Happy Earth Day 2013! And since Earth Day lands on a Meatless Monday this year, I went crazy at the farmers market this weekend and found some really cool stuff to make this purple kale salad.
Meatless Monday
Meatless Monday Idea: Stir-fry Baby Bok Choy, Spinach, and Soy Chorizo on Brown Jasmine Rice
I love stir-frys because cooking is fast and easy. The ingredients for this vegan dish are simple and I got them all at Trader Joe's.
Meatless Monday Idea: Vegan, Gluten-free Tikka Masala
Here's an idea for Meatless Monday, vegan, gluten-free Tikka Masala with brown rice. This dish is from Bombay Spice. Here's a semi-homemade version I made with pre-made sauce.
No-Cooking 5-Minute Dish: Quinoa, Brown Rice, Black Beans, Arugula, Avocado, Tomato
This is my kind of healthy fast food, and a new vegan favorite great for Meatless Monday! This dish takes about 5-minutes to make and no-cooking is involved except cutting up some tomato, avocado, and onion chunks, and micro-waving an 8.5oz bag of Organic Ready-to-heat Quinoa Brown Rice from Seeds of Change Foods. I bought a whole small case of the stuff at Costco.
I went the extra mile and used all organic ingredients in my dish.
The Beauty of Three Watermelon Radish Salads: Carpaccio, Heirloom, and Arugula With Avocado
Watermelon radishes are so pretty! The first of my three Watermelon radish salad creations is this Radish Carpaccio with two different watermelon radishes, and regular red radish sprinkled with chopped red onions and micro-greens I got at Trader Joe's.
Meatless Burger: Adzuki Bean Burger Bowl
I'm always game to try frozen veggie burgers because they are convenient and easy to make at home especially for a quick Meatless Monday meal. At Whole Foods the other day, I saw a packet of these Hilary's Eat Well Adzuki Bean Burger patties with green chili and cumin, and decide to try them.
What caught my attention right away is that Hilary's burger is vergan, gluten-free, soy-free, corn-free, yeast-free, nut-free, and is non-GMO Prject verified. Seriously, this sounded like my perfect burger. I was admittedly a little skeptical because minus all the usual suspects, veggie burgers can taste bland and have the texture of mushy saw dust.
Happily, this Adzuki Bean Burger is delicious. It's a new fave now! The cumin really does stand out but not obnoxiously so. I pan-fried my patty with a little olive oil, and then sauteed some red onions and cremini mushrooms. This patty is so easy to cook thatt in the cooking instructions they even include the toaster. No microwaving.
I melted some vegan Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti wedge on top to make a cheeseburger, added a couple sweet pickle slices, and then rested everything on a bed of arugula. See, a vegan, gluten-free cheese burger can look good and be yummy!
Meatless Monday Idea: Vegetarian Tacos
Everyone loves tacos, right?! I personally love tacos not only because they are delicious fun, but they are so easy to make, and they are easy to share with others. Put stuff in shell, and eat. Voila!
For Meatless Monday, here are some ideas for veg tacos:
- Butternut squash tacos with mango salsa, avocado, black beans, and micro greens. (as seen above)
- Salad Bar Tacos (Basically, fill a box from the salad bar and dump scoops of your salad concoction in a taco shell. These are my favorite kind of tacos.)
- Portobello Mushroom Tacos
And to make gluten-free, corn-free tacos, use the leafs of greens like chard or cabbage as the taco shell.
What are your favorite vegetarian tacos?
Meatless Monday Idea: Vegan, Gluten-free Version of Dr. Weil's True Food Kitchen Tuscan Kale Salad
When I lived in Phoenix, one of my favorite restaurants was Dr. Andrew Weil's Kitchen. The food there is amazing! They make healthy eating fun and sexy. I went so much I was the Foursquare mayor several times of the Scottsdale location.
One of True Food Kitchen's signature dishes is their Tuscan Kale Salad. Here is the recipe for their version which contains Pecorino or Asiago cheese and bread crumbs. I made a version at home of their Tuscan Kale Salad that is vegan AND gluten-free.
For the kale, I got a bag of Tader Joe's pre-cut Organic Lacinato Kale. Instead of dairy cheese, I shaved some of Daiya's vegan Jalapeno Garlic Havarti Wedge. In place of bread crumbs, I pulverized walnuts in a food processor until it had the texture of bread crumbs. The crushed walnuts added the same texture as bread crumbs but with more protein, and safe for those avoiding gluten.
This Tuscan Kale Salad is so delicious, you can easily eat this every day!
Meatless Monday Idea: Quinoa, Kale, Butternut Squash Bowl
The folks who make Evolution Fresh juices have recently opened up a store in San Francisco where besides fresh juice you can get amazingly fresh and delicious healthy foods. We attended their opening party for a preview.
Here's one of my favorite dishes, and a great idea for Meatless Monday. Normally, this bowl comes with feta cheese, but to make it dairy-free and vegan, I asked the replace the cheese with snap peas.
You could easily make this dish at home. It's just a mixed bowl of red quinoa, chopped kale, roasted butternut squash, black beans, grape tomatoes, scallions, pepitas, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and fresh herbs.
Meatless Monday Idea: Roasted Kohlrabi, Turnip, and Heirloom Carrot Salad With Garden Cress Blend
One of my greatest pleasures is going to the Saturday farmer's market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. One of my new discoveries this weekend was purple kohlrabi which I found totally facinating shape-wise, and in color.
I found some turnips and some gorgeous heirloom carrots in a rainbow of colors. Isn't this bowl of root vegetables so pretty! I love the rich colors.
I decided to roast the vegetables at 400 degrees for 30 minutes with some olive oil, sea salt, and fresh thyme which I tossed in at the 20 minutes mark so they wouldn't burn into a crisp.
At the farmer's market, I also found this organic blend of greens from Marin Roots Farm consisting of Garden Cress, Chickweed, and Miner's Lettuce. I gotta say this green blend is now one of my new favorites.
For the salad, I sliced some of the roasted kohlrabi into smaller chunks and tossed onto a bed of the greens. I topped the roasted vegetables with almonds and crumbles of Cana de Oveja sheep cheese from Spain I found at Cowgirl Creamery.
I saved the rest of the roasted vegetables to eat by themselves as leftovers. So good for a hearty winter dish!
