ginger crunch salad

Overview

Time: 30 minutes
Dishes: skillet, measuring cup, salad spinner

Heads Up! mandarin oranges and chow mein noodles

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

The crunch for this meatless, vegetarian and vegan salad comes in the form of the chow mein noodles, cashews and vegetables. The marinade is made with molasses, which is a good source of iron and the mandarin oranges provides the vitamin C to help absorb the iron. Overall, the ingredients work together not only in flavor, but nutrition, as well.

The molasses offers a slight sweetness and nothing overpowering. If you like a little spice, remember to add the cayenne - it'll give it a little kick! 

If you want to make the dressing have more "body," add a few tablespoons of neutral oil to the marinade. As it is, I left it at a single tablespoon of toasted sesame seed oil because I like my foods with less oil. As always, cook to your own taste! 

Enjoy!

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• Press the tofu while making the marinade.
• Marinate the tofu while preparing the salad ingredients.
• Marinate the cashews while tofu bakes.

 

Ginger Crunch Salad

Makes 4 servings 

moderate 

www.ZsusVeganPantry.com

 Preheat air-fryer to 400-F or oven to 450-F

1. Marinade: Combine the marinade ingredients:

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon tamari

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

 

2. Tofu: Press the tofu for 5 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to the Marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes.

1-pound regular tofu

3. Bake: Add the Tofu (without the marinade) to the air-fryer basket. Cook for 10 minutes. If baking in the oven, add to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

4. Cashews: Add the cashews to the marinade while the tofu bakes. When 10 minutes is up, add the cashews to the basket with the Tofu and bake for another 5 minutes (same for the oven). Set the Marinade aside as dressing.

 3/4 cup cashews

5. Salad: Serve Salad ingredients with the Tofu/Cashews and leftover Marinade as dressing:

4 cups shredded lettuce

4 cups baby spinach

1 cup shredded cabbage

3 scallions, sliced

2 carrots, shredded

1 (10-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained

2 cups chow mein noodles

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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ultimate vegan cookbook for instant pot

First things first - I promised to announce the winner of Becky Striepe's 40 Days of Green Smoothies (Kindle, Amazon)! This is an amazing book that will help you on your way to forming the healthy and delicious habit of enjoying a green smoothie daily. Since posting the review last week I have treated myself to another week of this invigorating habit and I love it!

The winner of the ebook 40 Days of Green Smoothies is: .... comment number 5 - Jennifer Bliss! Please contact me so I can get the book to you! Congratulations!

Now for some new business:

This new book by Kathy Hester is just what you need for your Instant Pot.  

I have 2 Instant Pots myself, sitting on the kitchen island and in use almost everyday (and I even have one in the garage, in case one of the in-use ones breaks). I purchased them during Amazon's holiday sales, but if you don't have one, you might consider getting one now and not wait another 9 months. 

Kathy's book speaks directly to the Instant Pot users and the book is a wealth of information: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot (Amazon).

There are a lot of wonderful features of this book: each recipe has a full color photo! the book lays flat when open, Kathy's first chapter is Five Recipes to Start You Out, Kathy provides a chapter on Quick and Easy Homemade Staples, and even has a chapter devoted to Cook it All at the Same Time: Layered Meals with Sides that you can prepare in one cooker all at once. I have to say that I think that's my favorite chapter. Kathy even has a chapter devoted to Desserts. 

This book has Soy-free, Gluten-free and Oil-free options throughout and that should makes most everyone happy. 

Now for what I cooked!

The first thing that caught my eye was Vegan Cauliflower Queso. I love cheese sauce and I am always looking to discover new ways to make cheese sauce with whole foods. Kathy's sauce was on point! Rich, thick and just what a cheese sauce should be.

Then I tried the Southern Breakfast. This recipe is from the Cook It All at the Same Time chapter. You cook the grits layer and the scrambled tofu layer (and then I added collard greens that I cooked with the rest of the layers) in the Instant Pot. There are tricks to cooking everything together, which Kathy shares in the book. This was an easy and delicious breakfast meal!

Next I tried a one-pot meal from the Fast and Comforting One-Pot Meals chapter: Ricotta Penne Pie. This was another delicious meal, but because I used Toffuti brand Ricotta it came out a bit too sweet. Kathy has a ricotta recipe in the book, one I should have taken the time to make!

Finally, we tried the Easy Andouille Jambalaya from the Fast and Comforting One-Pot Meals chapter. This recipe uses vegan andouille links from the book (but, again, I used store-bought links because of time restriction). This was mighty delicious and it made plenty to last for a few meals. 

Now for a recipe for you to try! How about a healthy and delicious dessert? Kathy has graciously offered to share her Holiday Orange Spice Cake! The photo below was taken by Kathy, along with all the other gorgeous photos in the book!

