Mixed Vegetable and Avocado Salad with Almond Herbed Flatbreads

It's almost starting to sense like spring here in southwestern Ontario, although after an extended and brutally cold wintry weather I'm no longer relying on sunny heat days sticking around whenever soon. But with the trace of hotter days on the horizon, I discover myself questioning extra of salads, despite the fact that they may be regularly made to go along with a hot steaming bowl of soup or curry.

My latest dressed-up salad was inspired by a complimentary copy of A Taste of Pesach by Yeshiva Me'on Hatorah. This cookbook, devoted to Passover solutions, features both classic and modern recipes, complete with lovely full colored photographs of each dish. If you observe Passover, this might just be the book for you, and even if you don't there are plenty of diverse recipes to inspire cooks. Those with a sweet tooth won't want to miss the dessert section. While the amount of meat and sea food recipes that occupy the book certainly won't appeal to vegetarians, this vegetarian was intrigued by many of the salads and sides showcased in the book.

Accordingly, after flipping thru the pages, I become attracted by way of a colourful "flatbread" salad and I'm satisfied I tried it, with some minor modifications.

The salad had a pleasant creamy thing due to the addition of avocado that contrasts pleasantly with crisp romaine lettuce and candy crimson cabbage. As the salad is tossed, some of the avocado finally ends up getting mashed in and integrated, making it a great accompaniment to the tangy and zesty dressing that ornaments each serving. The almond flour flatbreads make for an even extra extensive salad that you may enjoy as an appetizer while you await the relaxation of your meal.

Also bookmarked from the gathering is Avocado Salad with Portobello Mushrooms, Veggie Roll-Up and various kugels.

Notes: I cut the recipe in half because I didn't require as much salad as the original recipe called for, but it is easily doubled to feed more hungry diners if required.

To make this salad vegan, miss the non-vegan flatbreads advised below and use flatbreads or croutons that match your weight-reduction plan or depart them out altogether ? The salad is sizeable and delicious sufficient with none garnish, other than perhaps a few freshly cracked black pepper. Feel free to growth the quantity of dressing by using a wee bit if you want your salad smothered with greater zing.

You can make your very own almond flour for the flatbreads at domestic in case you can't locate it or opt for no longer to buy it. Blanch the almonds and grind right into a quality powder in a food processor, taking care not to over-technique. You want a grain-like flour consistency, no longer a sticky combination.

I received a complimentary copy to look over. The critiques expressed here and my changes to the unique recipe are my personal.

This is my contribution to this month's No Croutons Required Soup and Salad Challenge. Jacqueline is hosting for April. Jac and I look ahead to another spherical of delicious thoughts.

More salads to grace your desk from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Avocado Salad

Peach and Bocconcini Salad with Arugula

Wild Rice and Asparagus Salad

Chickpea and Lentil Salad with Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

On the top of the reading stack: Orwashers Artisan Bread: a hundred Years of Techniques and Recipes

Audio Accompaniment: Mark Hollis

Spicy Chickpeas in a Tomato Coconut Sauce

I'm again from a two-week retreat of types and feeling tired but rather refreshed. I controlled to get in a few kitchen time all through my retreat, and after my last extraordinarily tacky presenting I am sharing a cleaning chickpea curry with spinach.

I adore all things legume, but if I could most effective eat one legume I could need to go together with chickpeas. These plump peas are a great car for Indian spices, although they shine in any variety of dishes, whole or floor up. Whenever I cook dinner up a pot of chickpeas for a dish, I constantly soak greater than I want due to the fact I recognise I might be nibbling on handfuls of the peas before they even make it into the dish.

Chickpeas function right here, simmered in a highly spiced tomato-based totally coconut sauce and embellished with handfuls of nourishing and earthy spinach. There is minimum coaching time, and as soon as your beans are cooked it's miles only a remember of throwing it all collectively on the stove top. Although it is a fresh and vibrant dish whenever, it's far without a doubt suited to a busy weeknight meal exactly due to the fact it's so easy to put together. You may additionally want to serve it with rice or your preferred Indian flatbread. I select to prepare dinner up a pot of quinoa that I tossed with clean lemon juice as soon as it changed into cooked. Tangy, earthy and spicy, this simple curry is now a new favourite and one that I will especially maintain in mind when I am pressed for time or don't experience like fussing too lengthy in the kitchen but nevertheless want something to tantalize and satisfy the taste buds.

