Salad Daze

**Meatless Monday is moving to Tuesday this week in anticipation of my trip to Spiral Diner. Also, I may have eaten some delicious venison Swedish meatballs for lunch...***

This was the most amazing salad I may have ever had that didn't include grilled chicken or steak! Everything but the kitchen sink is in there: Romaine lettuce, arugula, cucumber, carrots, onion, Italian cheese blend, and homemade guacamole. I toasted 1/2 of an Ezekiel pita pocket for some added crunch.

For the guac (makes about 2 servings):

I also love to make my own salad dressings. It's so easy, and they taste fresh and vibrant. My favorite is a zesty shallot dressing:

In a small bowl or glass jar with lid, steep 1/2 diced shallot in 1/2 t red wine vinegar and 1/2 t balsamic. Add fresh or dried herbs like parsley, thyme, basil- anything you've got! Mix in 1 t quality mustard (I like a spicy German mustard with red wine). Salt and pepper to taste. Let sit at room temperature, covered, for at least 15 minutes but up to a couple hours. Before serving, whisk in 1/2 c olive oil (or any other healthy oil that you like). Viola! Spicy, zesty, and Delicious!

I found another use for my Field Roast sausages: pizza! I bought a couple whole wheat Italian herb pizza crusts at Whole Foods and topped it with sliced "sausage", tomato sauce, chopped artichoke hearts, roasted red bell pepper, and cheese. The whole thing bakes for about 20 minutes. I realize this is a massive load of Nightshades, but I don't eat a lot of them to begin with so I'm not as concerned. Click the link above for more info on the possible health risks from eating nightshades (i.e. potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc).

All it was missing was some arugula or another green to put on top. Yum!

Wednesday I'll be back with my full review of my first vegan dining experience with my gal shine . So excited!

Chipotle Breakfast Quesadillas

My new lifestyle calls for eating a hell of a lot less meat, so I went in search of decent meat substitutes immediately. Based on several online recommendations, the product I was looking for was called Field Roast Grain Meat Co. It didn't sound very appetizing, "grain meat", but I learned it just refers to their blend of "Mien Ching" and "Seitan" that substitutes for traditional meat. As the "original grain meat" creators, they offer everything from sausages to loafs to cutlets to cheese! You can purchase their products at most health food stores like Whole Foods and Central Market.

Wednesday, I downloaded their recipe for their Chorizo-Style Breakfast Quesadilla and cracked open my package of Mexican Chipotle Sausage. The first thing I noticed of the bat was that the spice mixture used in the sausages turned my fingers and cutting board orange ( I later noticed it left it's trace around my mouth as well- uck). The scent was enticing, but the texture was much tougher than beef sausage. It took a lot more pressure to cut into it, which made my bowels nervous for later. Not to worry, everything turned out fine. (And that is my contribution to the TMI blogger movement!)

The recipe is super simple and could be manipulated to include, or exclude, any ingredients. Vegans- I bet tofu scramble would be an amazing substitute for the eggs and you can use vegan cheese too. Yum!

The recipe is a bit misleading though on how many this will feed and how best to present it in the tortilla. For the amounts shown I would use two tortillas, spread the filling over one and top with another. Then it will feed 2 people. For one person, I used half of the sausage and 1 egg plus 1 egg white when I made this again today for brunch. It fit in one tortilla a lot better and was still super delicious!
While I was aware the whole time I was not eating meat, it was delicious and filling. I can't remember the last time I wasn't hungry an hour after eating! I am definitely going to try the other flavors of sausage, and see if I can't find their cutlets as well.

Have you tried Field Roast? What did you like/dislike??