Sushi Salad

So, I'm a huge fan of sushi (vegan, obviously,) but I don't have one of those fancy sushi-roller-things, and getting sushi from a restaurant gets kind of pricey. It adds up pretty quickly if you get it on a regular basis. Now, I don't mind going out to a fancy sushi restaurant where I can get fancy things that I can't make for myself, or don't want to anyway, for special occasions or dates, but just your standard pre-made veggie sushi, I've kind of decided that it's not worth it. Now, recently, I've seen a lot of "deconstructed sushi bowl" and "sushi salad" recipes for and I decided to give it a go. Actually what happened was, I saw that my parents were cooking rice, and I was eating seaweed snacks, and I thought to myself: "Self, it would be so cool if I could eat some sushi." And then I thought, "But wait, it would taste the same whether it's all just a mess in a bowl, or if it is neatly arranged into little rounds. I will make a mess in a bowl." And so a mess in a bowl I made.

It was so delicious. But as I was saying, that was the messy version. I did make it look nicer first. But I'll post a picture of that later. I'm going to tell you how to make it. It's kind of up to you how you put it together.

What You Need:

• cooked rice
• seaweed snacks, torn into small pieces
• chopped carrots, avocados, cucumbers, or whatever vegetables you like in sushi
• soy sauce (gluten-free if you need)
• gluten-free, vegan fish or tofu (If desired)

What To Do:

• put everything into a bowl in the proportions you desire

I wish I'd had cucumbers, but I used avocado, chopped carrots, and gluten-free, vegan fish. obviously I used rice and seaweed, and my soy sauce was gluten-free. Here's what it looked like:

How pretty is that? I thought it was pretty. . . well. . . pretty. And you can put as much or as little of any ingredient as you want! So you can make it really easily. Personally, I didn't have to go to the store to buy any ingredients. I just used what I already had. So, I didn't have to spend any extra money. Also, it was incredibly satisfying, and I felt full, but not over-stuffed. It was a great balance, and I feel like it had a lot of good nutritional value. It doesn't take that much effort really, and you could honestly put even less effort than I did if you were just feeling extra lazy. No judgments. I hope you guys like this recipe as much as I did. I think if I was stranded on a desert island and I could only have one food, this would be in the running. For sure. Anyway, good luck! Enjoy!

CTTVCC: Dirty Chick (Pea) Clean-Up Salad

Turn to page 115, please. This is a really delicious recipe that I know for sure I would not have thought of myself. It's a combination that I wouldn't have come up with, but yet, compliments each other very well. It's savory and sweet; soft and crunchy at the same time. It's a simple recipe that I know I will turn to in times of need, or need for something to pack as a lunch on those days when I don't feel like trusting the cafeteria.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup diced celery
• 1 Red Delicious or Gala apple, cored and diced
• Salt, to taste

I used store brand chickpeas, and fresh celery, and a Gala apple. My favorite kind of apple (right now anyway,) is the Pink Lady apple, which I will use next time I make this salad. It would also be interesting to try using a Granny Smith apple for a more sour taste. Basically, it doesn't matter what kind of apple you use. The kind of apple will, obviously, slightly change the taste of the salad though. I would love to hear what kinds of apples you've used, and how you thought it tasted! Just leave a comment on this blog entry to let me know.

Also, I love celery. All the sources I've come across say that your body burns more calories to digest celery than the celery contains. Essentially, celery is negative calories. Figured I'd throw that out there, just in case you didn't know.

I only used a small pinch of sea salt, because I knew the chickpeas would taste great salted, but I wasn't sure about the apples.

Here is my finished salad:

This salad is really easy and fast to make. It doesn't require any baking, it doesn't really matter if your proportions are slightly off, you can eat as much or as little as you like at a time without wasting, or having half eaten sandwiches or whatever littering your fridge. It's packed with protein and fiber as well as good flavor. It makes a great snack or main course, and every bite is delicious. I hope you love this!