Other chickpeas dishes from Lisa's Kitchen you're positive to experience:

Chana Chaat (Tangy and Tart Chickpea Salad)

Chana Masala

Tamarind Chickpeas

Spicy Chickpeas in a Spicy Tomato Glaze

On the top of the analyzing stack: Rosehips on the Kitchen Table

Audio Accompaniment: Minilogue

Raw Peanut Butter Cookies

Over the beyond 12 months or so I've been especially interested by creating my personal power snacks and bars at domestic. Not most effective do you've got manage over the elements you use, it's miles cheaper than buying store-offered versions which are regularly encumbered with sugar and additives. In addition to nuts and dried culmination, peanut butter is often a feature of such snacks made in my kitchen because I admit that peanut butter is a weakness of mine. It is not uncommon to peer me eating peanut butter on one or greater occasions in some shape or other for the duration of the day.

My latest experiment was inspired by a cookbook I received for possible review entitled Rawsome Vegan Baking: An Un-cookbook for Raw, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Beautiful and Sinfully Sweet Cookies, Cakes, Bars & Cupcakes by Emily von Euw. I'll be having more to say about this beautiful and unique book again soon. For now, I will just say it is lavishly illustrated, featuring unique vegan and raw takes on old favorites. Pretty much all of the ingredients are staples you're likely have on hand in your kitchen, so no hunting around specialty stores or roaming the grocery aisle for additions that you may rarely have occasion to use again.

Although I was tempted by pretty much every recipe between the covers, my first choice was a raw version of peanut butter cookies. I have fond childhood memories of my mom's peanut butter cookies, and over the years I have experimented with different variations. As I move more and more away from refined sugars, this unbaked and raw version was especially appealing. Eggless and flourless, the sweetness comes from dried fruits. Soft and chewy, they are even better if you use chunky peanut butter. An additional bonus is that the cookies come together in hardly anytime at all if you have a food processor.

These cookies are so healthy and guilt-free, you won't feel bad at all about eating cookies for breakfast.

More healthy snacks and treats from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Cherry Nut Bars

Cocoa Fruit Energy Bites

Cocoa Fruit Treats

No Bake Peanut Butter Carob Balls

Other peanut butter cookies from Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen:

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

Cayenne Peanut Butter Cookies

Beet, Lentil and Vegetable Soup

There's not anything like a bowl of hot fresh cooked vegetable soup to comfort the soul and the body with a nourishing dose of nutrients and minerals. And this simple beet, potato and carrot soup does just the trick ? No fancy seasonings or strategies, simply the conventional flavors of winter root greens simmered with dried thyme and a bit paprika, with earthy green lentils delivered for a little protein improve. This is simply the soup to serve on a cold day or to a person who's convalescing from a iciness bloodless or flu. Hopefully extra salads can be performing on the desk soon, however for now, warming soups are nonetheless so as.

If your beets include fresh beet tops, chop them up and upload on the give up of the cooking time for a further burst of color, flavor and nourishment.

More wintry weather vegetable soups you will enjoy:

Hearty Lentil Borscht

Creamy Split Pea & Vegetable Soup

Curry-Laced Pumpkin and Potato Soup

Kale and Vegetable Soup

On the top of the reading stack: Taste of Tanzania: Modern Swahili Recipes for the West by Miriam R. Kinunda

Lemony Pasta with Broccoli and Chickpeas

During a current visit with my dad and stepmom some weeks again, I found myself in the kitchen regularly, both cooking up the bulk of the dinner meal or making a few wholesome candy treats for snacking or for dessert. Although my family enjoys highly spiced meals, it does no longer determine frequently at the menu as it does on mine, so after making spicy chickpeas in a tomato coconut sauce with spinach that everyone loved, I despite the fact that determined to go along with something less highly spiced and toward the sort of fare my dad and stepmom might be extra willing to understand.

Another motive I took over the majority of the supper planning and prep become no longer best to transport around but also because my dad and stepmom do no longer observe a vegetarian weight loss plan. That isn't to say they don't experience and serve vegetarian food, but it could be a project while you are spending over 2 weeks with a instead fussy vegetarian.

Staring at five feet excessive snow banks at the start of April had me craving comfort too. Dad's house is positioned just a few hours north of Toronto and approximately 4 hours from London, and even though it has been a tough winter all across the province, they had been hit specifically tough with plenty of snow and brutally cold temperatures. Not that a spicy dish Indian meal does not communicate comfort to me, because it genuinely does and it is my strong point, but I do experience exclusive types of cuisines, meals and preparations. Exploring maintains me on my feet inside the kitchen.

