Greetings from the garden, and welcome back to our Summer menu! As you may remember, last week, we tackled our on the go Summertime breakfast smoothies. This week its all about the Rainbow Salad flair in our garden fare, with fresh chopped colorful salads to bring a cool and crunchy lunchtime offering to the table.

I love to cook, and truth be told, I really straddle two worlds during the Summer months. As much as I enjoy the fruits of the season (no pun intended), and all of outdoor activities that the warmer weather allows, I do always feel like my joy of cooking has to be put onto the back burner (wow, another pun, I am on a roll here) to allow space for everything else on my to do list. I love to shop the local farmers markets, and with so much fresh produce to choose from its hard not to want to take it all home and go crazy. But who’s got the time? (For reference I have included pictures of both my kitchen and dining rooms after a good day at the market.)

Its hot in my house, and I rarely use my oven June through September. So, I tend to gravitate to my cold, raw super fresh creations that compliment a hectic schedule and come together without too much fuss.

One of my favorite meals of all time, is a big fresh crunchy chopped raw vegetable salad. With so many flavor profiles and seasonal veggies to choose from, its easy to get creative. My two favorite Summer Salads are my Sesame Ginger Tempeh Salad and my Smoky B-bq Tempeh Salad. its no secret to anyone who knows me well, that I LOVE tempeh. Its my favorite plant based protein next to lentils and chickpeas. It gives my salad a “meaty” flair and adds a bit of variety and substance to the finished product. As a rule, I limit my consumption of processed foods, but when it comes to tempeh, I make an exception. I think I should probably buy some stock in the stuff, I eat it so much. So its no surprise that both of my favorite salads have tempeh added into the mix, but if its not your thing, you can certainly substitute your own favorite, and add any protein that floats your boat. That being said, the rest of the recipe is pretty basic and depending on which flavor profile you are creating, the modifications are nominal. So here we go with our delicious crunchy chopped salads, and this is what you will need:

Crunchy Summer Salad (basic salad recipe)

Yields 2 full sized “basic” salads with several servings each-

Shopping List and Ingredients:

Savoy/green cabbage and red/purple cabbage mix- approx 4 cups

Butter lettuce- 4 cup chopped

Endive/radicchio/escarole mix- 4 cup chopped

Radish- 1 cup sliced into strips

Broccoli/carrot slaw- two 12oz bags (a mix of broccoli and carrots)

Cauliflower and broccoli florets chopped up into small bite sized pieces- 2 cups

Cilantro- 1/2 cup fresh

Green onions- 1/2 cup chopped

Tempeh- One 7 oz package for each salad. You can either buy the pre-seasoned, pre-cut strips, or a solid block that you cut into thin slices and then into bite size pieces. I love the Tofurky brand Smoky Maple Bacon, Sesame Garlic, and the Coconut Curry flavors. Litelife also makes an 8 oz “Fakin’ Bacon” flavor that I enjoy.You can also marinate the plain/original beforehand and season it yourself for an extra boost while you saute it in the pan.

*For the Sesame Ginger Salad you will need the following additional ingredients:

Pickled Ginger- 1 tsp chopped up

Sesame oil- 2 TBsp

Shoyou dressing or an Asian Sesame Vinegarette

Also, if you are marinating your own tempeh or protein, I recommend basting it in hoison sauce for an extra punch of flavor before you saute it.

*For the Smoky B-bq Salad you will need the following additional ingredients:

Grape tomatoes- 1 cup of them cut in half

Coconut oil- 2 TBsp

Grated topping- I use Go Veggie Vegan “Parmesan” or “Nooch”(nutritional yeast) but you can use the real stuff if you like.

Vegenaise spread (or mayo for you non vegans)- 1 TBsp

BBQ sauce- 4 TBsp * I make my own with molasses, brown sugar, malt and apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, and mustard (but a bottled sauce works just as well)

Plain tempeh can be marinated in a little extra bbq sauce for an extra kick before cooking.

Step 1: Constructing the basic salad

After chopping, slicing, and prepping all of your vegetables you can toss all of the ingredients for the basic salad into one bowl and mix well. This can be done ahead of time since both of the featured salads will begin with the “basic salad” base.You can then separate the basic salad into two different bowls so they will be ready for you to add the “flair”.

Step 2: Pick your poison, which one will you make?

Sesame Ginger?  For this Asian inspired salad you will first saute your chosen tempeh in a pan with the Sesame oil until golden brown and crispy. Then while it is cooling off, you will add the pickled ginger, and the Shoyou or Asian sesame Vinaigrette to the basic salad mix.Toss well and then add the tempeh.

Smoky B-bq? For this classic Summer favorite flavor profile, you will cook your bbq seasoned tempeh in coconut oil until golden brown and crispy. Then put it aside, and add the tomatoes and the dressing (made up of the Vegenaise and the bbq sauce mixed together) before adding in the grated topping and the tempeh.

Step 3: Enjoy!

Whichever salad you chose to make (even if it was both!) you will love the crunchy delicious fresh mix of ingredients that make up a Crunchy Summer Salad. Nothing beats a big bowl of colorful raw veggies that fill you up and absorb all of the serious flavors you can dish out. Whether you serve it at a party to a crowd, to your family as a side dish, or even just to yourself for an entree after a busy day of Summer fun, you can’t beat the goodness that a well rounded salad can give you.

I hope you will stop by the garden again next week for our last installment on the Summer menu, when we will fire up the grill to bring everyone together by the Lodge campfire to enjoy a whimsical evening meal and a tasty dessert before the sun sets on our Indian Summer.

So, as always, “lettuce” know what you think by planting your questions and comments here in the garden.

Thanks for visiting The Enchanted Garden Goddess, see you next time!