Holiday Orange Spice Cake

Recipe from The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook for Your Instant Pot by Kathy Hester. 
Printed with permission from Page Street Publishing.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

DRY INGREDIENTS
1¼ cups (150 g) whole wheat pastry flour (or *use a gluten-free baking mix)
1½ tsp (4 g) ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cloves

WET INGREDIENTS
½ cup (120 ml) orange juice with pulp (about 1 medium orange)
⅓ cup (80 ml) maple syrup or agave nectar
2 tbsp (14 g) ground flaxseeds
3 tbsp (41 g) melted coconut oil (or **use applesauce)

MIX-INS
2 tbsp (12 g) orange zest (or 1 tsp orange extract)
¾ cup (75 g) dried cranberries or diced dried dates
½ cup (55 g) chopped walnuts or pecans
Oil a 6- or 7-inch (15- or 17.5-cm) Bundt pan and set aside.


INSTRUCTIONS

For the dry ingredients, mix the flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda and cloves in a medium-size mixing bowl.

For the wet ingredients, Combine the juice, syrup, flaxseeds and oil in a large measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. Fold in the mix-ins.

Spread the cake mixture into your prepared pan and cover with foil.

Put the steel insert into your Instant Pot, pour in 1½ cups (355 ml) water and add the stainless steel steam rack with handles that came with your Instant Pot.

If your pan does not fit inside the rack handles, you will need to fashion some handles out of aluminum foil to lower the pan into the cooker. Tear off two pieces of foil about 3 feet (1 m) long, fold each one lengthwise two times. Lay the foil handles out on the counter in a plus sign near your cooker. Place your pan in the center, where the two pieces cross. Pull the handles up and carefully lift the pan into your Instant Pot.

Place the lid on with the steam release handle set to sealing, or closed; cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.

Once the pressure indicator goes down, remove the lid, lift out the pan using the foil handles and remove the foil that’s covering the pan.

Let cool so that it cuts easier; it will crumble if cut warm.

veganmofo - seasonal + spinach salad + giveaway

#vgnmf15 Day 22 is all about seasonal produce and making such seasonal offerings into a dish.

I offer up my Spinach Salad Bowl with Fennel, Quinoa and Warm Pecan Dressing.

The seasonal produce for this dish is spinach, fennel and oranges (and pecans. Pecans count, right?). It also happens to be another recipe from my new cookbook, Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N), and I got permission to share the recipe with you!

Speaking of which, Vegan Bowls is celebrating its FIRST WEEK ANNIVERSARY! I think that means party time - don't you?! Yup, that means a blog tour and giveaways!


Vegan Street  and Here September 25
It's Got Vegan In It  September 22
Veg Kitchen  September 23
Healthy Slow Cooking  September 24
Dianne's Vegan Kitchen  September 25
Chic Vegan  September 28
Global Vegan Kitchen  September 29  (giveaway - ends October 5)
Good Good Things  October 1
Kelli's Vegan Kitchen  October 2  (giveaway - ends October 11)
The Taste Space October 6  (giveaway - ends October 20)
Glue and Glitter  October 6
The Food Duo  October 7  (giveaway - ends October 29)
Vegan Eats and Treats  October 8 (giveaway - ends October 15)
Vegan Crunk October 8
Julie Hasson  October 9  (giveaway - ends October 15) 
Heather Nicholds  October 9 (giveaway - ends October 14)

Since I am sharing a salad bowl recipe with you, why not look at the Salad Chapter of Vegan Bowls? 

You can see the entire recipe list for Vegan Bowls HERE.

Let's start with a giveaway on this blog, since I am probably the most excited! The winner will be chosen next Monday night at midnight, September 28.  Enter below for your chance to win a copy! To be eligible to win you must be following this blog via email or RSS feed (link). Contest is open to US residents only. Good luck!

Spinach Salad Bowl with Warm Pecan Dressing
SERVES 4 
This is a spin on spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. This salad is filled with shaved fennel, perfectly cooked quinoa, and candied pecans. The warm orange-pecan dressing ties all the flavors together and delivers a delicious, filling salad. (Recipe from Vegan Bowls, copyright © 2015 by Zsu Dever. Used by permission from Vegan Heritage Press, LLC.)


QUINOA
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

DRESSING
1 cup raw pecan pieces
5 tablespoons fresh orange juice, divided
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup, divided
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable broth

SALAD
8 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach (about 2 bunches, tough stems removed)
1 cup shaved fennel (about 1 small bulb) 

QUINOA: Combine the quinoa, broth, garlic, and salt in a small saucepan. Cover, bring to boil over high heat, reduce to medium- low heat, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

DRESSING: Toast the nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer half of the nuts to a small blender. Add 2 tablespoons juice and 1 teaspoon maple syrup to the nuts in the skillet. Cook until the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Transfer the glazed nuts to a parchment paper and set aside to cool. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of juice, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, oil, vinegar, and broth to the blender. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and black pepper. When ready to serve, warm the dressing in the small skillet and add about half of the warm dressing to a large bowl.

