The Chef: ElizabethThe Menu: Cheese, and lots of it. Of course, it's non-dairy Daiya, which you may have read about once or twice on this blog before. Today's main dish had five ingredients: cheese, pasta, marinara sauce, extra garlic, and garlicky bread crumbs. Yes, those are listed in order of greatest volume. Salad? Well, we had one, but no one really cared. It might be a fact that we now just make salad in an effort to give the appearance that we eat something other than big piles of Daiya.
The Goods: Elizabeth (mistakenly) thought she had a shot at finishing off our supply of Daiya with today's ultra-cheesy baked ziti. In fact, she made a good dent, but we're not out yet. Did Ms. Laura Beck join us for lunch? Yes. Do we all have highly professional, totally appropriate, huge freaking crushes on her? Yes, yes we do. We also have a few more Go Vegan! 2010 Calendars! Congrats to Kelly G. from the hefty crop of responses yesterday! Kelly, send us an email, and we'll send your calendar right out. Now, for today's prize, leave us a comment with your favorite thing about Laura. OK, OK, since that's not entirely fair, tell us: how would you make a salad that could hold its own next to the fabulousness of super-cheesy baked ziti?
31 comments:
Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I love beans. So, for an amazing salad I would definitely throw in a lot of beans! Kidney and chickpea beans for this one. Also, Have only baby spinach leaves and make sure to have something sweet like raisins in it.
Yum.
Juicy juicy delicious heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mmmm acidity.
I would add Goddess dressing, some basil, marinated mushrooms, red bell pepper and croutons
For a salad that stands up to baked ziti, I'd probably make the salad my fav Italian restaurant makes -- lettuce, tomatoes, sliced black olives, whole green olives and chopped broccoli, with garbanzo and kidney beans and topping it off with a red vinegar/olive oil vinaigrette. Yum!
Some yummy fresh greens with lots of cherry tomatoes and a nice vegan Itallian dressing. Yum!!
I'd continue in the rustic Italian and match this with a salad of braised arugula, baby haricot vert (green beans!), diced fresh tomato (and a scant handful of dried currants if you like, a tease of salt, black pepper, and tossed with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.
I'd throw in some baby romaine, fakin' bacon, avocado, juicy cherry tomatoes, and a sprinkling of nutritional yeast!
Laura is the cutest and the most wonderful!
I'd go with tomatoes and avocado, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of fleur de sel. Fresh, juicy and creamy, yum!
My favorite thing about Laura...is her cutting sarcasm!! Oh...I mean I would obviously add a ton of Daiya and Parma to it! Duh!!
I would make an artichoke heart salad with a wine vinegar and hazelnut oil vinaigrette, toasted hazelnuts and baby arugula.
An Italian inspired insalata makes sense to me with an Italian main dish.
Purple cabbage salad with green onions and a soy sauce/vinegar/oil/sugar salad. Topped with candied pecans.... yummers!
To make a salad taste amazing I would add lots of grilled vegetables like mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini and corn and then add some salsa for flavor. To top it off, I would use my favorite vegan honey mustard dressing and it would taste so good!
I would start with homemade vinaigrette, fresh lettuce picked from my garden that very day, perfectly ripe tomatoes, a slice or two of avocado, and some chopped walnuts on top!
Ah, that is quite simple, you use absolutely all the fresh greens you can find, lots of sweet baby vegetables of every color, one chopped up favorite fruit, a sprinkle of delightful seeds and finish with, yes, yes a handful of Non-Dairy Daiya!Mmmmmmm
I'm thinking a salad with assertive greens (arugula, frisee, radicchio, etc.) and an assertive dressing (greek or italian style vinaigrette) - to complement and cut through the richness of the ziti! YUM!
I'd add spinach, tomatoes, Parma, croutons, and a honey mustard dressing. Then, I'd hurry up and eat it so I could move on to the Ziti!
Ok this looks amazing. BTW, love reading Laura on here--she def makes it more fun to hang out on VegWeb!!!
I would have a raspberry vinaigrette over baby spinach leaves tossed with toasted pecans, sliced strawberries, chickpeas and diced red bell pepper. Yummmmm.
I make awesome salads with greens, raw beets, avacoda, artichokes, carrots, tomatoes and whatever else is in the fridge! (P.S. I'm posting from work but my name is "Tweety" and I want a calender...LOL)
I love the idea of having all of the alternatives to real dairy, etc. However, some of the things in the recipes that you suggest are impossible to find let alone buy! Perhaps at Whole Foods or somewhere similar but it's always so overpriced... I would like to see alternative suggestions made to the alternatives. (if that makes any sense). HA! All be healthy and well!
Super cheesy ziti is a really hearty dish, so you'd want the salad to
be light, but chock full of flavor and nutrients. Here's my salad
Mixed Field Greens
Kale (for added zip)
Fresh garden cucumbers (preferably yellow cucumbers or lemon cucumbers)
Red onion Slices
Grated carrots
A sprinkle of sunflower seeds
Homemade herbed croutons
And top it off with a good high quality Balsamic vinegar
Super tasty!
Hmm.. I think baby spinach with cherry tomatoes, avocado, topped with walnuts, sweet juicy strawberries, and balsamic vinaigrette!
I'm for a salad with artichoke hearts, grape tomatoes, chickpeas, olives and spinach, with a zesty Italian (homemade, of course) or Dreena's Cumin-Cinnamon vinaigrette.
loads of spinach to balance out the meal, with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, olives and pine nuts. a drizzle of olive oil and your set!
Broccoli salad:
broccoli, red pepper, raisins, lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, thyme, and maybe pinon. YUM!!!
Sprouted mung beans, chopped cucumber, chopped cilantro, freshly grated coconut, green chilli paste (spicy green chillies ground into a paste with a dash of sea salt and a pinch of asafoetida) and loads of freshly squeezed lime juice over the whole thing. Mix well, serve. We call this Kosumbari and it just might be the thing to make your Daiya supply last a wee bit longer :)
i totally think it is fair to leave a post about Laura! cause Laura IS AWESOME PEOPLE. she shared her burrito with me and made me eat at all kinds of vegan places while i was in sf. and she is hazel's momma! *insert eye-hearts smilie*
as for a salad to hold it's own, i don't think that would be possible. but if i had to try, i would do grilled portabellas, avocado, more grilled veggies (onion, zuc, fennel) and then toss it with a soy sauce/agave/raspberry balsamic vin dressing. on a bed of bibb lettuce
I say give my calendar to tweety...I am in Nepal and so it would not be worth it to send to me, besides it might get lost. Unless you want to hold it for me until I get back in June of 2010...I 'd even let you use it until then.
oh wow, that's some mean lookin cheezy ziti.
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