Salads, Soul Burgers & a Tester

I worked really hard on our Sunday night salads. For our main dish I made Texas Quinoa Salad, which is inspired by a recipe from Texas chef Paula Disbrowe.




I think it’s absolutely beautiful and it tastes fresh and fabulous. It was a little time consuming to prepare, but my recipe shortcuts some of the chef’s steps. I hope you will take the time to make this tasty salad.

Texas Quinoa Salad

1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup salsa verde
salt & pepper
half of a medium cucumber, sliced thinly
half of a small red onion, sliced thinly
1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thinly
3 green onions, sliced thinly
cilantro
half of a lime

Dry roast the quinoa in a sauce pan. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool. When cool, add the salsa and beans.

Spread onto a large platter and garnish with all the veggies. Finish with cilantro and a good squeeze of the lime.


Another fantastic salad I made was Roasted New Potato and Asparagus Salad. This recipe was also quite time consuming, but again, worth the effort.

I didn’t know what one of the dressing ingredients was – runny honey – and I didn’t have the suggested apple concentrate to substitute, so I just used agave nectar. Chase kept asking how I got the potatoes to taste so good. I got lucky, I guess!

I’ve had my eye on Vegan Addict’s Blackeyed Pea Soul Burgers ever since she posted them. How lucky was I to find another burger with broccoli in it?!!

These are super delish, just as I knew they would be. (I had to sub carrots for the mushrooms because Chase is a hater, but VA says you can use any veggies you want. I also used oat flour to keep them gluten free.) If you don’t make the burger, at least make the fabulous spice mix that’s added to the burger. It’s what gives the burgers soul! I made 4 giant patties instead of 6 (cuz we’re pigs) and baked the patties 20 minutes each side. Look at these beauties!

AND, I’ve signed on to test recipes for Happy Herbivore. My first tester was Crispy Chickenless Nuggets. Nuggets are kid friendly and kids of any age will enjoy these. I know Chase was looking forward to eating these all day. He was not disappointed. He absolutely loved them. He didn’t even want any dip for them! I think he ate six and was thrilled to have a bagful to take home.

I had a Soul Burger and salads for my dinner plate. I love meals full of color.

We also had two kinds of cookies for dessert, but I’m saving those for a post later in the week. My sister will be here Tuesday and stay a week, so there probably won’t be a Sunday dinner next week to write about. But please stop back by later for cookies!