SALAD: Add the spinach and fennel and toss. To serve, divide the salad and quinoa among wide bowls and serve with the remaining dressing. Alternatively, toss the salad with the quinoa and serve with the remaining dressing.



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mojo tofu - "viva vegan!"

Continental

Deciding to make something from Viva Vegan! for our Continental Night, I made Terry Hope Romero's Red Beans with Dominican-Style Sazon, Yuca with Cuban-Lime-Mojo Sauce and Zesty Ornage Mojo-Baked Tofu. 

I didn't have any yuca, but since it is a starch almost like a combination of potato-and-yam, I used the last of my winter squash from my CSA - kabocha squash and acorn squash. The Mojo Sauce I am not sure should be called a sauce because it is a lot of oil with onions and a few tablespoons of lime juice. It was very good, but, no surprise, quite oily, so we used it very sparingly drizzled over the cooked squash.

One might think that Latin food is closely related to Mexican and Tex-Mex fare, but they couldn't be more different from each other than Chinese and Indian foods. Latin dishes use a lot of citrus and for those palates to whom this is something new, it will be a very unusual flavor profile. Not bad in any way, but very unexpected - as David is coming to find. He is not a citrus enthusiast and last night's meal gave his palate a workout. However, if anyone who has this lack of love-affair with citrus can really enjoy these dishes, you know the food is excellent. 

I found everything a bit tangy but delicious. The Baked Tofu was superb and very easy to make. Just press, cut and bake. Add marinade and bake some more. It's texture was nice and chewy and the flavors were wonderful. 

There is so much to explore in this cookbook, and even though I had a week of Viva Vegan! in April of last year, I've barely scratched the surface - looking forward to more.

Cost Breakdown:

beans: $4

peppers, onion, garlic: $2.50

cilantro, parsley, celery: $1

spices, seasonings: $.25

orange, lime, vinegar: $3

tamari, tofu: $4.25

olive oil: $1

squash: $3

Total to make 6 servings:

$19.00

  

achiote rubbed zucchini tacos

Rick Bayless says that achiote-seed-marinated pork is very popular in a certain region of Mexico - forgot exactly where. He makes a taco with pork marinated in ground achiote seeds and garlic. It sounded good to me - except for the pig, of course, so I decided that zucchini would be the ideal sub. Why? Because my CSA says so!

I put about a bulb of peeled garlic, 1 T of ground achiote seeds (a.k.a. annatto), 1 t of ground allspice, 1 t ground pepper, 2 t Mexican oregano, 1 t salt, and 3 T of cider vinegar, in the food processor and ground everything together. I marinated my zucchini slices in the mixture for an hour and grilled them until tender. 

I made a great roasted corn sauce (again because my CSA says so - I have about 10 ears of corn), by roasting them in a cast-iron skillet and blending them with 2 dried yellow peppers and some lime and orange juice (just a little orange), adding a bit of water as needed.

The picture is of the zucchini in corn tortillas, but both David and I found the corn to be overkill and had another taco in flour tortillas and this is what we recommend. This was great in the flour tortilla with a little hot sauce!

Wonderful summer flavors! 

Cost Breakdown:

corn: $1.50

zucchini: $2

tortillas: $2

lime, orange, onion (pickled): $1.50

spices, herbs: $1

rice: $1

Total to feed a family of 5:

$9.00

sin carne asada tacos

We had Mexican tonight.

'Carne Asada' translates to 'roased meat' and it tends to mean a BBQ, party, get-together, etc. The meat is usually marinated in a lime based marinade or rubbed with seasonings before being grilled.

I marinated my Firm Seitan, after slicing it thin on the diagonal, in a blend of garlic, lemon, orange, lime and olive oil. I let it sit in the marinade while I prepared the sides and the toppings. I made an ancho salsa with dried ancho peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and whatever was left of the marinade - not to worry, this is not meat so I can use my marinade however I wish.

I grilled the seitan slices on my grill, put them in a tortilla and topped it with my salsa. Some avocado, lettuce or nondairy sour cream would also be very appropriate.

Yum, Yum.

I LOVE Sin Carne Asada - smoky, flavorful, spicy (if you want it to be), juicy. Yum. Everyone loves this, and I love that.

Cost Breakdown:

seitan: $4

tortillas: $4

lemon, limes, orange: $3

garlic, cilantro, spices: $2

Total to feed 10 people:

$13.00

Sin Carne Asada Recipe