Easy vegan salad ideas

Vegan salads.... take any ingredients that you have available, and love to eat, and place in a bowl, then take ingredients that you have and love and pour them over top.... or as one google definition puts it "a cold dish of various mixtures of raw or cooked vegetables, usually seasoned with oil, vinegar, or other dressing"

It really is that simple - some greens if you have them, any other vegetables that you have/love eg green onions, bell peppers, cucumber, mushrooms, carrot, celery, etc then include some cooked beans like chick peas or lentils or any other legume you like. Avocado is always a nice topper. Then make a mixture of dressing and try to include some lemon juice so as to easily absorb the greens' nutrients and other tasty items like tahini, vinegars, mustard (sometimes), hot sauce if you like. Under the "Food" forum here we recently had a whole discussion on sauces and dressings and @Lou provided some great recipes. Check that out when you have time.

Even simpler, google, vegan salads, and you will get a ton of suggestions. Let us know what you make and how it tasted.

Emma JC
 
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I like using a lot of ingredients. And I usually use all the ingredients in my frig. Some I buy special just for salads. But some are just sort of staples in the kitchen.

Lettuce is the main ingredient and I really like that Living Lettuce that they sell but I don't buy it very often. I'll just buy whatever organic lettuce looks best in the produce aisle. Maybe a cup of lettuce

Usually, I have some baby spinach and/or mixed greens in the frig. So I will add those. Half cup each.

I also like cherry tomatoes in my salad. I'll add 4 - 8. I buy them just for salads. but any kind of tomato will do, just a few slices. Four or six slices of cucumber are good too. I have a spiralizer and I will spiralize or peel carrots. Like an eighth cup

I usually have cooked rice in the frig. I'll add a quarter cup. I usually have black beans, too. Another quarter cup. Chickpeas are great, too. I usually have mushrooms and broccoli in the frig, so I'll add some of those too. I keep a can of sliced olives in the frig just for salads, just a couple of tablespoons.

I make my own salad toppings and add another eighth cup of that. Right now I'm just combining slivered almonds with sunflower seeds. But in the past, it's been more elaborate including soy nuts, pine nuts, and raisins. IMHO, salad toppings are essential and you can have a lot of fun creating your own combos.

Also if you have any you can add ground flax, hemp, or chia seeds. Just a couple of tbsp.

Now I don't always have ALL of those things at hand but if I did it would make up something like 5 or 6 cups of salad. That's more than I can eat so I don't ever use ALL of those things. But with experience, you get pretty good at prioritizing what you want in a salad that you can eat the whole thing.

If you ever use Dr. Gregar's checklist its pretty cool how many things you can check off with just one salad.
 
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