Archives for sides

Cabbage and Carrot Salad with Lemon Maple Dressing

Here is a ridiculously easy, super healthy salad! I just threw it together tonight; I loved it so much I had to share immediately.

Salad
1 small head green cabbage, cut into small pieces
4 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 cucumber, peeled partially and diced
4 radishes, diced
1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked, cooked and cooled in fridge (you can use canned too, cooked and cooled)*
Dried cranberries and sunflower seeds to garnish

Dressing
1/4 c. Olive oil
2 tbsp maple syrup
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Salt and pepper

Simply combine all the salad ingredients (except the cranberries and sunflower seeds) into a large bowl and toss to combine. Mix together dressing ingredients in a small dish and pour over salad. I just used my hands to toss and make sure all the salad was coated in dressing. Serve immediately and sprinkle with dried cranberries and sunflower seeds. That’s it!

*I prepared the chickpeas in a crock pot before work. I measured out 1 cup dry chickpeas, rinsed them and then added them to the crock pot with 3 cups of water. I turned  the crock pot on low and when I returned 9 hours later, they were perfect! I simply drained them and rinsed under cold water and placed in the fridge while I prepared the rest of the salad.

Hummus

Every time we make hummus lately, we just fly by the seat of our pants. Dan will throw in something new here and there and most of the time we will land on a delicious hummus, but can’t recreate it the next time around. I finally decided to write it down and this time we added a new, unique ingredient – silken tofu. All the credit needs to go to my hubby on this one. The one thing we felt was always lacking in our hummus, was the creaminess – especially after it was refrigerated. After having a vegan pastry that contained a cheese-like filling that was actually silken tofu, the idea was sparked! So this attempt used the tofu, and we both think it worked out great – NO OIL either!

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Ingredients
3 c. cooked garbanzo beans (1 c. dry soaked overnight, then cooked for 30-40 minutes; you can also use canned)
3.75 oz. silken, sprouted, organic tofu* (1/4 of a 15 oz. container – use the rest for smoothies or other dips)
1 clove pressed garlic
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tea. cumin
1 tea. onion powder
1/2 tea. paprika
1/2 tea. sea salt
1/8 tea. black pepper

Instructions
In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas until coarsely chopped. Add the tofu and pulse until the mixture is almost creamy. Add the remaining ingredients all at once and process until smooth and creamy, and all the ingredients are well combined. Refrigerate and use for dips, pizzas, sandwiches, burritos – whatever!

Since we’ve cut out dairy from our diets, we have found that hummus is a great, creamy substitute!

*NOTE: You can also make a creamy hummus without soy/tofu by removing all the skins from the beans before processing. It is very time consuming but we have discovered it produces a creamy texture as well, without the soy!