Hey there!
Hope the start to your weekend is treating you well. The good news is I am almost ready for tomorrow’s farmer’s market…the bad news is that I didn’t have time to do any desk work, HST research, bills, etc. I will have to set aside some time Monday for catch up I guess.
In tonight’s dinner, I got to use a new oil that I have never tried before…
I have heard that cold-pressed oils are superior, but I wasn’t exactly sure why. After a bit of poking around I discovered that cold-pressed means that the oil has been made with a low heat technique. Using high heat during the processing of oil degrades the nutritional value, flavour, and colour. The reason why cold-pressed oils are more expensive is because the cold-pressed technique yields less oil as compared to using heat. Also, oils need to be stored in dark glass bottles away from sunlight and heat to prevent oxidization. [Source]
I decided to make my very first vegan Caesar salad tonight. Eric and I were both in the mood for something light and fresh.
Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing
[Inspired by ED&BV]
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup 3 minute Vegan Parmesan cheeze
- 6 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil (or EVOO)
- 1 garlic scape (or 1 clove garlic)
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup water
Directions: In a blender or food processor, add the lemon juice, water, and oil and blend/process until mixed well. Now add the rest of the ingredients and blend/process well. Scrape sides down as necessary. Blend/process until smooth. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Dressing will thicken up in the fridge and you can add more water to thin it out of necessary. Makes about 2/3 of a cup.
Dreena Burton’s recipe included a bit of agave nectar. My initial reaction was not to use agave (I am not big on the taste), but I included it anyways. I really regretted it because the dressing had sort of a strange taste to it. Next time I would leave out the agave and I think it would be much better.
After mixing the salad, I added chopped green onions, more 3 minute Vegan Parmesan cheeze , freshly ground black pepper, and fresh lemon. I forgot the homemade croutons that I was planning on making though.
Eric said, ‘The only thing this is missing is croutons.’ and I went awwww crap! Don’t you hate when you forget something?
When I was a child we would have Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and my parents always forgot the beets in the fridge or the rolls warming in the oven or a veggie side dish. There was always one thing forgotten amongst all the dishes and oodles of food. Half way through the dinner someone would go….WE FORGOT THE ROLLS! AHHHH. Once the rolls were located we would all grab a roll, butter it, take a huge bite, and sigh with delight as if the missing piece to the puzzle had been returned.
However, no one volunteered to get up from the table and make croutons tonight. :lol: We made do without the croutons since we had our lovely toasted bread to keep us happy.
We had the salad along with aaaaaamazing open-faced toasted sandwiches. I’ve been on such an open-faced sandwich kick!
It included: Pasta sauce on the bottom, tomato, roasted red pepper hummus, green onion, drizzle of EVOO, and black pepper on toasted Ezekiel bread.
It was an easy + delicious summertime dinner!
What are your favourite summertime meals? Any staples that you make frequently over the warmer months?
I’m off to finish prepping for tomorrow’s market. I don’t think I will have time for my workout today, but I will have to see how quickly I can finish up. Enjoy your Friday night!
I love open faced sammie’s.
So many warm weather dishes since it’s always hot here in FL (except for this past winter). Gazpacho, cold tomato basil soup, cold zucchini soup, mezzes plate w/ hummus, tapenade, white bean spread, dolmades; salad nicoise, all sorts of veggie salads. I could go on all night since at mid 90s we hate to turn on the oven or stove burners. Have a great farmer’s market and weekend!
I have a workout-related question.
I’ve been doing cardio and trying to tone up overall. My biggest self-conscious area is my stomach, and I’ve been doing the planks, crunches on the yoga ball, and those “lower your legs” exercises to tone my abdominal muscles. I can feel that they’re strong, but I have an issue.
I’d like to have a flatter-looking stomach, but I’ve noticed that as the muscles develop, they are actually making me look like I have a pooch- but it’s muscle, not fat. I am wondering if I’m inadvertently “bulking” my stomach muscles?
Anyway, I wondered if you’ve ever experienced this in your workout adventures, or if you have some tried-and-true abdominal exercises that you love!
Hi Jennifer – this totally happens with most conventional abs exercises as well as pilates.
