easy vegan salads

International vegan cuisine, oil free vegan recipes, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Vegan Feta & Tomato Salad

Posted on May. 2023May. 2023 by writinstuff

You all know how much I love my vegan salad recipes so it was about time that I gave a vegan caprese salad another shot, right? I hadn’t planned on it because you might remember that I am no longer a big fan of cheese but there were these gorgeous Monterosa tomatoes at the market, fat and bright red and juicy. Usually they are too soft and too pale so I skip them but they were irresistible this day.

I love a good heirloom tomato and not just because they are so pretty. I find they are usually juicier and have a lot more flavor than Roma tomatoes or the ones that come on the vine.

The moment I weighed them I knew they were going to be the star of their own vegan salad and when I got to the vegan section in the refrigerator aisle I thanked the stock person for making sure the vegan feta cheese was newly restocked.

This is a very easy vegan salad recipe that goes great beside a bowl of soup, a sandwich or even on a big ol’ bed of lettuce. If you’re looking for a way to add more fresh veggies to your diet or you’re simply in need of some extra beta carotene, this vegan feta & tomato salad is a great—and tasty—way to do it.

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Asian Food, Bowls, International vegan cuisine, Noodles, Plant Based, Vegan

Loaded Vegan Ramen Salad Recipe

Posted on April. 2023April. 2023 by writinstuff

Is there anything better than a noodle salad? I mean, it feeds my body’s need to have lots of fresh, raw veggies in a variety of colors while also feeding my belly’s desire for Asian noodles. To me, it is the perfect healthy splurge salad.

Healthy splurge. It’s kind of an oxymoron isn’t it? Yes and no.

A healthy splurge meal is when you’re doing your best to eat healthy and feed your body the fuel it needs to get through each day without malfunctioning or succumbing to exhaustion or other crap diet related feelings. But you get to have a bit of a splurge in something you love, like Ramen noodles. And to be fair, ramen are fairly calorie friendly depending on which ones you use. For example, the ones I have are 60 calories per 100 grams of cooked noodles. And since I toss the seasoning packets I don’t have to worry about what’s in there.

But I’m not deluding myself that these noodles are actually ‘healthy’ but you could do a lot worse.

Still this is one of my favorite ways to have a salad and I have salads a lot. So let’s get into what ‘s in this baby and how to assemble it.

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Asian Food, Bowls, International vegan cuisine, oil free vegan recipes, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Easy Vegan Lunch Recipes ~ Vegan Cowboy Sushi Salad Bowl

Posted on January. 2023January. 2023 by writinstuff

Many of you have seen my Sushi Salad Bowl Recipe, or the Vegan Sushi Salad and it’s been a pretty big hit, which I’m super stoked about so thank you. But recently I wanted the same salad but…with a twist.

Know what I mean?

I have this problem often. I’ll create a recipe that I LOVE and then I’ll have it a few times, and after that it kind of loses its luster and I’m ready to improve on it, move on and turn it into something else. And that’s how today’s vegan lunch recipe got started.

Vegan Cowboy Sushi Salad Bowl wasn’t necessarily a spark of an idea from me out of thin air, but I wanted pickled ginger and soy sauce and wasabi but I also wanted something warm. So here we are.

Tell me below, what’s your favorite vegan salad to remix?

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Beans, Mexican Dishes, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Vegan Taco Salads ~ Black Bean & Corn Taco Salad

Posted on August. 2022August. 2022 by writinstuff

The thing I love about salad is that that you can do so much with it. You can toss together a quickie salad that looks pretty much what people think vegans eat, or you can go all out and make a proper salad that fills you up with food and nutrients.

Guess which one I enjoy?

If you guess a big ass salad, you are correct, my friend.

Sometimes I enjoy what call it a hot & cold salad because I like to mix fresh raw ingredients with cooked ingredients, especially when it comes to burrito bowls, taco salads and Buddha bowls. Grab your favorite raw veggies, any kind of vegan protein you want and cooked veggies if you’re feeling spunky.

