Friday, January 28, 2011

Foodie Friday: Salad Toppers

It's Foodie Friday! Foodie Friday is my weekly feature that gives you a window into my kitchen. I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to read cookbooks, and I love to inspire people to give vegan food a chance. Thus, Foodie Friday was whipped up and baked to perfection.
All vegans have heard it from people who are bent on making excuses for why they won't go vegan: "I could never live on salad."

And neither could we! If there's one meal type that I've neglected in my Foodie Friday posts, it's definitely salads. Don't get me wrong, I love a good salad, but I'm generally eating anything but salad.

However, I've been eating a few more of them lately, since I'm trying to exercise and eat well in order to be the best matron of honor ever to wear a pink dress.

So as not to get bored with my nightly bowls of crudité, I've been experimenting with salad toppers that add substance, flavor, and a dash of protein.

First up is tempeh. I sliced it, tossed it in a pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil, sprinkled it liberally with ground ginger (because that's how I roll), and sautéed it until just barely browned on the edges.


It tastes great warm from the pan or cooled. I usually only use half a bar at a time, so I store the rest of the prepared tempeh in an old margarine tub for another day.

Next I tried my hand at agave-glazed pecans from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.


They turned out sweet, chewy, and crunchy--perfect for a salad with dried fruit like cranberries or cherries.

Last but not least, I made my 100th recipe from 1,000 Vegan Recipes: roasted chickpeas.


They were slightly crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and had just a hint of salt. I admit that most of these didn't make it onto a salad, because I ate them straight from the bowl.

Come back next week for Foodie Friday's first birthday--there will be presents... for you!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

zooohmygoodness, that agaveglazed nut salad looks UH-MAY-ZING!

Hey, if you want to read my protected posts on my squirrel blog, the password is loco.

:) Enjoy your weekend!

Jamie said...

I love roasted chickpeas. They usually go straight to my tummy and not in whatever dish I intended them for, too. Mmmm...I think I will make some today!

RE: Salads. I think most people don't understand what salad is because most restaurants just take a huge hunk of iceberg, a slice of tomato and croutons and smother it in dressing. Gross. It does drive me nuts when I go out to eat with non-veg people and they try to 'help' me with the menu. First thing they always say: "oh good, they have salad for you!" >_<

Jessica (Bayjb) said...

Um that agave pecan salad looks amazing! I have to try that out. I love salads with nuts like that.

the V said...

I love salads with hot, savoury toppings.

Last night was rocket & spinach topped with roasted sweet potato and garlic cloves. Add some toasted walnuts (and a nice hard cheese substitute - the tang of something like parmesan) to make it magic.

Sabrina said...

I love roasted chickpeas. I'm also loving 1,000 Vegan Recipes! Everything I've made from that book has been a hit!