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Vegan Salade Niçoise for #GreensLove

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We interrupt my usual post-fee weekend for a BLOGHOP!

 

This month’s theme is #GreensLove in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  Naturally, I got unnaturally excited.  75% of everything I eat is green!

I thought about making another green smoothie, but decided that was getting old (not to my taste buds, but after you’ve seen one green smoothie pic, you’ve seen them all).

 

 

A salad seemed too obvious.  What about an not-so-obvious version of a famous salad?  As I brainstormed ideas for my French-themed vegan book club, I knew the dinner spread would be incomplete without the famous French  salad – Salade Niçoise.

 

A traditional (by traditional, I mean Julia Childs’ recipe 🙂 ) Salade Niçoise consists of lettuce, green beans, shallots, vinaigrette, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, chunked tuna, hard-boiled eggs, anchovy fillets, Niçoise olives, and capers.

I couldn’t have tuna, potatoes, eggs, or anchovies.  That’s half the salad.  Undeterred, I set to work on recreating the dish in a fun way.

 

 

Dressing that can make or break a salad.  I wanted to light, herby vinaigrette that wouldn’t overwhelm with the stronger flavors from the olives and capers.  The lemon-thyme vinaigrette did the trick – the lemon flavors brought out the other veggies in the salad.  A high-quality olive oil allows you to use less in the recipe without compromising flavor.  This particular bottle is from my recent travels to Italy.

 

The other stand-out in this vegan-ized recipe was the “tuna” tempeh.  Meant to sub for the tuna, it doesn’t really taste like tuna (a good thing in my book).  Rather, it adds a slightly nutty, lemon-pepper protein addition.  The crunch it adds as a result of being slowly sautéed is a fun dimension to the salad.

 

 

You may think you’re going overboard with the pepper on the tempeh – and feel free to adjust to your tastes – but when it’s combined with the lemon flavors and them eaten with the other salad ingredients, it’s the perfect flavor.

 

The color of the salad is fabulous.  It was the most photogenic thing on the table!

 

 

You’ll notice I didn’t include measurements for the veggie toppings.  Add as much or a little as you like!  I simply added “handfuls” until the bowl was filled and looked pretty.

If you are unable to locate Niçoise olives, substitute Kalamata or another high-quality dark olive.  Read: don’t use your left-over pizza topping olives.

 

 

Check out these other (vegan) French dishes served that Book Club:

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Salade Niçoise

For the Salad:

  • Arugula lettuce
  • Red leaf lettuce
  • French green beans, ends removed and cut in 3-4 in pieces
  • Wax beans, ends removed and cut in 3-4 in pieces
  • Niçoise olives
  • Capers
  • Tomatoes, diced
  • Red onion (1/4-1/2 C), diced

 

Place lettuces in a large bowl.  In individual sections, add each veggie topping.

 

For the Tempeh:

  • 8 oz. tempeh, cut into 1-in cubes
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • Juice from 1/2 lemon, plus zest
  • 1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 4-5 drops liquid smoke
  • 1-2 drops liquid stevia
  • Salt, to taste

 

In a small bowl mix together remaining ingredients.  Toss with tempeh to coat well, and allow to marinate for 10-15 mins.

Heat oil in a medium pan over medium heat.

Place tempeh and any residual marinade in pan.  Cook, tossing occasionally until tempeh is lightly browned and crisped on the outside (~10 mins).

Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Once cooled, add to salad.

 

For the Lemon-Thyme Vinaigrette:

  • 1/4 C fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 C water
  • 2 T fresh thyme
  • 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1/3 C extra virgin olive oil

 

In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients except olive oil.  Slowly pour in the oil, whisking constantly.

Alternately, place all the ingredients in dressing bottle or jar and shake to combine.

Taste and adjust the seasonings before serving alongside the salad.

Note: If not using dressing right away, cover and refrigerate, bring to room temp and shake again before use.

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I’m excited to be co-hosting the #GreensLove event with the following fabulous bloggers.  Be sure to visit them, and to add your own recipe via the linky tool below!

 

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~  @astigvegan
Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth
Cheap Ethnic Eatz ~ Evelyne ~ @cethniceatz
Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Join us in the March #greenlove by linking up any leafy green recipe below.  Don’t forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #greenlove event!  The twitter hashtag is #greenlove.

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

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I am also honored to announce that I was nominated as a “Best Healthy Eating Blog” for the 2012 Fitterati Blog Awards on FitnessMagazine.com.  You guys are the best and a constant source of inspiration.  If you’re so inclined, pretty please click here and vote for me. 🙂

 

What’s the best green food you’ve made lately?

Is anyone running this weekend?  Good luck – I’d love to hear how it goes!!!

 

Roasted Eggplant Bruschetta

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This has been the LONGEST week.

Maybe because I know I’m 3 days from NUT BUTTER?!  That’s really been the biggest hole in my life.  That and oatmeal, but going without oats has been a little easier since Atlanta has turned into San Diego with 65-70 degree temps.

Spiced Almond Butter

As I think about what foods will and will not enter back into my life after Sunday, I am thinking more and more about what it means to eat clean on a daily basis.  Should I cut out meat completely?  Dairy products?  Eggs?

After the first Standard Process Cleanse I did in November of 2010, I drastically reduced my intake of red meat and sugar.  It has made a HUGE difference in the way that I feel.  Red meat and I don’t process well together.  Does that mean I won’t help myself to a bite of the tasty burger you ordered?  Nooooo… I quite like Sarah‘s concept of being “vegan with benefits.” Maybe we can start a movement, Miss. Smart?

Sugar will remain an item I try to avoid.  There are so many great alternatives out there, you don’t really need it!

Candy @ Healthy in Candyland just wrote a great post on sugar and my favorite alternative – Xylitol.  Apparently it could have anti-aging properties!

