Friday Food: Vegan Southwestern Salad

By: Joel Luedke

We tend to feature a lot of meat on our Friday Food so we thought we would switch it up a little bit this week.  We are still aiming for high protein as we've found that to be a source of nutrition that it often under utilized by most people.  So here is a high protein vegan recipe for everyone to try out.

Ingredients (Makes 1 serving):
2-4 cups chopped romaine lettuce or leafy green of choice
1 serving red quinoa cooked and chilled (1/4 cup dry)
½ cup black beans
½ cup corn
½ cup jicama, sliced
½ cup red pepper, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
Optional: barbeque tempeh or tempeh bacon and/or avocado slices and/or pumpkin seeds

For the dressing (use as much as you like and save the rest for later!):
1/4 of a 10oz container of soft silken tofu, drained
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp mustard
½ tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions: Put all of the salad ingredients in a bowl, blend up the dressing ingredients in a food processor, use it to top the salad, and enjoy!