Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette

I love to watch cooking shows to get inspiration.  The idea for this salad was inspired by a salad my sister made and the following recipe by Guy Fieri:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/roasted-root-vegetables-with-spicy-pepitas-and-horseradish-creme-fraiche-recipe/index.html
A note on horseradish and reading labels:  If you can, buy horseradish from a natural foods store.  Conventional stores sell horseradish that has eggs in it as well as ingredients that look like asldkfsijhksfpaoie.  If you can't read what the ingredient is or don't know what it is, don't buy the product until you know.  That's my motto for label reading and grocery shopping.

Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette
Makes 3 large salads

2 large beets
2-3 carrots
1 small purple onion
2 t olive oil
salt and pepper

1 5 oz box of spinach or mixed greens

1 T brown seedy mustard
1 T horseradish
1 T white wine vinegar
1 T brown rice syrup or your choice of sweetener
3 T olive oil

1/3-1/2 cup pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)

Cut the beets, carrots, and onions into bite sized, even sized pieces, about and inch to an inch and a half.  Put them in a large pan, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, then check them.  You want the veggies to be slightly cooked, but still have a crunch.  No mushy veggies in this salad!  If they still are really crunchy at 20 minutes, roast them for 5-10 more and check again.  When they are done, let them cool.

Horseradish Vinaigrette:

In a small jar, add the mustard, horseradish, vinegar, brown rice syrup, and olive oil and shake it up.

Divide the greens, veggies, vinaigrette, and pepitas into 3 and add them to 3 large serving bowls.  Mix it up and serve.

Tip: If you want to make this salad the night before and bring it to work for lunch the next day, you can mix the veggies, dressing, and pepitas, and place them in the bottom of a bowl with a cover, then put the greens on top.  Then when it's time for lunch, mix it up.

My Favorite Miso Soup

I woke up this morning tired, with a mild sore throat and runny nose.  The window was open last night and there is a lot of tree and grass pollen floating around these days.  For breakfast (yes breakfast), I made this easy miso soup.  It takes 15 minutes and always makes me feel better when I feel like I might be coming down with something.  It probably makes my house and me smell like garlic breath, but that's ok.  It would really be ideal for our health if everybody had garlic breath all the time rather than artifically sweetened minty breath-garlic is sooooo good for us and our immune systems.  Another ingredient I use in this soup is wakame flakes. Wakame is a type of seaweed.  For this soup, I use it for flavor, but seaweed is also very good for us and is a great source of iodine.  You can find it at your local natural foods store.  This recipe was inspired by many different recipes of Miso soup, a little book by Natural Health Magazine called Secret Natural Remedies, and the back of the Pacific Wakame package.

My Favorite Miso Soup
1 1/4 c water
1 clove chopped garlic
2 t wakame flakes and about a half a cup of soaking water
3 t yellow miso

Bring the 1 1/4 cup of water and garlic to a boil in a small pot, and reduce the heat to simmer for 10 minutes.  While the water and garlic cook, add the wakame flakes to a small bowl of water and soak.  Remove the garlic broth from the heat and disolve the miso into the broth.  Drain the wakame and add to the broth and it's done!  When you are eating this soup, be sure to stir up the miso and garlic that settle to the bottom.

Fresh Mango Salsa

$1.29 organic mangoes are everywhere right now, it's very exciting! For an easy breakfast, mix a big bowl of strawberries, chopped fresh mango, and banana.
Even though tomatoes aren't at their prime right now, I made a batch of fresh mango salsa.  Serve with chips or add to a salad........
On Cooking and Ingredients
 

Fresh Mango Salsa
1 cup chopped mango
2 cups chopped tomato, the sweeter the better
1/4 cup chopped onion
the juice of a small lime
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
salt to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper (or if you have your favorite hot pepper handy, add a little bit of diced hot pepper)

Mix mango, tomato, onion, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and your choice of hot pepper in a glass bowl. Chill in the fridge for several hours and it's done!

Better Than a Fast Food Chocolate Shake

The next time you have a craving for a chocolate shake, or chocolate ice cream, try this recipe.  Dates replace added sugar and unsweetened coconut milk replaces the dairy.  For an extra healthy boost, try adding some ground flax or hemp seeds. 

Frozen bananas make a great start to almost any smoothie, here are a couple of ways to make them (be sure to use ripe bananas, not green ones):
Frozen Bananas Method 1:  Peel the bananas, cut into chunks, and lay the pieces out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Put them in the freezer for several hours.  When they are frozen, take them out of the freezer and place them into a freezer bag or storage container and put them back into the freezer.  This way you always have frozen bananas smoothie ready.  
Frozen Bananas Method 2: Every once in a while, when bananas are on the verge of their brown death, I throw them into the freezer to use "someday".  If I don't have frozen bananas made from Frozen Bananas Method 1, I found that if I take a whole banana out of the freezer, cut off the top, and use a knife to cut off the peelings, they come off easily and then the banana can be sliced and used in a smoothie.  

Better Than a Fast Food Chocolate Shake
Makes 2 cups
7-8 soaked dates  (I used the small, pitted, dried dates)
2 frozen ripe bananas, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk
splash of vanilla
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Soak the dates in a cup of water for 1-2 hours, just to soften them before blending.  Add the dates, frozen bananas, coconut milk, vanilla, and cocoa powder to a blender.  Blend until smooth and serve!

Way Easy Roasted Veggie Sandwich with Basil Mayo

Mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and zucchini make up my favorite basic combo of veggies for roasted veggie sandwiches.  This combination tastes good topped with pesto, hummus, or olive tapenade.  This time I went the easy route and topped it with vegan basil mayo.

Way Easy Roasted Veggie Sandwich with Basil Mayo
1 medium zucchini
1 medium red onion
1 large red pepper
6 small or 2 large portabella mushrooms
2 t olive oil
salt and pepper
1/3 c of your favorite vegan mayo
2 T chopped fresh basil
1 t lemon juice
1 small diced garlic clove
 4 medium crusty bread rolls

Heat oven to 325.  Slice the zucchini, onion, red pepper, and mushrooms into 1/2 inch pieces.  Place the zucchini and mushrooms in one 13x9 inch pan and toss with 1t. of oil.  Place the red pepper and onion in another 13x9 inch pan and toss iwth the other teaspoon of oil.  Sprinkle both with salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until veggies are tender.

Basil Mayo: While the veggies are roasting, in a small bowl, mix the vegan mayo, basil, garlic, and lemon juice.
When the veggies are almost done, cut the rolls in half and toast them lightly. Spread half of each roll with the basil mayo and stack a layer of each type of veggie on the other half.  Way easy and really tasty.