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Category: Salads

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Flavorful Greens for Any Dish

Greens on Grains

Ingredients:

  • My favorite greens – baby spinach, baby kale, and baby chard.  – I often buy Earthbound Organic Power Greens
  • No-salt seasoning (full of flavor without added salt)
  • Sea salt – optional (add a bit if needed, but you control the amount this way)
  • Bragg’s liquid aminos – It’s a soy sauce alternative, and it adds this great umami flavor to your dishes.

Directions:

  1. Start with 1/4 cup of water instead of oil and add to the pan. These greens will wilt easily.
  2. Add the greens to the pan along with the dehydrated vegetable mix and seasonings
  3. Continue stirring until nicely wilted and most of the water has evaporated.
  4. And as a finishing touch, I like to add Bragg’s liquid aminos.

Now pile on those greens inside of your vegetable bowls and on top of grains. Yum, yummy!

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Chickpea Salad/Bowl with Tahini Dressing

chickpea bowl

This is the chickpea salad that I’ve had a few times this week. Sometimes with rice and sometimes just the chickpeas, salad greens, and dressing. I also made it a warm bowl by using chickpeas, veggie balls (IKEA), basmati rice, and collard greens. (I’ll have to add a photo of the bowl with collard greens later this week.)

So you can make it a cold salad or a warm bowl is what I’m hinting at.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas (cooked/seasoned)
Veggie Balls (Or even more chickpea falafel balls.)
Greens (Cold for a salad or cooked for a bowl.)
Rice

Optional add-ins: olives or dried beets (as shown in the photo)

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and serve with this Savory Tahini Dressing.

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Cucumber Caesar Salad Dressing

Cucumber Caesar Salad

I made the dressing not knowing what I would use for the salad ingredients, but I’m happy that I found this Cucumber Caesar Salad Dressing combination and I wanted to share it with you right away.

I decided to try this dressing because my daughter likes Caesar salad dressings.

And I enjoy cucumbers, especially when I can find really great tasting ones. That usually means a trip to the Farmers Market though. Yet, sometimes I find that the mini packaged cucumbers taste good too. Yet, the best cucumbers I’ve ever had were those that I grew in my own garden. I wish you the best in finding some good cucumbers for this salad.

Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup raw cashews
  • 1/8 cup raw pine nuts, or raw sesame seeds (I didn’t have either, so I used tahini paste.)
  • 3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp miso paste (I used a mellow white. See note* below.)
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp kelp granules (I used powdered kelp.)
  • 1 tsp honey, or liquid sweetener of choice
  • 1/4 cup of water (I added more for a thinner version.)
  • 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil, optional (Omit for oil-free version).

Directions:

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a small food processor or in a blender until smooth.

*Note about miso paste: If miso paste is kept in the freezer it will last for at least a year. It never freezes solid, so it’s easy to measure out what you need as you need it.

Cucumber Caesar Salad

SERVE:  I served over a salad of sliced cucumbers, split cherry tomatoes and chopped celery. I will definitely make this Cucumber Caesar Salad again in the near future (like tomorrow).

It is so YUMMY! It’s quick and easy. I hope you will try it soon.

Click for more salad dressing recipes.

Watch Creamy Cumin Ranch Oil-Free Salad Dressing and a Vegan Tex-Mex Salad on YouTube.

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Salad Made Easy

This technique makes creating a mid-day lunch or dinner snack easy.  It also helps with creating a variety in your meals.

What I like to do is put various toppings together into containers and add the salad dressing too. Ideally, choose any ingredients that you would like to marinate in the salad dressing. For me, this is everything other than nuts and soft lettuces, but I will add kale and cabbages because they are tougher lettuces.

Toppings in this photo:  beans – edamame and chickpeas, fresh sweet corn, zucchini, artichokes, bell peppers, and olives.

There are so many vegetable toppings for you to choose from. For more ideas download the “Delicious – ‘No Fail’ Salads” Guide. Also, check out these delicious oil-free salad dressings.

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Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing

I finally got around to making this salad dressing and I’m happy that I did. I added to a Tex-Mex salad and…..YES! Yummy!

