Super Power Salad

It’s sad to see the weekend go, especially since we had hot and sunny weather that just screams time to go out and play to me. I’m ready for road trips, fairs, swimming in lakes, hiking, and just enjoying the outdoors. Sigh. Until next weekend. But today was a fun and productive day helping my mom look for a new condo in this area. But before touring some limited options in the insane real estate market here, we fueled up with a perfect lunch from Baagan where I got the Curry Potato Panini that was just fabulous, slightly spicy and very hearty.

And it was the highlight of the outing since the two condos we looked at were very disappointing for the price, but it was fun pretending to be in an episode of House Hunters critiquing cheap counter tops, cabinets, and fretting over minor repairs.

I stuffed in a trip to Trader Joe’s after to restock for the week and grabbed something I’ve been meaning to grab for awhile, an entire case of Two-Buck Chuck Cab, I felt like such an alcoholic at the check out.

But it’s vegan friendly wine and great, for the price, to sip with some frozen grapes on our patio on a hot summer evening

The real motive was to fill up our wine rack since it just doesn’t look as cool empty.

For dinner, I created a power salad using the liquid from a jar of cultured veggies to make a dressing.

I’m just now getting the hang of using the liquids in more dishes since they’re also a great source of probiotics and can be a great vinegar replacement in raw dishes and even work in smoothies. For this dressing, I just mixed some hummus, cultured veggie liquid, and nutritional yeast in a bowl which may not look too appetizing.

But it makes a tangy creamy dressing that coats nicely.

I drowned a huge salad of sprouted lentils, carrots, avocado, tomato, and red pepper in it.

And decided to add a crispy topping using Trader Joe’s Organic 3 Grain Tempeh.

I just chopped the tempeh into cubes and stir fried it over high heat in olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute.

They came out nice and crispy.

Perfect for topping the power salad and adding plenty of protein and fiber.

Of course I had to share some with Miko, he might actually be as big a tempeh fan as me!