis, California, and enjoyed it a lot. This salad doesn't really recreate it, but it was that salad that encouraged me to try using more raw kale in dishes. You can mix & match things like dressing, veggies used, etc., but this is generally what I stick with.

The Stuff

• 1 bunch of kale, any variety
• 2 medium carrots, shredded
• 1 bell pepper, diced small (I prefer a red just for contrast in colors)
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced small (you can use red or yellow, I'd just saute it first)
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 15 oz can, rinsed & drained)
• 1/2 cup pesto or balsamic salad dressing
  

Optional Stuff (tasty, pick a couple of these!)

• 1/4 cup sun dried tomato pieces, cut up small
• 1/3 cup green olives (oil cured, not canned, go to the olive bar if your market has one), sliced small
• 1/3 cup thin sliced basil
• 1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped up fine
• 1 cup cooked quinoa, brown rice, barley, or wheat/spelt berries **You'll need more pesto or salad dressing (this option makes for a nicely hearty dish - great for picnics)
• Fresh tomatoes and cucumber (if this is going to be eaten right away), drained capers, raw cauliflower, beets and peas. Any additional veggies should be chopped up into small pieces.
  

The Making

Stem, wash and shred the kale into very small pieces and add to large bowl. Add in all other ingredients, pesto or salad dressing last. Toss well to evenly coat all of the kale and to keep the grated carrots from clumping together. Let stand at least 30 minutes before serving. Serves 8

This salad keeps very well and does very well being made a day ahead of serving. It travels great too.

Kale & Chickpea Salad

This is not the recipe, I have to recreate this one. This post is just the food porn about how good this salad turned out! I wanted a nice salad, but something that would be very hearty for dinner. I've had some raw kale salads in the past and really wanted to give another go for one.

What I had was green curly kale, golden beets, carrots, chick peas, red quinoa, fresh basil, and a young Walla Walla onion. I shredded all the veggies up fine and put everything into a bowl to toss. I actually shredded up the kale very fine first and tossed it with apple cider vinegar while I worked on the other veggies.

In the dressing department I discovered we were out of tahini so I soaked about half a cup of raw cashews in hot water for several minutes. I put these into the food processor along with a bulb of raw garlic, balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar, fine flake nutritional yeast, and some other dried herbs. Everything was processed until quite smooth and then poured over all the veggies, chick peas & quinoa.

Toss well, coating everything, serve and and bask in the appreciative compliments. This got even better the next day or two. Will be recreating this very soon with a full recipe!

Cold Curry Quinoa Salad

• 1 small sweet or red onion (diced)
• 1 small can diced tomatoes (drained)
• 3oz grilled extra firm tofu (diced)
• 1 smallish cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup slivered roasted almonds or cashews
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• pinch of saffron
• 1 lime
• chopped cilantro

Make quinoa as per normal, adding the curry powder & saffron in with the simmering water. While simmering, peel, slice and seed the cucumber, place in strainer and salt liberally to remove water. When quinoa finishes, let it cool to room temp, then combine all other ingredients. Let sit for at least 2 hours in fridge to allow flavors to meld. Serve cold topped with cilantro & fresh lime wedges to squeeze over.

Ginger Orange Salad

Christie had two requests today while we were walking around downtown enjoying the gorgeous July day: salad and something with Asian inspired flavors. We enjoyed these delicious, hearty salads for dinner outside in the cool breeze this evening.

Dressing

• 1/3 liquid from 1 can of mandarin oranges
• 2 teaspoons agave
• 2 tablespoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (Tamari, Shoyu, or soy sauce would be fine)
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 tablespoons raw tahini
  
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• sea salt, to taste
• chili flakes, to taste
• Siracha, to taste
• Black sesame seeds (because they look particularly awesome, however, white could be used)

Whisk together all ingredients until smooth in the bottom of a large bowl.

Into the bowl add:

The Veggies

• Small handful of fresh string beans (I got to use the fabulous red ones from our garden)
• Small handful of snow peas
• 1/2 small head Nappa cabbage
• 1/2 small head of Bok Choy
• 2 small carrots
• 4" from a large cucumber
• 1 cup spinach
• 1 can of mandarin oranges (set aside)
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• **Sunflower seed sprouts to top (if you grow them or can get at a market)
  

All of the veggies are eiter sliced into thin, 1 - 2" pieces or shredded. Feel free to improvise, but I used this assortment.

Ginger Orange Tempeh

• 1 pack of tempeh cut into 1/2" strips
• 1/2" fresh ginger cut into thin, long pieces
• 1/3 liquid from mandarin oranges
• Sea Salt
• Spray Canola oil for frying

Heat pan and add oil, a cast-iron grill pan is ideal for this. Add in strips of tempeh and cook until browned with a lid to keep from getting dry. Spray top of tempeh before turning in pan and cooking the other side until browned, adding a little sprinkle of salt. Flip again, add ginger then juice. Cover until juice has cooked in and ginger browned slightly. Set aside to cool, then cut into small pieces and tossed into the dressing.

Toss everything in the dressing until evenly coated; go ahead and use your hands! Garnish with sprouts & mandarin orange slices and serve.

Makes two dinner sized salads or could serve 4 as a first course.

Quinoa & Carrot Salad

This salad has no pictures because I just threw this together out of what I found in the house one afternoon while foraging for lunch between conference calls. We had a bag of grated carrots from Trader Joe's that had been picked up for the veggie sushi and needed to be used up! I was kind of wanting a macaroni salad, but really wanted something with more protein. With those two things in mind I came up with something that was tasty, heartier than many salads as it uses high-protein quinoa in addition to legumes, and Andy & Devon both raved about how good it was as a wrap with some lettuce.

1 cup quinoa
2 cups broth
12 oz grated (large grate or julienned) carrots
1 15 oz. can red kidney beans
1 15 oz. can white kidney beans (cannellini)
1/2 sweet onion, small dice
2 large stalks celery, small dice
1 Tablespoon whole grain mustard
3 Tablespoons Vegenaise
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

Cook quinoa in broth and set aside to cool while dicing vegetables. Drain and rinse kidney beans. Toss vegetables, beans, and quinoa with mustard, Vegenaise, and vinegar.