Have you ever tried the Tracy Anderson method? She uses techniques that specifically fight this problem including standing ab isolations, and also when you are doing crunches on the floor either keeping the legs out straight or straight up at a 90 degree angle – never in between. I swear by her workouts :) good luck!
I’ll check it out- thank you!!
Yes I have experienced this before. I found that focusing more on the obliques (sides of the stomach) muscles by doing twisting core planks and such helped!
it actually has nothing to do with the exercises but the way you’re doing them. the rectus abdominus (six pack muscle) is a long sheath of muscles that runs from the sternum to the pubic bone. it’s primary purpose is to shorten the distance between those two points, which is essentially what you’re doing in a crunch or butt lift. when you shorten that muscle it protrudes, causing the pooch you’re seeing. you need to focus on the obliques as angela already said and on the transversus abs which help to stabilize the spine and draw the stomach closer to the back. if you think of the transverse abs a string running across your abdomen from hip to hip imagine tightening those strings essentially pulling the hip bones closer together. also, if you’re lifting or clenching your butt when you’re doing your ab work stop now!
I make lots of smoothies in the summer!
Mmmm…I love me a caesar!! My favorite of all salads actually!
FYI…I just recently discovered from one of my cookbooks lately that most oils should be kept in the fridge, as they turn rancid easily. I wasn’t aware of this, so I thought I’d pass it on in case you weren’t either. Have you tried avocado or rice bran oil yet? I just purchased them as they’re suppose to be superior oils to add to your diet.
Have a great day at the market tomorrow :-)
Thanks for the tip! Im keeping my Sunflower oil in the fridge…its like my baby! haha
Good luck with tomorrow! I can’t wait for more pictures of the farmers’ market :)
I must get some of that Ezekial bread…I loooved it when we had it with our samiches at your house. I’m a huge open faced sandwich person too. I used to be ALL about open face salami as a kid :)
i starred this post! the vegan caesar salad looks sooooooo good!!! it’s crazy how comforting caesar salad is yet it always gives me a stomach ache from the heavy creamy dressing and anchovy paste. yuckk
Mmmm, sounds gooood! I actually am not a big fan of caesar salad dressing (too heavy) but I guess this would be a nice substitute. Thanks for sharing! :) Oh yeah, and your open-face sammies look great. I think I’m going to try that soon ;)
Wei-Wei
I crave ANY kind of fruit during the summer – no veggies of course. ;)
Ezekiel bread is the BEST!!!! The salad sounds amazing. Salads are the perfect thing for hot summer nights.
i don’t really like Caesar dressing but your recipe looks amazing! I will definitely be trying it. I will link back here if I feature it on my blog. :) Good Luck tomorrow!
I’m really into open-faced sandwiches right now too. These are non-vegan, but I love tempeh + laughing cow + jam on Ezekiel and egg over-easy + laughing cow + avocado on Ezekiel.
I definitely get more into smoothies during the summer too and salads with beans or some type of fish are always on my mind.
Our new summertime dish is fresh spring rolls (shrimp/prawns, basil, mint, carrot) with a dipping sauce mix of sweet chilli sauce and sesame oil, and raw corn salad (raw corn off the cob, red pepper chopped, spring onion chopped, swirl of EVOO and a dash of sea salt). Feels so good to eat something light and healthy when it’s a tad warm outside :)
My grandma always forgets the canned corn in the microwave haha
LOL yup weve been there!
So true! I just finished taking a nutrition class and we learned all about oil and how the nutritional content can easily be destroyed in a lot of ways. I also learned that organic oil is also far superior! Apparently, it is significantly less processed, so in general, organic, cold-pressed would be the best option there is–especially for oils like Canola, etc.
Hope it helps!
Thanks for the info!
There’s something about open-faced sandwiches that makes them supreme to the closed variety. I think it’s because we can actually see all the good stuff inside (or on top in this case) of the sandwich. Yours looks to good to hide underneath a piece of bread, that’s for sure!
What a great recipe – thanks for sharing! I would not have known where to begin when it comes to veganising a CAESAR!
Great looking salad! I love how you seem to make something completly fabulous and inventive for every single meal, it’s inspiring!!
My favourite summer dish is smoothies – I love them when it’s hot out! :) Especially Green Monsters :P
These recipes look so enticing! Question – what did you sprinkle on top of your banana soft serve?
I sprinkle cacao nibs on top :)