Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? I spent some time with my in-laws and I spent a few hours (okay, more than a few) inside the writing cave working on a new story.
And cooking. And eating.
Of course.
You ever get to that point in life where you feel like your parents or grandparents? I rarely do, honestly. I feel very young and energetic but this weather has me constantly talking about the weather. Honestly, I’m kind of getting on my own nerves with how much it comes up in conversation but it kind of has to, ya know?
You can’t plan a day in the mountains or at the beach, or anywhere in between if you don’t know how hot it’s going to be, or how much rain to expect. Or if there’s an extreme heat warning that means you’ll be cancelling your plans altogether. So yeah, I’m over talking about the weather.
So instead of talking about that, I’ll just say that life in the summer is the perfect time to explore what you consider vegan salads. It doesn’t have to be lettuce, tomato and cucumber, which I know I’ve said at least a few thousand times in this space, but it bears repeating.
Even the definition of salad includes raw and cooked vegetables so there’s a lot of room to work in terms of what a salad means to you. Personally, I’m not big on coating my salads in a ton of vegan salad dressing, which is also an important factor in any salad recipe. I like a few dollops on top and I can coat it how I see fit.
Still, it’s a salad.
This is my summer of broccoli salad exploration, I guess. I tried it here and here and both produced pretty good results, so of course I decided to try it again, except different.
But today I decided to add in something a little different…apple. Apples have been pretty hit or miss this season but the Ambrosia and Cosmic Crisp varieties have been absolutely amazing, crunchy and sweet, making them perfect for a salad.
The best thing about today’s recipe is that it is a super easy vegan recipe and the only thing that requires any real work is the TVP, which you can replace with any other vegan meat alternative or vegan protein source. My reason for using the TVP is twofold; first to increase my protein intake and reduce post workout muscle soreness and the other is to give this meal some long lasting satiety.
But, that’s enough of that…on with the recipe!
Kitchen Tools:
*Cutting board
*Kitchen knife
*Mixing bowl (large & small)
*Baking mats
Ingredients:
*Broccoli
*Dried cranberries
*Apple
*Walnuts
*Cocogurt
*Herbs & spices
Instructions:
*Chop the broccoli and place it into a large pot of boiling water, cooking for 5 minutes. Remove from stove, drain and set into a large bowl filled with cold water. Let it sit until cool and then drain.
*Chop the apple. I peeled it because I have a mild allergy to apple skin but you don’t have too, enjoy that extra fiber!
*Chop walnuts.
*Add everything, including cranberries to the large mixing bowl.
*In the small mixing bowl, combine vegan yogurt with dried herbs and spices, any that you like. For this I used coriander, cayenne pepper, parsley, dill, leustean and basil with a few drops of fresh lime juice.
*Either toss the entire salad with the vegan yogurt salad dressing or serve it on the side. It’s your kitchen, your choice.
Enjoy!
How do you like to eat your broccoli?
The Spicy Spatula 
Whatcha think?