Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pad Thai Inspired Salad


The weather today was hot and miserable. There was no way I wanted to have hot food in this heat. I have been thinking about Pad Thai lately so I thought why not turn it into a salad. Both Dan and I enjoyed this. Here is what I did:

Pad Thai Inspired Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini spiralized
½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 small collard leaves, thinly sliced (I used the ones that were too small for wraps)
¼ cucumber, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
1 scoop of stevia (or dates to taste)
2 tablespoons peanut butter or almond butter
¼ cup fresh lime or lemon juice
1 tablespoon red barley miso
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons of cilantro, for garnish
1 green onion, for garnish

Directions:

Place garlic, ginger, stevia, almond butter, citrus juice, miso and water in your blender and process until smooth. Pour the sauce over the zucchini, red bell pepper, and cucumber and toss to combine.

Plate the dressed vegetables and top with cilantro and green onion.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 178.8
Calories From Fat (43%) - 76.5

Total Fat - 9.25g
Saturated Fat - 1.9g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 424.32mg
Potassium - 904.65mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.99g
Fiber - 5.49g
Sugar - 8.73g
Protein - 8.84g

Comments:

This is a very nice salad. After only a few bites my husband wanted to know what was in the sauce. That is the highest compliment from Dan. To his I added a few chopped cashews for additional calories. The sauce isn’t overpowering but is complex. This will definitely be making future appearances at our house.

Each serving of this salad contains approximately 2,575IU of vitamin A, 100mg of vitamin C, 80mg of calcium, 120mcg of folate, 80mcg of vitamin K, 180mg of phosphorus, and 80mg of magnesium.

Unrelated notes:

I came across this at the Whole Foods sight that outlines quite a few healthy salad dressings all using nuts in place of oil. They looked quite interesting so I thought some of you may also find them interesting.

Today we ended up spending more time than we expected replacing a refrigerator. But I have a few more square feet of produce storage room so it was all worth it. There is nothing that makes me happier than more room to store fresh organic local produce. ;-)

With all the activity I have not had time to write up the other recipe from today. However I hope to get to that tomorrow morning. Additionally a friend of mine called about what he should be eating if he wants to do everything he can to avoid prostate cancer. Since I am writing that up for him I will write up a post with the details as well.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  We have had a good one, busy, but good.  I will talk to you tomorrow.

13 comments:

  1. thats REALLY cool that a guy would ask you that. this salad looks amazing. i need a spiralizer...did you let it sit for awhile? it looks marinated almost.

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  2. Michelle,

    I tossed the veggies with the dressing and it sat for maybe 3 minutes while I sliced the green onion, but that was it. The red miso is very dark which gives it that color.

    talk to you soon,
    Ali

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  3. Looks good - will be saving the sauce recipe. I like the flavour combos and I have a sweet tooth so I love sweet dinner-time sauces :). I was wondering if you have a recommendation for a good spiralizer? I want to make all of these tasty veggie pastas - I have also seen a recipe for a carrot spaghetti using a spiralizer and then lightly cooking the carrots with garlic and adding tomato sauce. Have you tried other veggies with the spiralizer?

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  4. That is so exciting that your friend want to know how to make healthy choices to avoid cancer! Yay!!

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  5. That salad sounds and looks fantastic. Would the white miso work or would it not be as flavorful? I am dying for a new fridge.

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  6. Possum,

    My spiralizer is an attachment to my mandoline (it is a De Buyer). However, I have heard good things about the Saladacco by Joyce Chen. Amazon sells it if you want to take a look. If I didn't need a mandoline I would buy the Saladacco.

    I also have spiralized radishes and celery root. I have not tried carrot yet but that has been on my list. I also think jicama and daikon will work, though I have not tried either yet.

    Both Dan and I like raw food in the summer. It just seems more refreshing in the heat and humidity which is why all the salad and spiralized veggies recently. Today is supposed to be another scorcher in the mid 90's with high humidity. Sounds like more raw food to me today. ;-)

    Ali

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  7. Janet,

    I had the exact same reaction. It made my evening!

    talk to you later,
    Ali

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  8. Heather,

    I think white miso would work, but you are right it won't have as much flavor. Also the color will be lighter. But I think it would still be a good dish.

    I have needed a new overflow frig for a while. We have an extra one in the basement because we buy so much fresh food. It is great to have the extra space so I can make one larger shopping trip per week. ;-)

    talk to you later,
    Ali

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  9. Great thank you! From my search they are available for under $30 CDN, which is awesome :)
    Have a good week!

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  10. Great thank you! From my search they are available for under $30 CDN, which is awesome :)
    Have a good week!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Possum,

    When you get yours I would love to hear what you think of it. I may be buying one for a friend soon.

    thanks,
    Ali

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  12. I'm pretty sure you were in my head when you came up with this idea :) For about a week now I have been dreaming up a raw pad thai of sorts using zucchini noodles, and you beat me to it!! I am glad you took the guess work out of it. I enjoyed that Whole Foods link, thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to try their Caesar dressing. I tried the Clean Food recipe and it was very tasty, but oh man, SO much oil. Can't wait to try this oil free version!

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  13. Sarah,

    I can't wait to see your variation of this. I considered adding a little tamarind paste but decided to keep it simple in the end. Have fun playing with "our" idea. ;-)

    Glad you like the salad dressing link. It looked good to me too! Thanks for letting me know you like the Clean Food recipe. That gives me an idea that I will be playing with soon.

    talk to you later,
    Ali

    ReplyDelete

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