Chopped Salad

 "Collegians are turning to vegetables."  Newspaper headline

This is not only a simple dish to whip up but also a tribute to one of my newest kitchen gadgets.  I was looking for a basic food processor to chop nuts for some of my vegan dishes.  Well, was I surprised to find out the prices of basic food processors.  Enter the Ninja!  Love this little chopper and am using it almost every day to incorporate broccoli stems, dandelion greens, peppers, red cabbage, and a myriad of other vegetable matter into foods that we eat.  And in their chopped state most veggies are unrecognizable and consumed by the unwary.  Let's hear it for disguising vegetables!

Best yet, the Ninja, pictured at the left in a rather poor quality picture, is fast and easy to clean.   Best yet, in order to work the thing you get to bash it on the top. You actually stand there and beat the thing as if it deserves a good whack or two.  Generally, it only takes about a half dozen whacks to pulverize almost any food.  And did I mention that the Ninja costs less than half of any other food processor that I looked at while shopping.

Pictured to the right are a bunch of veggies, namely yellow pepper, red cabbage, and carrots.  I simply chopped them into chunks and put them into the Ninja and gave it a few hits.  The color combination makes a happy looking salad that's filled with good nutrition.

Finally, I put the chopped veggies on top of some greens and serve.  Oftentimes I first mix them with some Asian dressing (Aug 18, 2011 blog), or perhaps I'll whip up a simple dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and just a dusting of stevia powder.  Simple and delicious.

And the final product looks like the picture on the left.  Topped with diced avocado it makes my little heart happy.  As you can see, I didn't get the salad in the picture topped with avocado.   It's been a busy week.

Loveya
The Mom

Vegan Sprinkle On Cheeze & Lemony Creme

"My whole family is lactose intolerant and when we take pictures we can't say cheese."  Jay London

There's enough information out there to get any thinking person to give up dairy.  Also, because most accidents happen in the home, it might be a good idea to give up cleaning.  The logic isn't perfect on that one but I'm going to play it for all it's worth!

And for those of you who are thinking of giving up, or have given up cheese, here are two substitutes that will put a smile on your face and do away with the lactose intolerance blues.  First there's the Lemony Creme, which is a great substitute for sour cream.

Ingredients:
  2 cups raw cashews, soaked for 5 hours
  3/4 cup water
  1/3 cup olive oil
  4 T lemon juice
  1 t salt

Distructions:
  To soak cashews you simply put them into a goodly amount of water and let them sit there.  After the appropriate amount of time, drain and rinse well.  Next, put everything into a blender, or better yet a Vita-Mix if you have one, and whip it good.  Store in the fridge in a jar.

Lemony Creme is delicious when used wherever you'd use sour cream or when mixed with chopped veggies and placed on top of organic mixed greens.  Yum!

Next is a great substitute for dairy-based Sprinkle On Cheese.

Ingredients:
  2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked for 2 hours
  2 T lemon juice
  1 T nutritional yeast
  3/4 t sea salt

Distructions:
  Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until combined.  Crumble onto a dehydrator screen and dehydrate for 5 to 7 hours.  Store in the fridge in a jar.  More yum!

I served both of these to a group of guests.  We ate them on Bean and Barley Tostadas  (January 10 blog post).  In the picture with this post both the Sprinkle On Cheeze and the Lemony Creme are shown on a vegan, raw chili.  Beyond that I've been recklessly using the Sprinkle On Cheeze on everything except the cat.  Lucky for him I'm a vegetarian!

Loveya
The Mom

Tomato Marinara - Raw

"We are indeed much more than we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than we are."  Adelle Davis

I believe that sometime back I mentioned an easy pasta sauce and said that I would share the recipe.  That day has arrived!

I love this sauce because it can be made in minutes in a blender, there are no veggies to chop if you use grape or cherry tomatoes, and it's delicious.

Ingredients:
  2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, or large tomato cut up
  1T pitted date, Medjool dates work well
  1 t dried oregano
  1/2 t dried rosemary
  1/3 cup olive oil
  1/2 t salt

Distructions:
  Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  You can then serve this sauce tossed with veggies in a cold salad or warmed over pasta and other tasty ingredients.  Store this sauce in a jar in the fridge and it will keep for 3 or 4 days.

OK.  So the picture can't begin to describe the wonderful flavors in store for you with this sauce.  But it was fun to take the picture and right in the middle of the photo shoot as I was artfully arranging the parsley sprigs on the plate (#*!*#!) my husband walked in.  The was nothing to do but look up at him with a serious expression and say, "I'm starting a new diet today."   I think he really loves the adventure of living with me!

Loveya
The Mom