This refreshing salad is packed with extra crunch from 4 crunchy veggies that are tossed with a sweet, tangy, and very slightly spicy dressing.

It is the perfect kind salad to put together for a picnic. It stays crunchy and the dressing remains lightly coating everything because it doesn’t get watered down by all the crispy veggies. It pairs as well with Thai curry as it does with taco. Add some raw pepitas on top for extra crunch and to make this salad a satisfying lunch entrée all on its own.

All that, and this salad is loaded in Vitamins A & C with a good amount of Vitamin K!

The Stuff: Dressing

• 1 mango, peeled and sliced into large pieces
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of 1 blood orange
• 1/4 sweet red bell pepper, de-seeded
• 1/4 Anaheim chili, de-seeded
• 1/4 Poblano chili, de-seeded

Combine all ingredients into a food processor, fitted with an S-blade*. Process on high until you have a thick sauce, scraping down sides as needed until smooth. Set aside.

*If you have a powerful blender (e.g., VitaMix) you can just throw everything into the blending vessel and blend until smooth.

The Stuff: Salad

• 1 small jicama, peeled and sliced into 2″ matchsticks
• 3 medium carrots, sliced thin (slicing blade on food processor works great!)
• 1/4 sweet red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 purple cabbage, chopped small
• 5-6 sprigs of fresh coriander (cilantro), leaves removed and shredded by hand

Toss all ingredients with dressing in a large bowl and serve.

Makes 6 vitamin & fiber packed servings!

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 71
Total Fat: 0 g
Sodium: 27 mg
Carbohydrates: 17 g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 1 g

This is one of those recipes that when I finally made what I had in mind, the dish came out exactly what I was hoping for. Crunchy and tangy with a creamy, cilantro dressing. It is great as a side salad as well as making a great topping for tostados, your favorite vegan burger, or tacos.

Not only is it very quick to make, even if you’re also making the Creamy Cilantro Lime Ranch dressing first, but it is also packed with Vitamins C & K!

The Stuff

• 1/2 small head white cabbage
• 1/4 small head purple cabbage
• 1 small orange bell pepper
• 1 cup Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

The Making

Quarter the half head of white cabbage. For each cabbage quarter cut at an angle along the bottom to remove most of the core and remove outer leaves. Slice cabbage very thinly and add to a large bowl.

Core pepper and cut in very thin, 1″ julienne slices. Add to bowl with cabbage.

Give all the veggies a toss together to mix. Add in the salad dressing and toss to coat evenly.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 83
Total Fat: 6 g
Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
Cholesterol: 0 g
Sodium: 133 mg (6%)
Carbohydrates: 6 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Sugars: 3 g
Protein: 2 g

Chickpeas might very well be our favorite legume. We love them on salads, in soups, in “monk bowls”, as snacks, as hummus, roasted… well, you get the picture. A real lunchtime crowd-pleaser is my fabulous chickpea salad. This recipe has even had rave reviews from my step-father, who claims to hate chickpeas!

We’ve been more mindful of our diet lately, so I’ve been wanting to find a way to make this for us without all the extra fat and calories that are in the usual way I make it with Vegan mayo. Recently we’ve fallen in love with one of Susan Voisin’s recipes for a tahini dressing, made with chickpeas, and I found it works perfectly in place of the mayo!

Using Vegan mayo adds about 53 calories and 6 grams of fat to each serving. Using Susan’s dressing to replace the mayo makes this a far healthier dish at 112 calories and 2 grams of fat per serving.

The Stuff

• 2 c cooked chickpeas
• 1/2 c small diced onion (preferably sweet, about 1 small onion)
• 1/2 c small diced celery (about 2 medium ribs)
• 1/4 c either Vegan mayo OR Fat-Free Tahini Chickpea Dressing
• 2 T stone-ground mustard (very grainy)
• 1 T yellow mustard
• 2 t dry dill weed (or 4 T fresh — which is extra-tasty)
• 1/4 t dill seed
• 1/4 t celery seed
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 5 sheets (or 1 packet), of snacking nori snipped up into very small bits (optional)
• 3 T dill pickle relish (optional, I recommend Bubbies)

The Making

Pulse chickpeas in a food processor until they are well broken up, but still coarse. Pulse for just 2-3 seconds at a time, stop, check the consistency before pulsing again. Watch carefully, the idea is to have crumbly chickpeas, NOT the start of hummus.

Put chickpeas in a bowl and add all of the remaining ingredients. Mix together well until all ingredients are well incorporated. You can serve immediately or let sit, which lets the dill flavor really come out more.

Serve between two slices of bread, on a bed of greens, or rolled up inside of a collard leaf! We’ve made sandwiches and collard wraps of this salad as food for long airplane trips, and it travels very well.

Makes 6 1/2 cup servings

Snacking nori adds a great salty “sea” flavor we find reminiscent of tuna salad from our pre-vegan days. We like it a lot just by itself for a snack, so I usually have some on hand and often add to the chickpea salad. I’m sure there are lots of taste and mineral benefits to other popular sea veggies in this salad, but I tend to use the snacking nori because it is on hand and ready to go.

Be sure to check ingredients as some snacking nori contains fish, in the form of Bonito extract (usually), or shrimp. When I use it, I snip the little snack sheets into 4-5 long strips, then snip the ends off of those into very small bits directly into the bowl.

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.

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.

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!

• 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.

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 would be fine)
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola, avocado, or peanut 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.

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.