Check out my Chewy Granola Cookies for a great start to using xylitol in baking!

How will I eat on post-cleanse on Monday?  I don’t yet know what the right answer is for me.  I do know that I will enter into the non-cleanse world by reintroducing one “new” food at a time, and pay close attention to what my body says about it.

Cleanse or no cleanse, I WILL be making many of this week’s French vegan dishes again!

I ran into my friend and his partner in Whole Foods last night, and they shared with me that my Vegan Goat Cheese Stuffed Oven-Roasted Tomatoes were on their menu!  Keith (the “chef”) posted this pic later:

The two meat-eaters served vegan stuffed tomatoes with homemade organic Shepherd’s Pie with grass-fed Georgia beef and sweet potatoes, paired with a Vintage 2008 South Australian Shiraz.

Keith’s quote: “Props on the Vegan Goat Cheese girl! To die for!!!”

 

The next party dish I want to share is this Eggplant Bruschetta – installment #3 in the Vegan French Book Club Dinner Series (don’t you love how I made it so official-sounding?).

It was created a traditional bruschetta in mind, only the eggplant replaces the baguette to create a light, flavorful finger food.

Healthy and full of flavor, it was also the easiest dish.

Remember this Provençal Tomato Spread?  I saved some and blended it with extra basil and olive oil to make a creamy sun-dried tomato-olive topping that was reminiscent of SDT pesto.  It took less than 5 minutes.  Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.

Topped with a little basil for color!

Roasted Eggplant Bruschetta

  • Olive oil
  • 2 medium eggplants, cut in 1/2 inch slices
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Garlic powder
  • Provençal Tomato Spread
  • 1/2 C fresh basil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a large baking sheet with foil.  Spray liberally with olive oil.  Place eggplant rounds in a single layer on sheet. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roast for 15 to 20 mins. Flip each piece, checking to be sure the undersides have browned and become and a bit puffy.  If they’re not, cook a bit longer.

Once flipped, sprinkle them with more pepper and some garlic powder.  Place pan back in the oven for ~15 mins, until the undersides brown to match the tops.

Meanwhile, blend 1/2 C of the Provençal Tomato Spread with basil.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add more olive oil (I added 2 tsp), if desired.

When the eggplant is cooked, arrange on a platter.  Top each disk with 1-2 tsp of the purred provencal spread and a small bail leaf.  Eat immediately.

Serves 8-10 as appetizers.

Note: Some people swear you don’t have to do this, but I always lay my sliced eggplant out, sprinkle generously with salt, and allow to sit for 10-15 mins.  This helps remove some of the bitterness and excess moisture.  If you do this, wipe off the excess moisture with a paper towel and proceed to bake as instructed.

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3 days to go on the Standard Process Cleanse – I can’t believe it’s almost over!  Like I said above, the idea is to add back one food at a time to see what you may be sensitive to…. I’m thinking nuts are coming back first!  That’s what she said.

What would you add back first post-cleanse?

Have you ever considered a vegan or vegetarian diet?  What pushed you to do it or held you back?

Butternut Squash Chia Pudding

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Book Club dinners when you’re on a cleanse are hard.

They’re even harder when you’re hosting and therefore responsible for food.  The icing on the cake is that the theme is French (to go with this month’s book selection).  Who ever heard of French vegan food?!

This may have had me sweating a bit.

So I said to myself:  Man up.  You can do this thing.  I think. 

Predictably, I’m got a late start today so the details will have to come later, but it went really well!  Like, 100x better than I expected.

The menu included:

  • Provençal Spread and Veggies
  • Salade Niçoise with Tempeh “Tuna”
  • Oven-Roasted Tomatoes Stuffed with (vegan!) Goat Cheese
  • Roasted Eggplant Bruschetta

I warned everyone ahead of time that it would be a clean dinner… and they subsequently brought meats, desserts, and wine. 🙂

French wine Dessert was the saddest thing for me to miss.  There are so many possibilities for making French desserts that would have been fun to create.  There will be many other dessert opportunities in my life though.  And bottles of French wine.

In order to feel a little less left out, I created my own dessert to enjoy.  And you know what… I can honestly say it was satisfying.  (But I did swoon a little over homemade banana pudding.)

 

Chia pudding has long been a breakfast favorite.  As of last night, it’s been upgraded to dessert.

No this isn’t chocolate cake.  But it is good.

Made like a traditional chia pudding (chia + liquid + congeal in the fridge), the twist here is the sweet squash and a quick blend at the end.

The cocoa-flavored stevia did give it notes of chocolate-y goodness.  I also loved the classic pie flavors the vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg lent the dish.

A spin mix in the Magic Bullet at the end smoothed out the chia to make this like the pudding you grew up eating,  (Thanks to Kasey @ Power Cakes for the idea!)

Yes, you can have your pudding even if you don’t eat your meat.

 

Butternut Squash Chia Pudding

  • 1/2 butternut squash, roasted
  • 3/4 C unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 T chia seeds
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 7-8 drops cocoa stevia
  • Shake of salt

In a small bowl, mash up butternut squash until it becomes a puree (some small pieces are ok).  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 mins (or overnight for breakfast).  The chia will absorb most of the liquid.

Place mix in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) and blend until smooth (about 20 seconds).  Remove, place in bowl, and enjoy!

Note: This would make a great post-workout snack!  Just add a scoop of protein powder and increase the amount of liquid you mix in.

Unfamiliar with the benefits of chia?  Click here for my post on why they rock!

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I cannot wait to share the rest of the meal with you all!

For those with diet restrictions, do you ever feel left out in food-centric social settings?  How do you navigate?

Has anyone ever been to France?  I’m thinking that may be this year’s big trip…

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