SmarterFitter Daily

Stuffing: a mix of pesto, basmati rice, sauteed onion, red pepper, garlic, sweetcorn, kidney beans, fennel seeds.

A variation of my Vegan Breakfast Tacos (no jalapeno or green pepper, alas, but Trader Joe's Corn Salsa made up for it). Side of cabbage salad (shredded cabbage, fresh lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper).

How was I to know this would be my last raw kale salad of the season? But alas, it seems they've come and gone - at least that is the case with The Organic Farm Shop where I buy my kale from.

This salad was super. Raw kale, grated carrot, red onion, roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Topped with some leftover grilled tempeh, avocado and Sriracha. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some toasted sunflower seeds. Next time! Er... next year!

The tempeh is an old favourite: Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh from the Veganomicon cookbook, this time made using the African Volcano Peri Peri sauce. Tasty as ever.

But the true revelation of this meal was the butternut squash salad, wherein I roasted cranberries with the butternut squash and tossed with bulgar wheat, spring onion, fresh coriander, rocket, crushed fennel and coriander seed, salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice. Soooo good. Definitely one deserving of a proper blog post. Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Blog now posted: Butternut, Cranberry and Bulgur Salad

I have a stash of various veggie burger incarnations in the freezer, many of which come from recipes in Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way book. I love this stash because they make lunches sooo easy. And I'm all about using veggie burgers in non-sandwich motifs, treating them as more of a "steak" rather than a bread filler. To that end, I love using veggie burgers to turn raw kale salads into a complete meal. 

Here, it's Lukas Volgers tempeh burgers to the rescue, a good match for this Asian-esque raw kale salad with curly kale, orange wedges, spring onion, grated carrot, toasted almonds, lemon juice, olive oil, and the magic: Sriracha sauce. A little requisite avocado and this was a total win.

Handy tip: frozen veggie burgers heat up pretty well in the toaster, giving them a crisp outer crunch that makes them also crouton like in the salad. I dig it.

Basically raw kale salad anything makes me really happy at the moment. 

Veggie burger is this one: Red Lentil Veggie Burger

Just when I was feeling in a food rut, this came along and rocked my world. 

Recipes:

Yellow Pea Dahl
The Art of Chapattis

Beetroot hummus courtesy of Roz Golding, a little treat she brought for our working lunch last Thursday. Seriously freakin' delicious. Apparently from the River Cottage Veg book. The lentil croquettes are from a Rose Elliot recipe. Served with raw kale salad. Pretty much the ideal lunch.

Probably my favourite way to enjoy veggie haggis is stuffed in a pepper or mushroom and topped with bbq sauce.