I became pretty thrilled with this smooth dish as were my dad and stepmom. I suppose it'd make for a nice summer season meal and it's quite transportable if you happen to be taking food over to a buddies or are attending a potluck. I saved the spicing minimum to permit the earthy taste of the broccoli to return thru along with the zesty sparkling lemon juice. I do assume it'd work well with cauliflower too, with a few dried herbs to decorate the flavor of the pasta and vegetable.

This dish can be served chilled or at room temperature similar to a pasta salad, however I recommend when you first make it to serve it warm, especially in case you are adding a few crumbled goat cheese or sparkling grated Parmesan cheese as a garnish. It can without difficulty be reheated at a low temperature the following day too. I served it up with a few wealthy bitter cream and yogurt mini biscuits on the facet for a filling and enjoyable meal.

Other vegetarian pasta dishes you could revel in from Lisa's Kitchen:

Indian-Style Macaroni and Paneer Cheese with Spinach

Asparagus Pesto Lasagna with Mushrooms

Pasta and Goat Cheese Casserole with Black Olives

Chickpeas, Mango and Spinach in a Tomato Coconut Gravy

No, the ones aren't potato pieces you notice right here on this spiced up dish but as an alternative candy chunks of fresh gentle mango nestling up with buttery chickpeas and earthy inexperienced spinach. I never can resist chickpeas. Judging by way of the number of instances in a given month they display up on my desk in a few form or form, I assume if I had been pressed to name my favorite legume, then chickpeas it'd be. Even individuals who insist they don't like beans can regularly be persuaded to try chickpeas. They do lend themselves so properly to a variety of preparations and idea can be found throughout the globe.

My today's coaching with those cherished legumes is now a new favourite and ? As is common with me ? An Indian curry. It's a gentle dish that nonetheless needs interest. The bouquet of flavors of candy citrus, zesty tomato, vibrant spicing and formidable spinach all come collectively like one large loving circle of relatives, regardless of the unique elements of each of the ingredients. The addition of coconut milk and wilted spinach leave a lovely creaminess to the curry and stability out and blend all of the additives and slightly melt the spices. My dinner companions proclaimed it a big achievement and seconds have been so as, although greater for the experience due to the fact every person's tummy became full. Try it and notice in case you do not elicit a similar reaction. And do not allow the long listing of substances deter you ? Maximum of the items are genuinely spices to be measured out, and it is absolutely pretty a easy dish to prep and prepare.

I served this dish with inexperienced peas simmered in a coconut tomato gravy. Alongside a mattress of warm basmati rice, this become just the form of Indian meal I become craving.

If you revel in spinach, you may additionally like:

Spinach Rice (Palak Pulao)

Chickpea Flour Cr?Pes with Spinach

Mixed Dal Palak (Lentils with Spinach and Tomato)

Spiced Creamed Spinach

On the pinnacle of the analyzing stack: Power Hungry(TM): The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook

Brussels Sprouts and Mushroom Gratin with a Dijon Mornay Sauce

When I consume dairy, I favor to enjoy it in small quantities. Accordingly, I don't often consume tacky meals, who prefer alternatively to cognizance on legumes, grains and greens because the valuable components, with maybe just a slight quantity of dairy covered. However, every now and then the yearning just hits and this rich and creamy Brussels sprouts gratin thrilled every person on the desk. As this lengthy wintry weather drags on into April, all of us wished a few comfort food. You can also want to don't forget serving this as a part of your Easter dinner. I guarantee you, carnivores will NOT be leaving the table hungry after taking part in a component or of this dish, mainly served along some freshly baked biscuits slathered with butter and a facet vegetable salad dressed with a light French dressing.

If you want cheese, this one won't fail to disappoint. Earthy Brussels and mushrooms are smothered in a wealthy Mornay sauce highlighted by way of a relatively subdued sharp and smelly flavor of Dijon mustard. If you may discover Fontina cheese, do use some in location of the Cheddar for a pleasant complimentary tacky assessment.

Other baked vegetable dishes you're sure to experience from Lisa's Kitchen:

Scalloped Potatoes with Coconut Milk and Mushrooms

Baked Eggplant Stuffed with Curried Vegetables

Indian-Style Samosa Potpie

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

On the pinnacle of the studying stack: 1,000 Indian Recipes

Audio Accompaniment: diverse picks