I may be a vegan, healthy food 'freak' but, I have a secret... I don't like salads! That is, unless they are epic like this one! ;)
Let me show you how we can make a quick salad that's not only good for you, filled with nutritional ingredients but also tastes good! I promise, it's possible!
I want to be honest with you, I am not and have never been the girl going to the salad section of the menu. Before I was vegan, the only salad I would ever even accept was an extra saucy, creamy, Caesar that had crunchy chicken on top of it. Cringe oh boy! You guys have no idea what my diet used to be like... let me tell you, it couldn't have been further than where I'm at now. Basically North and South pole opposite.
So, being the vegan, health food addict I am now, I figured I needed to figure out what to do with this salad situation at hand.
Do you know what is in the pre-made, store-bought dressings? Take a gander at the ingredient list next time you're shopping or if you have some in your fridge, go see! It's horrifying! I knew I needed to start making my own!
Two years ago I was visiting my mom in Canada and she said "Honey, I don't know what to feed you anymore with all of your rules. There's kale in the garden, just fix yourself a salad."
I stood there looking blankly at her. "Excuse me, a what?"
"It's good, I've got loads of yummy dressings in the fridge!"
Ya, I don't think so...
Like a spoiled brat, but too hungry to turn down the food being offered, I meandered over to the fridge and started looking at the options on the door.
"Mom, have you SEEN what they put in these? You can't eat this stuff!"
She came over to the fridge and grabbed one of the bottles out of my hand, looked at it for a minute, looked back at me and flung it back on the shelf.
I'll never forget that day because that day, I taught my momma how to make her own dressings and now, it's your turn!
Tempe Supreme Kale Salad With Avocado Dressing:
Salad:
- 1 Beet (if you cut small enough, they won't even be tasted but you get their nutrients)
- 1 Cucumber
- Kale (massaged)
- 3 Shallots (cut into small pieces)
- 3 Tomato
- 1 Avocado
- 1 Package Tempe (meat replacement, protein!)
- 1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
Dressing:
- 1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
- 3 tbs Olive Oil
- 1 Lemon (juiced)
- 1 tbs Palm Nectar (or choice sweetener)
- 3 Cloves of Black Garlic (I just love the taste but you can omit without a problem, I would add more garlic in that case because I love garlic ;))
- 1 Avocado (this is going to make the dressing creamy!)
- 1/3 Cloves Garlic (coming from my love of caeser dressing, I use a lot of garlic)
- 1 tbs Dried Mushroom Powder (use real mushrooms if you don't have powder)
- Himalayan Sea Salt
How To Make It:
Start by chopping all the veggies up into small, bite sized pieces (you can use a food processor!) (Make sure the shallots are extra small!)
Massage the kale into salt water until it starts to soften (making it more digestible)
Stirfry the tempe (I used liquid aminos and coconut oil)
Add kale, veggies and tempe into a big bowl, sprinkle with sunflower seeds, put aside
Place all dressing ingredients into a blender (go by taste, don't worry about measurement!) and pour over the salad bowl
Mix and serve!
Voila, your healthy, delicious salad is served!
I'm going to tell you, even when I was making this salad, I was thinking about how I didn't want the beets, didn't want this, didn't want that. It turned out it was all in my head because this huge bowl was gone in no time! It ended up being super delicious and guess what? I felt AMAZING energy after eating it so, I had to share it with you!
Hope you like it!
I am obsessed with food, and I am a strong believer in the power it has within it, and the ability it has to heal us! I aim to inspire through my recipes and posts and hope to connect with you here, through your heart. Some say the way to the heart is through the stomach, I 100% agree with that theory ;)
I believe in sharing what makes the heart happy, if you'd like to see more, come on by 😘
XO,
AJ picked your post @heart-to-heart for his #TOP5 FOOD POST. Visit AJ's FOOD ROUNDUP to view where your post is ranked.
Thank you @ajala <3 It's such an honor <3
Simply add bacon and chicken nuggets, then remove all the vegetables.
Well my friend, that alteration would make my healthy salad not longer be vegan and that's what I'm promoting :)
Himalayan Sea Salt is so good for you as an alternative. Love this post. Thanks #PAL supporter
Wow, looks delicious
Nice
I love healthy dressigns for salad, especially herbal sauce from fresh herbs! Your sauce must be so delicious, and the next time, I will try it out! Lots of love 😘
Mmmm yes totally! Fresh herbs make incredible sauces! <3 I am waiting patiently for my herb garden to grow so I can experiment more <3 Lots of love right back! I hope you get to try it out!
Mmm, yeah some may think I'm weird, but I freakin' love me a good salad! 😊 And yay! I have most everything listed so I can totally make this! Thanks for sharing @heart-to-heart
Great looking salad.
Have you ever tried adding Hulled or Toasted Hemp Seeds?
Hemp seeds are full of protein, omega6, omega3 and minerals.
Toasted Hemp Seeds tastes like an earthy sunflower seed and the Hulled Hemp Seeds taste like walnuts.
If you would like more information, please check out my site http://hippiebutter.com
Good homesteading friend.
Very good
I like to eat lot Salad in summer
Thanks for sharing
good post friends, delicious food
Looks amazing, hitting the grocery store today, I have to make this!
Its look delicious dear thanks for sharing
I am actually with you--a straight up salad is not really my favorite thing either! It has to be loaded like this for me to enjoy one. I love tempeh, though! I usually just make my normal meals and throw it over some greens to call it a salad. ;)
Looks great. I'm going to have to try this. My go-to dressing now is just some tahini, fresh lemon juice, cumin, and garlic-->blender - adding a bit of water if it's too thick.
Yummmmm..I love salad in any shapes and forms, thank you for sharing the recipe!
See, I actually love salad but I don't care for most of what typically goes into them. I just like iceberg, and romain lettuces, baby spinache, carrots, and cucumbers. My main problem is that I like to smother it in ranch or italian dressings.
I'll give your dressing a go, it sounds pretty good. I just can't do the kale and beets and shallots. I still get a good variety of veggies, though. I have a really good blender that I make smoothies with. I usually use some mixture of kale, sweet potato, beets, parsley, red cabbage, swiss chard(the red kind), broccoli, and fresh ginger root. Those are my usual victims. I also put a little kiwi, strawberry, bananna, or blueberries in to make it more palatable, along with some vanilla flavored whey protein powder, walnuts or pecans, and almond milk. It's really not too bad. I just can't bring myself to eat most raw vegetables. This is really the best that I can do.
I've been told that it's not as healthy to drink your vegetables because when you chew them it improves their bioavailabilty or something because of the enzymes in your saliva. Something like that. Don't know how true that is.
What I'd really like is to find is a recipe for non-dairy ranch that actually tastes good. I've tried a few and they always taste weirdly watery or oily. But yeah, that avacado dressing sounds like it might be a good replacement.
Thanks for the dressing recipe, I really needed something like this.
The salad looks so yummy and healthy! Especially with the your special dressing, I love salad as entry, it open my appetite to eat.
Thanks @creativewoman :) I don't make salads very often but whenever I do, I always make my own sauce so it can be healthy too ;) I would love to make a Moroccan dressing with orange, yum :)
Okay...i choose to say nothing this time around. You already know how we row!
Ya, ya, I know you wanna just eat all my food ;) <3
Hahahaha you always read my mind. Yesssss!
Wow looks very yummy, me too I'm a fan of vegetables, I love cooking vegetables for my family.
Hope to make friends with you 😊
Sorry for you had lost your phone.
Vegetables are so delicious! I love hearing about people who are using them in their cooking! I try to find ways to inspire how we can use more veggies in our diets! I'm excited to be friends with you =D