Cauliflower Quiona Salad

Last week at work I attended a retirement lunch.  The lunch was held at White Spot. TRAUMA.  The invite email had a link to their menu and I discovered they had some interesting salads, so I thought maybe this won’t be too bad.

IT WAS BAD. REAL BAD. The cauliflower on the salad tasted like they didn’t know how to defrost frozen vegetables.

However, the traumatizing experience of eating White Spot salad inspired me to get creative with salads at home (mostly just to burn the flavour of white spot food out of my mouth forever).

I made a cauliflower, quinoa salad with leafy greens, and it was lovely. My cauliflower was well cooked and did not send shivers down the person ingesting its spine (I’m looking at you White Spot).  Usually, when I have had quinoa salad the ratio of quinoa to vegetables has been equal, but in this salad the quinoa is more of a top garnish which is actually a really nice way to use it!

Salad

• 1/3 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup edamame (I used frozen)
• 1 pack leafy greens
• 2 TB chopped almonds
• 1 cup chopped cauliflower
• 1/4 tsp tumeric, paprika  and salt

Dressing

• 1/4 balsamic vinegar
• 2 TB honey mustard
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Steam the heads of cauliflower for around 5 minutes, you don’t want it to become to mushy.
2. Fry the cauliflower in 1/2 TB coconut oil with the tumeric, paprika and salt. Add your chopped almonds, and cook until nicely toasted. Set aside to cool.
3. Bring 1/3 cup of quinoa with 2/3 cups of water to a boil, and then let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
4. Cook your edamame according to package.
5. Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together and adjust flavours to please your taste buds
6. In a salad bowl prepare the greens, then add the quinoa, edamame, and cauliflower mix. Add the dressing to taste.

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy Cabbage Salad

Cabbage is one of my fav vegetables because it is cheap, delicious and super good for you! It’s also hella low in calories (not that I believe in counting calories or anything like that), but since it is so low cal you can pair it with a nice creamy dressing and not feel guilty.  I haven’t had coleslaw in years because it’s the creepiest salad ever, usually it has so much mayonnaise on it that it sort of slips and slides around your plate (not appealing), but this salad is like coleslaw after a makeover.

Creamy Cabbage Salad

• 1/2 cabbage (I used green but red would probs be awesome also)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 dijon mustard
• 1 TB miso paste
• 2 TB cashews
• sprouts (for garnish)

1. Wash and chop your cabbage into ribbon like slices
2. Mix the mustard, tahini and miso together.  Add to the cabbage and mix well.
3. Garnish with cashews and sprouts

In this recipe the tahini creates the creamy texture and flavour usually achieved with mayonnaise but minus the unholy slimyness (I’m aware that is not a proper word).

Best Breakfast

When I first heard of tofu scramble to replace eggs I was like; “nahhhhhhh” that sounds disgusting, I can live without having a classic breakfast ever again.  WELL, I was wrong y’all, very wrong.  Tofu scramble is surprisingly delicious, it doesn’t have the slimy texture I imagined it would.  It also is not any more difficult to make than cracking an egg is! I made my tofu scramble curry flavoured just to make it more exciting as tofu can be a bit bland.  

My full meal was tofu scramble with yam and potato hashbrowns, fried tomatoes and cornbread.

IT WAS REALLY GOOD. Just saying.

Tofu Scramble

• 1 package extra firm tofu (if your tofu is soft you may get the undesired slimy texture)
• 2 TBS nutritional yest
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp salt and pepper
• tsp coconut oil (for the pan)

Take the tofu and break it up into chunks with your hands. Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut oil and mix until yellow, don’t over mix the tofu. Heat a frying pan with coconut oil.  Fry the tofu until any water has absorbed, and the tofu has a legit egg like texture. It’s super easy, you don’t have an excuse not to try it!

~peace~

 

Bright Beet Smoothie!

Once upon a time, I used to make smoothies like every day, and it was great, but it was also a phase.  My smoothie phase ended a long time ago, because usually you find a type you like and then you fall into a smoothie rut.  I got bored of smoothies and moved on. Something has changed though, because today I made a truly great, truly excellent smoothie (an awesome smoothie creator does not need to be modest) with some unexpected ingredients.  It started the way literally all of my interesting food creations do- I needed to make something with veggies that were getting a bit beyond their best (squishy beets are gross= eww).  So I decided to blend my old beets (do not ask why) then I just started adding ingredients that might belong in a smoothie and the result was really fucking good. ALSO beets contain phytonutrients called betalains which provide antioxidants, and can act as an anti-inflammatory, all the more reason to enjoy.

• 2 small beets (peeled and chopped)
• 1 cup (240 ml) frozen berries
• a banana
• 1/3 cup apple sauce (80 ml)
• 2 TB (30 ml) almond or peanut butter
• 1 TB (15 ml) chia seeds
• 1 TB (15 ml) grated unsweetened coconut

Blend and enjoy!