August 05, 2015 August 05, 2015/ Morgan
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Orange Poppyseed Dressing
So if you’ve been following along on Facebook you may have noticed that I’ve been posting a lot of pictures from cookbooks I’ve been cooking. I decided that it is about time that I get out my books and USE THEM, am I right? So my plan is to give you a review on what I’m cooking from so you can get out your copy (or buy a copy!) and cook along with me!
Tempeh BBQ & Dilly Slaw Salad
First up is Salad Samurai by Terry Hope Romero. The first thing that I want to tell you is that I AM NOT A SALAD PERSON. Well, scratch that. I WAS not a salad person. In fact I didn’t even crack open this book for a long time because it seemed like a painful thing to me at the time to eat salads. Now that I know how to make a GOOD salad I’m all about salads. I never thought it was possible to love salads this much. I crave SALAD. If you already love salads then what are you waiting for?! If you don’t know how you feel about them yet then get your book out and get cracking! (IF you think you aren’t a salad person then prepare to be amazed at how hearty a salad can be!!!)
Here’s some things you may want to know about the book:
How are the pictures?
Awesome. Beautiful and they make you super hungry.
How easy are the recipes?
If you take a bit of time to do some extra prep on the weekend before work then you can have awesome salads all week with very little effort. It’s really not bad!
Does it have a lot of hard to find ingredients?
Not really at all! While some call for tempeh, miso or other products like that you can always use substitutes.
Can this easily fit into my dietary guidelines (gluten free/oil free/sugar free/etc?)
Many recipes are gluten free by nature and with what is on the market you can find gluten free substitutes for most things. Oil free is a tiny bit trickier but you just need to find suitable substitutes for the oil in salad dressings. One sub I like to use is 1/2 teaspoon guar gum (you can buy it online or by all of that gluten free baking stuff) in a salad dressing plus some water, juice or broth to make up the difference. It thickens up nicely.
How did your kids like it?
Ahh so kids and salads are weird. At least my kids. My 8 month old doesn’t have teeth to chew greens or anything so he gets ingredients smashed up. Whatever. My almost 5 year old doesn’t really like to eat a salad but she always requests them. The trick i’ve found is to put the individual components in her food trays (these are what we use!) and let her make her own salad. She tends to eat more. Oh or putting it all in a wrap works too.
How did the Mr. like it?He loved the salads! AND they are hearty enough that he didn’t complain about eating one for dinner after a hard day of work.
Would you make any of the recipes more than once?
Uh heck yeah and I already have. I’m kind of obsessed with this book and these recipes. I make at least 3 a week right now and that’s a ton with how many other things I’m trying to cook in the meantime.
What are your favorite recipes from the book?
The BKT is my absolute favorite right now but I’m also obsessed with the Reubenesque. The Mr. loved the BBQ Tempeh with Dilly Slaw.
Have any other questions you’d like me to answer about the cookbooks?! Comment and let me know!
Okay and just one more… how I turned my salad into a wrap!
Reubenesque Salad turned into a wrap!
August 05, 2015/ Morgan/ 
