Sunday Pad Thai Salad

Today I made a trip to a local pumpkin patch, a fun family place with farm animals and fall activities where visitors get to trek a massive wheel barrel out to the pumpkin patch and cut  monster pumpkins from the vine for cheap. They also have tons of squashes and walnuts for cheap, I think I look forward to going more than most kids! However, it’s not a place I can eat at because despite the plethora of fresh produce and nuts all over the place, the food stands only serve pumpkin and apple pies, caramel and candy apples, popcorn balls, garlic fries, nachos, chili-cheese fries, etc. Not exactly friendly for any healthy eater. My counter top is looking like a produce stand since adding my newly acquired squashes, I need to make a trip to Ikea for more produce trays. By the end of this week, we’ll have eaten most, if not all, of this and there’s plenty more in the refrigerator!

Anyway, I really like Elaina’s Easy Pad Thai, but it’s not a busy weeknight recipe with the soaking and hour-plus of marinating.  However, the sauce is and makes a great topper for a salad or spiral-cut veggie blend.  I tweaked the recipe a bit and came up with a version my husband really enjoyed:

Pad Thai Dressing:

• 1 tsp. kelp granules
• 5 pitted dates
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup chopped dehydrated tomatoes
• 1 medium lemon, juiced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium fresh or dehydrated Thai pepper
• 2 tbsp. fresh grated ginger
• 2 tbsp. tamari
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp. pink salt

Place all ingredients into blender and blend to fine puree.  You can add more pepper for even more spice and top with crushed almonds, it makes a great dressing or veggie dip and can keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.