The Spicy Spatula

Hello and happy Monday to my favorite people!

Today was a pretty productive day for me so far. I went grocery shopping, made a super healthy lunch, which I’ll tell you about another day soon–promise–, and I managed 90 minutes of tennis in the burning hot sun. I even managed to write a few chapters before I remembered that it was Monday and I hadn’t done my blog post for today.

So here I am, and I have a wonderful and healthy vegan salad recipe that I want to share with you today.

It’s a riff on a salad I saw somewhere on social media and honestly, at this point, I’m not even sure where it was. The simple facts are that it was a cauliflower salad and there was sundried tomatoes and cheese in it and I thought to myself, I that’s a flavor profile I can dig. Ya know?

So, I read the recipe and figured out how to tweak it and make it vegan, and here we are today.

But…Cauliflower Salad, really?

Yes, really. I know it sounds weird but the minute I read through the recipe the only thing I could think was, why hadn’t I thought of this before? I mean, I love cauliflower but I only ever have it warm. But is that like, a rule?

No. No it is not.

Before you shake your head in disbelief, just read through and give it careful consideration. I promise it’s super delicious and healthy.

Really, really healthy.

Now…let’s do this!

Kitchen Tools:

*Cutting board
*Baking mats
*Kitchen knife
*Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

*Cauliflower
*Onion
*TVP
*Garlic
*Basil
*Black & Kalamata olives
*Tomatoes
*Mustard
*Green Sauce

Instructions:

*Preheat the oven to 200C/400F

*Chop the cauliflower into bite size pieces and place in one layer on a silicon baking mat (or parchment paper).

*Season with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic and oregano. Toss until coated and bake 20 to 25 minutes.

*Cook the TVP according to instructions, or whatever vegan meat alternative or protein source you choose. This is a veggie heavy dish so you’ll want to make sure you’re getting some protein to satisfy your hunger. If using TVP, pop it in the oven when it’s hydrated, while the cauliflower cooks, or even the air fryer.

*While the cauli & TVP are cooking, chop the rest of the ingredients. Note: Feel free to cook the garlic and use more of it, otherwise press one or two raw cloves.

*Thin slice the onion, halve the tomatoes and olives and cut the basil into thin strips.

*In a separate bowl, combine the mustard and green sauce. I used a spicy mustard but you can use whatever you prefer. Set this aside and either toss completely or place a healthy dollop on top so everyone can mix it individually.

*Remove the cauliflower and TVP from the oven and let it cool before placing it into a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Toss everything together and serve.

I’ll admit, I was wary about the whole room temperature/cool cauliflower thing but it turned out really nice. The cauliflower was cooked well but it still had just enough of a bite that it wasn’t mushy, which gave this vegan salad recipe some heft.

The flavors were great and they held up later because, of course, I made this a twofer because I’m a very busy lady.

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