Check out my Sushi Salad Bowl or the Chickpea Rainbow Salad or Buffalo Chicken Salad or this Summer BBQ Salad recipe.

Sometimes I prefer something a little more traditional like potato salad, or a mostly raw vegan salad.

Today’s vegan taco salad is similar to dozens of vegan salad recipes I’ve made over the years but the difference is that I jumped out of my comfort zone and made something that I have yet to have a good experience with: peach & cucumber salsa.

It’s always been a hate-hate relationship with non-tomato salsa because I just don’t find the combination of peaches or nectarines with cucumbers all that pleasant to my taste buds. Today I decided to do it again just to see if my mind or my palate has changed.

So let’s dig into this black bean and corn taco salad.

Gather your ingredients and let’s get started!

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Asian Food, Bowls, International vegan cuisine, Salads, Vegan

Vegan Sushi-Style Salad

Posted on June. 2022June. 2022 by writinstuff

As much as I love when the weather turns warm, it’s always kind of a daunting task to find things to make for lunch that are calorie friendly, cold-ish and not salad.

Not that I have anything against salad, you know, it is one of the dishes I love and eat most frequently. You can check out some of my favorite salad recipes here, here and here. But the truth is that a girl needs a little variety in her life to switch things up, ya know? And no matter how many different ways you make salad, something other than dark leafy greens and tomatoes and cucumbers needs to go in my tummy.

Anyway on this particular day I was feeling a little bit creative so I went a little crazy with this idea of a sushi style salad in that it is sushi-like but not actually sushi.

And it began with the idea of a soy sauce and wasabi style salad dressing. Weird, right?

I know.

But here we are, vegan sushi salad.

Change up any of the ingredients you like or don’t like, or add some vegan ingredients I don’t have access to like vegan salmon or something similar and tag me on it.

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Salads, Sides, Vegan

Easy Vegan Salads ~ Buffalo Chicken Salad

Posted on February. 2022February. 2022 by writinstuff

Salads are…everything. They are a great way to fill your bowl with vitamins and minerals, making sure you get all the nutrients your body needs to stay fit and healthy. It’s also a low calorie way to sprinkle in some of the things you love–and miss–in your effort to eat better.

I love to make salad a mainstay in my diet, adding things like ramen noodles, quinoa, couscous and even bulgur (check out my Pesto & Chickpea Tabbouleh Salad recipe). You get the carbs and therefore the energy you need to satisfy your hunger, while still eating healthy. Or like today’s vegan recipe, you get to add something delicious like a spicy buffalo sauce on your favorite vegan alternative such as TVP, tofu, seitan or tempeh.

What I’m trying to say is that salads are a great way to have the best of both worlds, eating healthy and getting some of the foods you’ve put on your no-no list.

This vegan salad recipe is easy, relatively quick and wickedly delicious. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to add buffalo vegan chicken to salad. I must be crazy!

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Bowls, Grains, Herbs, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Pesto & Chickpea Tabbouleh Salad

Posted on January. 2022January. 2022 by writinstuff

We all know how much I love salads and Buddha bowls (get my vegan sushi bowl recipe here). I can eat them just about every single day of the week without eating the same thing, or getting sick of them. But, that doesn’t mean that I’m not always trying to improve a recipe or improvise on existing recipes. The possibilities are endless and it’s important in general, but especially when you’re trying to eat clean and healthy, that you keep things fresh.

It’s easy to get sick of eating anything, but that is especially true of healthy, whole foods that aren’t fatty and addictive, that aren’t made to keep you coming back for more. So it requires some effort, not a lot, but some.

So a while back my niece made tabbouleh for me and the husband since we’re the only two vegans in the family. She was adorable, at fourteen years old, making this dish for us. So proud of herself and I was too, honestly. And when I was in need of a new vegan salad recipe, I thought back to Alex and her tabbouleh.

This is technically tabbouleh, but not in it’s traditional way. This is how vegans fancy up a simple salad.