CTTVCC: Black Bean and Corn Salad (Salsa Remix)

Hello to all my charming readers, this recipe is on page 113. This recipe is great. It's versatile as it can be eaten on chips, in a taco or wrap, by itself, on a bed of lettuce, or even upside down. Though, I wouldn't recommend the latter. I really liked the taste of this. I think that the beans and the corn compliment each other so well. While the Black Bean and Corn Salad (Extended Dance Mix) is a delicious zing of flavors, sometimes less is more. I guess it depends on the person, or maybe more specifically, on said person's mood. This is another good recipe for parties, by the way, and I wouldn't plan on having leftovers.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (8.75 ounce) can corn, drained
• 6 tablespoons lime juice (fresh or from a squirt bottle)
• 5 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chives
• 1/2 cup salsa
• salt and pepper to taste

I used Earth Fare brand beans, corn, olive oil, salsa, salt, and pepper. I didn't use lime juice, because I didn't have any, but I had a bunch of lemon juice, and I figured that it's probably close enough in taste. I used Real Lemon brand lemon juice, though, I'm sure fresh lemon juice would taste better. Admittedly, fresh lime juice would taste even better than that, but hey.

By the way, I would recommend using a medium salsa at the mildest. This is the sort of thing that tastes best with a bit of a kick. I only had mild salsa in the fridge, and I didn't want to open another jar, so I just used cayenne pepper instead of black pepper. It did the trick. Of course, it makes it spicier the longer you're eating it, but hey, it helps counteract the law of diminishing return, since each bite has flavor that doesn't just start getting dull after a while. Of course, if you combined cayenne pepper with hot salsa, you might be able to make some cash by selling the drinks at your party, or perhaps use the opportunity to force people into trying your favorite fake milk? Just kidding. Don't do that. It's not a good way to make friends.

Here is the evidence of my food DJ skills:

The olive oil makes this look especially shiny. It's just saying "Eat Me!"

Perhaps this would be a good recipe for trying to determine which brand or tortilla chips actually taste the closest to Mexican restaurants. I mean, a bunch of them claim to, but which ones are telling the truth? This is a great excuse for playing chip-detective. Or if you melt some of your favorite vegan cheese in a taco shell or soft tortilla, this makes a great entree. You can pull this out when you want an unboring snack, especially when you get early-hour-of-the-morning-munchies when you're trying to finish up a project last minute. That sort of situation would be the perfect time for you to use the spiciest combination possible, you know, to wake yourself up. Don't get me wrong, I love my coffee, but sometimes, your body just grows immune to the effects of caffeine. I would definitely try this recipe out, because let me tell you, even if you make it as mild as possible, it's still delicious!

CTTVCC: Cuke-Chick Salad

This salad recipe is listed on page 101. This is another simple, delicious recipe, but this one is particularly refreshing. It's low in fat, so it doesn't weigh you down or make you feel uncomfortably full. It's very flavorful because you can taste the individual ingredients' flavors. This is the type of food I would want to eat at a meal right after a workout, or on a school day when I've put off all the homework for my afternoon classes, and am then trying to rush through it during my lunch break, while still attempting to make good grades.

The recipe calls for:

• 2 cucumbers, sliced
• 1/2 (15 ounce) can chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 cup distilled vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste

I used cucumbers, chickpeas, onion powder, salt, and pepper from Earth Fare. I chopped the cucumber slices in half  so that they were little crescents that were closer to bite sized because the cucumber was a bit chubby.

I only had balsamic vinegar, which was Newman's Own Organics. I figure that it probably didn't alter the taste too much. I mixed the onion powder, salt, and pepper into the vinegar before pouring it on the chickpeas and cucumbers, that way it would have all mixed evenly to that I didn't have all of the onion powder on one half and all the salt and pepper on the other half and get seasoning whiplash. Or all of the seasonings could have ended up on one half and then the other half would have just been super-boring. (Really though, I could just eat the cucumbers and chickpeas plain. I think chickpeas have a very nice flavor even just on their own.)

Here is my (mostly uneaten) salad:

It's kind of hard to see the vinegar, but trust me, it's there on the bottom.

