Tofu "Egg" Salad - Tasty Summer Salad

If you are looking for ways to use tofu, you might enjoy this tofu salad spread that looks similar to egg salad. It can be eaten on a plate with other vegetables, with crackers, or on a sandwich. It's quite tasty and versatile. My favorite way to eat it with a big slab of tomato on some gluten free bread. 

After assembling it, I like to refrigerate it and it eat the next day. Why? The flavors seem to mingle better and it is tastier. 

I chop up some vegetables such as celery, red onion or scallions, and parsley.

Turmeric gives the salad its yellow color. It is totally white before adding the turmeric. 

 Ingredients: 

1 block of firm tofu, pressed

1/2 cup of chopped celery

1/4 cup of chopped red onion

1/4 cup of chopped parsley

1/4 cup of chopped scallions

1 tablespoon of capers

Cracked black pepper

1/4 teaspoon of turmeric 

1/2 cup of my homemade oil-free Caesar dressing (follow link for recipe)

or use vegan mayo 

Directions: 

Press tofu to remove water and then chop tofu to small pieces. Wearing gloves, use your hands to smush it to egg salad consistency. Add Caesar dressing and turmeric. Mix well and refrigerate overnight or for 6 hours.

Caesar Salad Dressing is Outrageously Delicious -Vegan

Do you like Caesar salad?

I do and I think it's all about the dressing!!

Making homemade salad dressing for a delicious salad is very easy and often healthier than consuming commercially bought salad dressing because homemade is often frequently lower in sodium, chemicals, and oils.

Caesar dressing is one of my favorites - so I was blown away by the taste of this recipe for oil-free vegan Caesar salad dressing. It is so delicious that it is perfect for vegans and non-vegans as well. I actually did not expect it to taste so good (of course it is gluten-free too).

Yes, I realize that this is not a traditional Caesar salad. I made it vegan and left off the croutons because I'm gluten free. Regardless, I think everyone would enjoy this dressing on any salad. 

I haven't had Caesar salad since becoming totally vegan about a year and half ago because it ordinarily contains dairy and sometimes anchovies. This dressing is made with cashew nuts and capers. 

I decided to add a little grated carrot for color and nutrients

Creamy, tangy, and tastes like it contains a little cheese - but it doesn't.  I enjoyed it over a humble bowl of chopped romaine lettuce that included a little grated carrot for color.

The recipe is simple and the dressing is made in a powerful blender. 

I used my new NutriBullet Rx which produced a nice smooth end product which was quite white and creamy.

A Quick History About Caesar salad  

The following information about the origins of the Caesar salad is quoted from Wikipedia:

The salad's creation is generally attributed to the restaurateur Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who operated restaurants in Mexico and the United States.^[2] His daughter Rosa recounted that her father invented the salad at his restaurant Caesar's (at the Hotel Caesar in Tijuana, Mexico) when a Fourth of July rush in 1924 depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had, adding the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef."^{[3][incomplete short citation]} Cardini was living in San Diego, but he was also working in Tijuana, where he avoided the restrictions of Prohibition.^[4] A number of Cardini's staff have said that they invented the dish.^{[5][incomplete short citation][6]}

• Julia Child said that she had eaten a Caesar salad at Cardini's restaurant when she was a child in the 1920s.^[7] 
•  In 1946, the newspaper columnist Dorothy Kilgallen wrote of a Caesar containing anchovies, differing from Cardini's version:

Q: Would I use this dressing on other salads? Absolutely!!!! It would be tasty on any kind of salad combination. 

Q: Would I use this dressing on other types of food? 

Yes, I think it would taste good over vegetables too.  

Author of the blog: Judee Algazi

Prep time: 6 minutes (+ 1-2 hrs soak time for cashews)

Cook time: N/A

Makes: 1 cup of salad dressing

Serves: 2-3 servings (depends how much dressing you use)

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup of raw unroasted cashews, soaked for 1 hour (or more) and drained 

1 and 1/2 tablespoons of capers

1 tablespoons of caper juice 

1/4 teaspoon of dijon mustard powder 

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/2 - 3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk (depending how how thin you like it )

1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice 

Pinch of cracked black pepper 

Notes: 

1. The reason for soaking the cashews is for better digestibility. If that doesn't matter to you, you don't have to soak them. 

2. All of my recipes on this blog, for the past year and half, are now whole food plant based vegan and oil-free and still Gluten Free.

3. I follow the food guidelines of the websites - Forks Over Knives and The Starch Solution

4.  For an additional interesting taste, Add 1/4 cup of capers to the salad

Sharing this post on Weekend Cooking where any blogger can share a food related post.

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My favorite oil-free ideas and recipes come from Plentiful Kiki (link) but I love her YouTube videos the best! followed by High Carb Hannah. - Both of their recipes are based on the McDougall Diet (link) and the book The Starch Solution. 

Forks Over Knives (link) is another site that has a variety of oil-free recipes 

Fit for Life based on Dr. Joel Furhman's diet (link) also advocates oil free cooking.

Mother's Day History

    

 What's the history of Mother's Day 

I am happy to share a little history about Mother's Day, especially 

     since it was Ann Jarvis of Philadelphia ( I'm from Philadelphia area) who proposed and campaigned for the idea ! 

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission posts signs around the city of Philadelphia sharing all kinds of historical tid-bits about Philadelphia and its history.

Here is some history about Mother's Day.

Who was Ann Jarvis and who was Anna Jarvis and why did Anna petition for a national Mother's Day?

Ann Reeves Jarvis was Miss Anna's Jarvis' mother. Ann, the mother, was a homemaker in Appalachia in West Virginia during the Civil War. As a Sunday school teacher and community activist, Ann Jarvis became concerned about the poor living conditions of most families in Appalachia as well as the high infant mortality rate, lack of knowledge for sanitary living, etc.

 She took it upon herself to organize " Mother's Day Work Clubs" in West Virginia to help educate and young mothers and to help with ideas to combat the unsanitary conditions. Ann Reeves was known throughout the region as "Mother Jarvis." She also thought mother's should be recognized for the sacrifice they made for their children during wartime and everyday.

When Ann Jarvis died in 1905, Anna Jarvis, her daugher, wanted to find a way to memorialize her mom's life and fought for a national day that would honor all mothers. Anna is quoted saying about mothers, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it”

Well we got our national day of recognition- thanks for Anna Jarvis

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there.