Spinach and Tofu Salad with Sesame Miso Dressing

Spring is around the corner and just like the original author of this recipe, I’ve been feeling kinda chubby lately. I’ll be eating a lot of salads and grapefruit until I am able to shake of the feeling of lethargy left over from the long, cold winter. While I use tofu in my salad, Andy’s version has slices of roast turkey leftover that his mom packed for him from Easter dinner over the weekend.

Ingredients

Organic baby spinach
Sesame seeds (for garnishing)
Organic Firm tofu, cubed
Alfalfa sprouts
Grape tomatoes, halved

Low Fat Japanese Sesame Miso Dressing

1 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon ponzu sauce
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, coarsely ground
1/4 cup water

Method

1. Mix the sesame miso dressing ingredients until well blended. (You can heat up the dressing in a small sauce pan and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before use.)
2. Rinse baby spinach and drain excess water.
3. Pan fry cubed tofu with a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil.
4. In a salad bowl, toss the baby spinach with tofu and sesame miso dressing. Dish out and serve cold.

Source

Sweet Potato and Cucumber Salad with Lemon Yogurt Sauce

First course I made for my Andy’s birthday dinner… and I sliced a big chunk of my finger and couldn’t cook the rest . All big chefs are bound to have kitchen accidents right? I chopped off half of my nail this time, gonna take at least 2 months to grow back .. *sob*sob* Anyway, this is the salad… the sauce is really good for almost evertyhing I think

This is an adapted recipe from this site.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato, washed and finely sliced into rounds
• 1/2 lebanese cucumber, finely sliced into rounds
• 1 tbsp black mustard seeds, toasted
• 1 large handful parsley (or mint) leaves, washed and chopped
• 300ml natural yogurt
• Small lemon, juiced

Method

1. Toast black mustard seeds in oven @ 350 degree Fahrenheit, or dry-fry in frypan, until fragrant.
2. Season sweet potato rounds with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast in 400 deg F oven for 30 mins or until the edges start to brown. Allow to cool and toss gently with cucumber, half of the toasted mustard, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Finely chop mint / parsley and add to yogurt and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add in the rest of the toasted mustard seed. Season well with salt and pepper.
4. Place salad on plates and drizzle with yogurt dressing to serve or serve dressing in a bowl as an Indian-style accompaniment.

Goat Cheese Salad with Cranberry Sauce & Caramelized Walnuts

This salad was an inspiration from staring at the bowl of leftover cranberry, cherry & walnut marmalade that I had made for the Tofurky. Because it was the sauce that had made this salad, I’m sharing the recipe for the sauce instead and you can let your creativity go wild with it. The recipe was borrowed from EatingWell.com. The orange zest really made the sauce smell and taste great! To make this salad even tastier, you can add caramelized onions as well.

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup port or other sweet red wine (I used Shiraz, not sure what is sweet red wine)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
1 12-ounce package fresh or frozen cranberries
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Method
1. Combine sugar, water, port (or wine), cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium nonreactive saucepan; bring to a boil. Add cherries and cook for 1 minute. Stir in cranberries; return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until about half the cranberries pop, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Stir in walnuts and orange zest. Let cool completely. (The marmalade will thicken as it cools.) Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Greek Pasta Salad

I’ve made this pasta salad many times, and every time is quite different.

This has cucumbers, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, and feta cheese. I just use store bought Greek dressing, but jazzed it up with extra lemon juice for a nice twangy taste I also sprinkle crushed dried chilli peppers in it before eating.
You can pre-toss the cucumbers, tomatoes, sundried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil before adding in the pasta. Add the feta cheese last so that it doesn’t get melted when you add in the hot cooked pasta.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro.