Sunday, December 8, 2013

You're A Vegan, What Do You Eat? (Spinach Salad and Sriracha Dressing Edition)

I don't actually eat much salad, which is surprising to most non-vegans, because I think they think that salad is all we eat.

So even though it's untrue to character, I've been on a real salad kick lately.  Spinach salad, to be exact.  

It all began when our family went on an Oh My God What Are We Doing With Our Lives road trip and found ourselves walking into a restaurant called Mad Greens, at a somewhat undisclosed location in Northern Colorado:

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Screen Shot 2013 12 08 at 8 41 06 PM

 

For a place named Mad Greens, this restaurant didn't have a whole heck of a lot of vegan options on the menu.  I was road weary and didn't know what to do, but the helpful college boy behind the counter suggested the Ernest Hemingway salad (Spinach, Cucumbers, Mandarin Orange slices, Red Onions, Toasted Almonds), with the addition of grilled mushrooms, and a spicy Sriracha dressing. 

You had me at "Sriracha," college boy.

He suggested that I taste a spoonful of the dressing before he put it on my salad, just to make sure I liked it.  I did.

Mad Greens
Rob had run up and down a mountain that morning, so he wanted the big salad.

Rob Horsetooth 2
And here is said mountain.

The Mad Greens people made our salads in giant stainless steel bowls.  My salad probably had the equivalent of one of those family size bags of pre-washed baby spinach that you can buy at the grocery store.  But I ate the whole thing.  It was delicious.  And you know how when you've been on the road, sitting in the car a lot, and not eating so healthy, you just want something nutritious?  This hit the spot.

I have been reminiscing about that salad ever since, but unfortunately, we're nearly a thousand miles away from the nearest Mad Greens.  

The salad itself seemed like it would be pretty easy to recreate, it was the Sriracha dressing that I didn't know how to make.  A quick Google search revealed that most Sriracha salad dressing recipes contain… mayonnaise.

Surely, surely, that nice college boy would not have mislead me about the Sriracha dressing at Mad Greens.  He said it was vegan.  And if you happen to know that it is not vegan, please don't tell me.  There's nothing I can do about it now, and frankly, I would rather not know.

After a little bit of trial and error, I think I've created a pretty fantastic vegan Sriracha dressing of my own:

  • 2 tablespoons of Veganaise (or your other favorite vegan mayo substitute)
  • 2 teaspoons (more or less to taste) of Sriracha
  • Approximately 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (in the version I made today, I used smoked garlic powder)
  • A couple of good shakes of Balsamic Vinegar
  • A pinch or two of sugar.
Whisk it until all lumps are gone.  That probably makes enough to thoroughly cover about 2-3 salads, but if you are like me, you will have to physically restrain yourself from just drinking it out of the bowl.

Sriracha dressing

 

Spinach salad

And the end product: perfection.  Note the red onions.  This is no small victory.  Only 4-1/2 years since hyperemesis, and I can finally (most of the time) tolerate them again.

Huzzah.

Thanks for reading.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

sounds YUMMMMMMMMMM!! You can be in charge of SALADS for christmas!! bring the stainless steel bowls!!luv ya,mama