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup raw cashews (soak 1 – 2 hours if you do not have a high-speed blender)
  • 1/2 cup filtered water
  • Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 TBS)
  • 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 1 tsp snipped chives (or the top green part of green onions)
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

  1. Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender for a very smooth dressing.

Note: This dressing recipe contains 50-70 calories per TBS. (50 calories if you only use 1/2 cup cashews)

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Cashew Cilantro Cream Sauce

I had just bought a new bunch of cilantro and I removed all the stalks and leaves that were loose because I didn’t want them to go “bad” at the bottom of the jar. (This is how I keep my herbs fresh in the fridge.) So I was left with a bunch that I wanted to use up in a hurry. I decided to make an alternative to the cheese topping for the variety of plant-based tacos that I eat very often – so I searched the internet looking for a cilantro sauce. This was the first to appear. I found it at The Baking Fairy’s website (see below), but here is my recipe. I think next time I will definitely try fresh garlic (1/2 to 1 clove) and fresh onions (1/8 inch slice), yet this recipe is still a good one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup soaked cashews
  • 1/4 cup cashew milk (or any unsweetened nut milk, I used almond milk)
  • 1/4 cup or more of cilantro (packed tightly)
  • 1/4 cup of lime juice
  • 1/2 jalapeno (I only had jalapeno juice from my homemade pickled jalapeno peppers)
  • 3/8 – 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 3/8 – 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 3/8 – 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • a little pepper is also a nice addition
Directions:
  1. Add all ingredients except for the nut milk to a blender and blend.
  2. Add nut milk as needed until you get to your desired consistency.
The original recipe for this sauce was found at https://www.thebakingfairy.net/2017/05/sofritas-tacos-cashew-cream/.

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Homemade Catalina Dressing – Oil-Free

I had a mango and a red bell pepper and recall making a dressing out of the two a while back. But this time, I added a few more ingredients. Then end result is a dressing that reminded me of Catalina Dressing, but this one is Oil-Free.

Catalina was my salad dressing of choice when I was a child and likely when I was also a teen. Of course it was from a bottle and one that is a very popular salad dressing brand. (OKAY, I feel a bit uncomfortable sharing that, but there are really more healthy options…such as the one I’m about to give you below.)

Granted, my salad as a child only consisted of cucumbers, tomato and iceberg lettuce. Yeah I guess, it’s a good start for anyone, but I finally learned that I love all vegetables and now I rarely eat a salad made of only 3 vegetables. Okay…enough of reminiscing about my childhood, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 small mango (Ataulfo mangos are the perfect size)
1/4 of a small to medium red bell pepper
1 TBS apple cider vinegar (use lemon juice instead for Sadkhin Diet)
1 clove garlic, small
1 – 2 inch piece of zucchini or cucumber (if more liquid is desired)
salt to taste (approx 1/8 tsp, optional)

Other possible add-ins:These are optional add-ins that are similar to most recipes that you will find online for Catalina Dressing.

  1. Honey (if you need it sweeter, but Ataulfo mangos are usually very sweet)
  2. If you want/need the extra “good” fat, add some extra virgin olive oil
  3. Tomato slice or 1 tsp tomato paste
  4. Onion slice or onion powder
  5. Dash of paprika
Directions: Blend all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender, such as a Vitamix.  Use as desired.
I just poured it all on top of my salad and dug in. YUMMY!

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Spicy Tropical Salad

Ingredients:
2 Altufo mangos
2 peaches, nectarines and/or apricots
1/2 cup strawberries
1 – 2 TBS green onions (or red onions)
3 leaves of fresh basil
green salad mixture as desired
Dash of Cayenne Pepper (to taste)

Oh, and I added a few bits of grapefruit today…

Directions: (Simply add every to a bowl and toss together)

  • Peeled and sliced mangos
  • Chopped peaches, nectarines and/or apricots after removing pits
  • Chopped strawberries
  • Clip salad and basil with scissors into smaller parts
This recipe was inspired by Fully Raw Kristina’s ‘Spicy Mango Basil Salad’ from the Fully Raw Diet book.

