Quick & Easy

School has been a little intense, lately, as I wrap up Fall Term 1. Hence, the shortage of posts. For the most part, our meals this week have consisted of whatever my husband can cook. His repertoire consists of veggie burgers, salad, and potatoes, baked or fried. I topped the baked one featured here with steamed broccoli and Leahey's "Cheese" Sauce, it was fast and faux-nutritious.

Tonight, I was able to whip up a quick salad between term papers. This is one of my all-time faves. I severely bastardized the original bacon-laden recipe from Allrecipes.com. My secret ingredient here is the liquid smoke which provides the smokiness that bacon would, minus the death and cruelty. This really is the Mercedes of salads and it's not nearly as involved to make as it looks. I thank the fall produce fairies for including Asian pears in our bin this week. You should probably make this salad tomorrow night because I don't think should have to live another day without it!



a.k.a. Winter Salad with Candied, Curried Cashews

3/4 cup cashew halves
1 tablespoon melted vegan margarine (Earth Balance)
1 teaspoon chopped (preferably fresh) rosemary
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending upon your tolerance for HEAT)

Dressing:
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and black pepper to taste

Salad:
1 or 2 (10 ounce) packages mixed salad greens
1 medium asian pear, thinly sliced (you can use a crispy pear or maybe an apple in place of the asian pear if you must)
1 cup halved, seedless red grapes

Directions

In a small bowl, combine rosemary, curry powder, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper. In another small bowl, toss the cashews with the melted butter. Add the herb mixture to the cashews and toss to coat.

In another small bowl, stir together white wine vinegar, mustard, agave nectar, liquid smoke. Slowly whisk in olive oil and water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large salad bowl, toss the pear slices, lettuce, and grapes. Go ahead and toss the lettuce with the dressing if you're going to consume the salad all in one sitting, if not, serve the lettuce in bowls and top with dressing, then sprinkle with nut mixture.