Serious Protein Salad (with Juice Pulp)

 

I seem to share a lot of treat-y recipes on here, but we don't eat pancakes day in and day out (I swear!) - we eat regular food. I guess our regular food sometimes seems a little too boring, to me, to blog about. But maybe it isn't! Let's see! This is just a simple but hearty main-course salad that can be thrown together in no time if you have some leftovers on hand, and of course can be modified in a million ways., loosely inspired by one that my guy ordered at that great vegan place in Cape Town. It's another way to use up some juice pulp as well, which is always nice.

 

So, you'll need:

 

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1/2 cup juice pulp (today's pulp was carrot and grapefruit, but I used mostly carrot. Grated carrot is great too if you don't juice!)

1/4 cup of seeds (I use a mix of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and pine nuts.)

1 packed cup of raw greens (I used 'massaged' kale this time. That just means that you work them with your fingers a bit to make them more tender.)

1 small block of firm tofu, cubed. (The brand I like, Dragonfly, is 250 grams, which would probably be a bit much if my kid wasn't so tofu crazy)

 

Topped with:

Avocado

Finely chopped red onion

Chopped herbs, I used sorrel, parsley and chives from my little garden.

 

And the dressing:

1 tablespoon french mustard

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I really like vinegar though! If you like it a little less punchy, 1 is probably enough.)

4 tablespoons olive oil

A bit of salt

 

In essense you just throw it all together, but here are some tips and notes:

- Make sure that you crumble up the juice pulp, and do keep an eye our for any pips or stems or other bits you might not want in your salad. I used mostly carrot pulp, because I didn't fancy a wad of pith from the grapefruit. This is a bit of a no-brainer, but when I use juice pulp in recipes, I only use what I think would taste good - so carrot or greens in this case, rather than apple and mint, for example.

 - As always with a dressing like this, you just whisk it together and it emulsifies.

- The million dollar question; did my toddler eat it? Sort-of. She basically picked out the tofu, and had some avocado on homemade rye to go with it. Could be worse. 

 - This makes enough for two big portions as a main course, or three or four for dinner if you have something else with it. 

 

I've mentioned before that there's currently a bit of a mismatch between what I want to eat, and what the babe wants to eat. This is what I want. And I do the cooking, so there.

 

Thanks for continuing to vote guys! You're the best!