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No Oil Italian Salad Dressing

Hi everyone. I promised that I would post this recipe and I am fulfilling my promise on the same day! (Amazing!) I had to leave home and get a cubicle at the library in order to focus on doing this, but I really feel that it’s so important for me to share the recipe.

 

So, why would anyone want a no oil salad dressing? (FODMAP FRIENDLY version below)

  • Reduce calories – just 1 TBS of oil contains at least 100 calories.
  • Savings – if you use oils in your salads, you want to use the best possible oils so that you get the best nutritional benefit. Never use hydrogenated oils in your salads because they overload your digestive system. Click here for more information about choosing healthy oils. A healthy, cold-pressed oil, such as extra virgin olive oil, cost more than hydrogenated oils.
  • Difficulty digesting fats. Perhaps you don’t produce enough bile, need to give your gall bladder a rest, or had your gall bladder removed.
  • Eliminate IBS Symptoms (Oils can trigger IBS and acid reflux, (FODMAP FRIENDLY version below)
Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup vinegar (raw apple cider vinegar is my top choice)
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 3/4 cup filtered or spring water
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 2 – 3 fresh sprigs of parsley
  • 1 tsp raw honey (or other sweetener of your choice)
  • 1/2 tsp mustard powder
  • 1 – 2 TBS color bell peppers (or 1/2 – 1 TBS dried)
  • 1 – 2 TBS chia seeds (this will thicken the dressing)
  • 1 tsp dried herbs (use an Italian blend or mix single herbs of oregano, rosemary, dill, etc)
  • up to 3/4 tsp salt (I wouldn’t use anymore than that)
  • dash to 1/8 tsp pepper
      optional: I would only use the following when using a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix
  • 1/4 of a small apple*, peeled
  • 2 inches of cucumber, peeled
Directions: Blend all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender, such as a Vitamix.  Use as desired.
 
FODMAP Friendly Recipe
Click here fore more FODMAP FRIENDLY Recipes.

This recipe has been revised to make it more FODMAP Friendly.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup vinegar (raw apple cider vinegar is my top choice)
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 3/4 cup filtered or spring water
  • 2 – 3 fresh sprigs of parsley
  • 2 – 4 drops of Stevia
  • 1/2 tsp mustard powder
  • 1 – 2 TBS color bell peppers (or 1/2 – 1 TBS dried)
  • 1 – 2 TBS chia seeds (this will thicken the dressing)
  • 1 tsp dried herbs (use an Italian blend or mix single herbs of oregano, rosemary, dill, etc)
  • up to 3/4 tsp salt (I wouldn’t use anymore than that)
  • dash to 1/8 tsp pepper

* If you desire a garlic flavor, the best way is to opt for a modified “low-oil” version and add 1 TBS of a garlic infused oil for flavoring. This would still be low-calorie since you won’t be using the entire recipe on one serving of salad.  

Directions: Blend all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender, such as a Vitamix.    

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Texas Caviar

This is a new one for me. I have never heard anyone call “salsa” by any other name. I have lived in Texas for 45 years! Texas Caviar – never heard of it.
So I did my best. The only think different about this salsa is that I didn’t chop/puree the tomatoes in my food processor. Actually, I feel that this version is more like a salad. 
Here are the ingredients I used. Feel free to use the proportions that you like best.
Ingredients:
  • Red Onion
  • Green Onions
  • Bell Peppers
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Fresh Corn (roasted on stove top, a nice addition)
  • Cilantro
  • Black Beans (cooked, leave out for a total raw meal)
  • Lime Juice
  • Apple Cider Vinegar (just a splash will do)
  • Jalapeno (or Cayenne Pepper)
  • Salt/Pepper to Taste
Directions:
  1. Chop fresh vegetables and toss together with remaining ingredients in a bowl.
  2. Allow to sit at room temperature about 30 minutes for flavors to combine.
  3. Eat with tortilla chips or use to top a fresh “Tex-Mex” salad.