Redefining the salad, etc.

Sometimes I get home from work so late that I don't want or need a large dinner... Enter the salad. It can be the perfect light meal, refreshing and healthy. The problem I run into is when all my salads tend to look the same. And taste the same. It's really easy to get bored pretty quickly. That's why, lately, I've been making a point of trying to liven it up a bit.


This salad features two kinds of greens, hearts of palm, cucumbers, dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, and a roasted apple-shallot vinaigrette. Just different enough to spice it up a bit.

Recently a representative from Galaxy Foods sent me some samples of their products to try.

Among the products they sent was some roasted red pepper hummus, which I enjoyed in the evenings as a light after-work snack. One of the more exciting things I did with it was creating this wrap one night.


I spread the tortilla with the hummus, topped it with some red pepper and artichoke tapenade from Trader Joe's, and finished with some alfalfa sprouts.

I almost never buy vegan cheese, so now that I have quite a bit of it in my refrigerator, I am trying to think of good ways to use it. One great use for it proved to be in Susan Voisin's Vegan Omelette For One.


I grated some of the mozzarella-flavor soy block in with the fillings. You can see from the picture that the cheese didn't really melt for me, but just the same it did make a nice filling for the omelette (which is still one of my favorite breakfasts--this recipe really is a winner).

Another great use for vegan cheese is in a vegan reuben--and I love vegan reubens!


This one uses Isa Chandra Moskowitz's delicious tempeh from her Tempeh Reubens in Vegan With a Vengeance, but for the rest of the sandwich I put it together my own way--with a generous helping of Dijon mustard, plenty of sauerkraut, some of this soy-based thousand island dressing, and one of the vegan mozzarella slices between two slices of rye bread.

I have more pictures to post, but that will come later this week. Also later this week, I am planning to begin my tour of vegan living in Atlanta--starting with my favorite vegan spot here in town! Not to mention the vegan potluck that I'll be going to tomorrow! Exciting stuff--so stay tuned!

Cheers!