Raw Vegan 'Pasta' Salad

I had the awesome pleasure of going to the lake last weekend for my husbands family reunion. The weather couldn’t have been better and it was really great to see everyone again, seeing as these only happen every 5 years.

All of the food was included with the registration fee but because it was mostly meat I brought all of my own food which mainly consisted of fresh fruit and veggies. I found that because I only brought out fruit and veggies that’s all I ate, well I wont lie, I did have some chips and alcoholic beverages! But definitely ate a lot healthier by bringing my own food.

Some of the things I brought out were ingredients for a mango date salad, some bananas, and this awesome raw ‘pasta’ salad. I originally was going to bring an actual pasta salad but I didn’t want to feel all bloated, plus I didn’t want to boil water in the 30 degree heat! So why not have a raw one and use zucchini noodles instead! They are fresh, easy to make and a lot healthier for you than the grain version.

I used my mandolin to make my zucchini noodles, but you can use a sprilralizer, a vegetable peeler or a knife!

Raw ‘Pasta’ Salad

1 medium zucchini, noodled

2 tomatoes, chopped
5-8 majool dates, chopped

½ yellow pepper, chopped

½ orange pepper, chopped
½ cucumber, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
*optional kalamata olives

Then I got home and thought about making one with a creamy sauce, still have it vegan but I kind of wanted to experiment with flavors. So on Wednesday I broke out the avocados and my Vitamix and came up with this amazing creamy raw vegan dressing!


Raw Vegan Pasta Dressing
1 avocado 
½ cucumber
2 cloves garlic
5 leafs basil
1 lemon, juiced

*optional 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

Put all sauce ingredients into a blender or a food processor and puree until smooth.Toss with the chopped veggies and 'noodles' and serve!


Thanks for reading!!
xoxo -N

Killar Vegan Ranch Dressing

If you know my sister Chelsea at all, you will know that one of her favourite things to eat is ranch. She was one of those kids that would put it on everything from mashed potatoes, rice, corn, even meat. So when she cut out dairy from her diet she was heartbroken that she wouldn’t be able to eat ranch anymore, what was she going to put on all of her food?

Well being the wonderful sister that I am I decided to make her vegan ranch dressing for her 22nd birthday this past weekend. I love the idea of making gifts for people, especially food, because people love food and they usually aren’t expecting it so it’s a total surprise! And boy was Chelsea surprised! The look on her face was priceless, it was like I told her that she could go live in a village with elephants (another thing she loves).

However it had to pass the taste test, I had the scales tipped in my favor because she hasn’t had it in a while but I was still a little nervous that it might not measure up. Luckily I was wrong! She and (unfortunately) her boyfriend Taylor loved it, to the point that Chelsea had to tell him to stop eating it!

This was a super simple dressing to make and I find that the longer it sits the more the flavours are developed. I would strongly suggest using fresh herbs when available, but dried would work too! This will last in your fridge for around 2 weeks ish, use your judgment on the freshness of the dressing, basically if it smells weird don’t eat it.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup vegan mayonnaise, I use Vegenaise Soy Free

1/4 cup rice milk

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley, minced

2 tbsp fresh chopped dill, minced

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp cider vinegar

Preparation:

Put all ingredients to a bowl and stir until well combined. If you have a food processor you can use that, but it’s not necessary. Now you can enjoy a rich and creamy dressing on all of your fresh veggies and salads!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo -N

Thai Cabbage Summer Salad

A couple weekends ago I had the great pleasure of going over to a friend’s house for a ‘smoke’ night, and by smoke I mean smoked meat. Yumm…. Not so much. Haha, not really my thing, but exciting for everyone else there. Our friend just bought a new smoker and he was really anxious to try it out and Devon loves any excuse to eat something smoked.

So what was I going to make, seeing as I was not going to eat what they were having? A wonderful salad! Yup I was going to bring salad to a meat party. Don’t think I cant hear you guys out there quoting the Simpsons “you don’t make friends with salad”. Well I was and I did! Everyone who tried it said it tasted great and some (like myself) even went back for seconds!

I was really excited to make this one too, the ingredients are so colorful, and the Thai peanut sauce was making my mouth water. For me anything with a Thai peanut sauce is golden.
This is a perfect salad to make when you have left over quinoa in your fridge, a) because its one less step in making this salad b) the quinoa is already cold! c) who doesn’t love using leftover food, instead of throwing it out later on that week.  
It is such a fresh, crisp and tasty salad it is now in my repertoire of meals that I can either make at home or bring to family suppers.

If you or someone you know have nut allergies, just sub out the cashews and peanut butter for almonds and sunflower seed butter!

Ingredients  4 - 8 people

½ head purple cabbage

2 cups of cooked quinoa
2 carrots, grated

1 red pepper, diced

1 zucchini, diced

¼ red onion, diced
½ cup cilantro, chopped

½ cup cashews

Thai Peanut Salad Dressing

¼ cup organic peanut butter

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 dates

1 lime, juiced
Combine all of the dressing ingredients together in a high speed blender and puree until smooth. Pour dressing over salad right before serving and fold in until completely combined.