TASTE: Vacation eats
/(Well, not necessarily the food you'd eat on vacation, but because I'm making the most of a couple of weeks away from my usual routine I decided to fall back on an old favorite topic. Enjoy, try some of these "recipes" for yourself, and let me know what you think!)
"Kale, Caesar!" OK, so I'm not the first one to do that but that's really the only thing this easy salad can be called. It's the first of a bunch of recipes using very similar ingredients so you can see how versatile they are. This one features kale greens massaged with olive oil and spritzed with the umami of Bragg's Liquid Aminos, topped with chunks of flawless Avocado of the Month Club fruits and unsalted sunflower seeds.
When I get motivated to make lunch ahead, soup is a favorite (I've already sung the praises of gazpacho). I stumbled across this healthy recipe base and have enjoyed souping it up in a variety of ways. Those avos and sunflower seeds are never far, so they were a nice addition. And yeah maybe I tend to overdue it with those seeds :P
That Bieler's Broth recipe seems to leave me with extra celery, and I've always loved eating the hearts as-is for a snack. Avocados make a great substitute for nut butters for a snacky "dip" (especially when you have to clean out the fridge before vacation) and sunflower seeds add a nice extra crunch.
Pickin's were getting slim the last few days before our trips--and I hate to compost anything I don't have to--so I was thrilled to find a recipe for parsley salad ... and by Alton Brown, one of my favorite chefs. I riffed off his recipe here. I try to make my own dressings so I can avoid the ubiquitous vinegar, but when time is short I like the dressings from Drew's Organics.
It's not all about the greens, ya know. So Delicious plain unsweetened coconut milk yogurt has become a handy go-to for breakfast or even a snack. Nestled beneath those ground flax seeds, cacao nibs, and dry-toasted unsweetened shredded coconut and sliced almonds is a bed of ... fresh or thawed frozen raspberries? Sliced strawberries? Banana chunks? Orange slices? Beats me, but because I've enjoyed all of those combinations, whichever one it was I'm sure it was delicious.
One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to shop local markets and prepare good food. I don't usually have time to do that as often as I'd like at home, so having that opportunity with family makes mealtime even sweeter. We were fortunate to have a lovely condominium with a nice kitchen on our trip to Mississippi to visit my stepson and daughter-in-law, so one evening I enjoyed a meal of Nasoya sesame ginger baked tofu, Seeds of Change red and brown rice with chia seeds stir fried with veggies, roasted sweet potatoes. and tossed salad. Yeah, double starch, I know, but that happens when a GF plant-based eater pulls up a chair next to a super-picky carnivore, a slow-carber, and a gal with food allergies. :D