Before we even begin, I’ll let you know that chickpeas aren’t a traditional ingredient in tabbouleh and I, of course, omitted the oil. Those are the major changes I made so if you’re still interested, keep reading for a unique twist on tabbouleh salad.

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Bowls, Grains, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Graffiti Eggplant & Courgette Couscous Salad ~ Easy Vegan Meals

Posted on August. 2021August. 2021 by writinstuff

Have any of you noticed that it’s not as easy to find all the foods you need at one supermarket these days? I used to be able to hit up Kaufland and get most of what I needed, using a delivery service for the rest. But given everything going on in the world, it seems to be hit or miss with lots of things.

At the top of that list I would put lettuce. Romaine lettuce has been gone for months, which leaves very few options because I’m not a fan of bagged lettuce or salad mix. There have just been too many problems over the years so I try to stay away from those. But I LOVE to eat a big, hearty salad for lunch on most days.

So, what am I to do?

Improvise, of course.

This warm couscous salad with graffiti eggplant and zucchini fits the technical definition of a salad, and it was delicious to boot, so here we go!

I came across some beautiful graffiti eggplant and my husband asked me to get some because he loves the stuff. I, on the other hand, have just started to like eggplant and not out of necessity. Here in Romania there’s a dish called vinete, which is basically an eggplant dip. For me, it’s hit or miss but we were recently visiting Sinaia and I actually slathered it on two slices of bread…and ate them both.

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Asian Food, Bowls, Grains, International vegan cuisine, Seafood, Vegan

Spicy Tuna Bowl for Vegans!

Posted on August. 2021August. 2021 by writinstuff

Have I mentioned how much I love to experiment with new vegan food products? They can be hit or miss, but when they hit, they hit BIG.

And today I have a quick and healthy vegan recipe that uses vegan tuna from Vantastic Foods that I think you’ll find easy to make and delicious to eat.

It’s another Buddha Bowl recipe, technically but there are plenty of fresh veggies that could easily slide this into the vegan salad category. If you enjoy bowls, consider this vegan sushi bowl! Call it what you want, just call it tasty.

Crunchy and refreshing, the perfect vegan lunch idea during a heatwave!

Don’t worry, this is an easy vegan recipe that only requires basic knife skills.

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Beans, Grains, Plant Based, Salads, Vegan

Time & Figure Friendly Vegan Quinoa Salad

Posted on October. 2019October. 2019 by writinstuff

When it comes to eating healthy and eating vegan, you don’t have to resign yourself to a life of salad and tomatoes. Though for the record I should state that there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with lettuce or tomatoes. Or cucumber. Or radishes. Scallions. Or sprouts. I love it all and they are a regular part of my diet because…weight loss.

But that doesn’t mean that a girl doesn’t want a little bit of variety for her taste buds. Most days I eat some version of a salad for lunch because they are healthy, packed with vitamins and a great way to satisfy your appetite without going overboard on calories. I’m down plenty of kilos at this point which means my way is working and I’m sticking to it.

So…quinoa salad.

The best thing about this salad is that you can use whatever you have handy. I made up this recipe using what was in the fridge and we loved every single bite of it.

I started with my usual salad ingredients: Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions. Then I decided to use some of this extra extra large carrot I had on hand and grated some of it, about 100 grams. Throw in half a diced red bell pepper, 100 grams of cannellini beans and you’re almost finished with this easy, healthy vegan salad.

Toss in the cooked quinoa. For this recipe I used organic red lentils because they were pretty and I think added the perfect splash of color to this dish.

Fluff the quinoa and you’re ready to mix the vegetables and grains.

For the creamy dressing on this vegan salad I used veggiegurt, about 80 grams and mixed it with a tablespoon of mustard, a pinch of gochugang (Korean chili past), salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix it and toss with the veggies & quinoa and you’re good to go!

There is a bit of prep work with rinsing and chopping up all the vegetables but I managed to get it all done in less than 30 minutes. And you’ll love even more than this dish was less than 300 calories per bowl!

Calories aren’t everything. Taste does matter and if you give new foods a chance, often you’ll be pleasantly surprised.