California Summer Salad Bowl with Tahini Lemon Dressing
I imagine that if you follow my site at all you might be confused about what “category” I belong in. Is it a vegan food blog? Is it a vegetarian food blog? Why are there recipes for meat!?
Let’s talk about it.
I consider myself to be a flexitarian. It’s not a made up word guys. Trust.
Basically I’m just a vegetarian who isn’t that strict. Every now and then I like to have a piece of chicken or fish but I don’t eat it every day, and most of my meals are vegetarian or vegan. As Mark Bittman says in his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, “Much of this long-term trend (flexitarianism) is about health, but there is also the desire to treat animals more fairly, an interest in treating the earth more intelligently, a growing awareness that supreme self-indulgence may lead to long-term disaster, and a recognition of the benefits of a more varied diet, one that can’t be described as meat and potatoes.” He also says, “A diet that is high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes is a healthier diet than one that isn’t.”
This is basically the mantra that I follow for my eating and for the recipes that I develop for this site. I’m not super focused on following a strict vegetarian or vegan diet, but more so finding a balanced, planet-friendly way of eating that let’s my body do all of the things that I want it to do.
The recipe here is actually more of a guideline for creating a nice big bowl of vegetables plus a recipe for a creamy vegan dressing. I eat this almost every day for lunch with different vegetables based on what is in season.
Have fun!
- (Use as little or as much of the ingredients below as you'd like, this is more of a guideline)
- romaine lettuce
- red cabbage
- tomatoes
- cucumber
- fresh basil
- grated carrot
- avocado
- sunflower seeds
- sliced almonds
- hemp hearts
- 1/4 cup tahini (unsalted)
- juice of half lemon
- warm water (about 1/2 cup an maybe some more)
- pinch of kosher salt
- Assemble salad to you liking, and feel free to substitute different vegetables that may be in season.
- To make dressing, combine tahini and lemon juice using a fork. Mixture will become stiff. Add warm water, little by little whisking in with fork until smooth and the desired consistency. Store any additional dressing in the fridge.
- Dress salad and serve immediately.