Like I was saying, this is an easy crisp salad that could be used as an appetizer or snack, or it could be paired with some sort of light soup, such as a tomato or bean soup. When I make this again, I will cut down the vinegar a tiny bit, because I don't really like having the puddle of liquid at the bottom of my salad. I always feel like I'm wasting food when I have such puddles because I'm not going to drink the vinegar or something. That sounds very undelicious. As it is, I just used the leftovers as the dressing on another salad, but the downside to that is that then there's an extra thing taking up space in the refrigerator until I use it. This is very yummy though, and perfectly uncomplicated, just like I wish all my interactions with other humans would be. Maybe they should have named it "I think my boyfriend still has feelings for his ex" salad, or "my BFF is being a diva" salad, or "I think my BFF has a crush on my boyfriend" salad, or "I think my guy-friend wants to BE my boyfriend" salad, or "one of my groups of friends hates my other group of friends" salad, or, hey, even "my friends all hate my boyfriend" salad. (Guys, replace 'boyfriend' with 'girlfriend'.) Whatever. Enjoy!

CTTVCC: Saffi's Chick Salad

This recipe is available on page 114. I admit, that I had my doubts about this recipe. I wasn't sure it would taste good with the olive oil. It did taste pretty good, however, next time I will probably use slightly less olive oil, that way it has the moisture without the slight greasiness.

The recipe calls for:

• 1/2 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1 tablespoon chives
• 1 long English cucumber, peeled and finely chopped 
• 4 tablespoons dried parsley 
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

I used Earth Fare chickpeas, chives, cucumber, olive oil, salt, and pepper. I forgot to get parsley, and when I checked my house, we didn't have any. Too bad I wasn't visiting my out-of-town family though, I could have gotten some fresh from their garden. 

I used ReaLemon lemon juice. I would have preferred to use fresh juice, but I don't have fresh lemons and I do have lemon juice already. 

Here is my finished concoction:

This stuff was pretty good, and it kept fairly well. I ate it for lunch, but I made it the night before. It had a bit of a different taste than when it was fresh, (I sampled it as soon as I made it of course,) probably because the cucumber wasn't crisp anymore, but it didn't brown because of the lemon juice. If I was going to make it in advance though, I would probably make it the morning that I wanted to eat it for lunch though, instead of the night before. I definitely would recommend it though. It's very filling, and pretty tasty. I hope you all liked it as much as I did.

CTTVCC: Leafy Nuggets

The recipe for this salad can be found on page 93. The book claims that this is a painless way to get your greens, and they're totally right. I've never had a problem with eating my vegetables, but occasionally, simple salads are just too boring. Even though this is an extremely basic salad, it's still delicious.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) bag of pre-washed salad greens
• 1 (10 ounce) box vegan chicken patties
• Vegan salad dressing, to taste

I picked Organic Girl 50/50 salad mix which is half spring greens, and half spinach. Spinach is one of my favorite greens, if not my absolute favorite. It's my main source of iron (probably, that is, I've never sat down and actually calculated that.) The main thing to remember about spinach is that you have to consume plenty of vitamin C along with it in order to absorb the iron from the leaves.



I used Beyond Meat Lightly Seasoned Chicken-Free Strips which are gluten-free, and vegan. I have only been able to find gluten-free, vegan strips though, not patties. lucky for me, this recipe ends up turning these into strips, which saved me a bit of work. For those of you who can still have gluten, I'm sure Gardein would work fine. Really though, it tastes so much like chicken that I actually felt guilty the first time I used it in a recipe, even though I knew it was completely fake. It's almost creepy how similar the texture is to meat. I just hope I don't develop a soy allergy, or I won't be able to eat any pseudo-meat.



I used Annie's fat-free raspberry balsamic, but it really would have tasted better with Italian dressing or a vegan ranch. The sweetness didn't compliment the faux meat very well in my opinion, but it wasn't bad. Even a tangy fruit dressing would have worked. Hey, just straight up lemon juice would taste awesome with this.



Overall this is great. I really don't know if I've ever put faux meat on a salad before. I might have put chopped up veggie burger on a salad one or twice before, but I don't ever remember it. Honestly, I don't know if it had occurred to me to put faux chicken on a salad. It seems super-obvious, but since I was never a huge fan of meat, even before gong vegan, I never felt like I was missing out. It seems like a good way to get protein though. I definitely plan on making this again.