Since moving to Arizona 6 months ago, I have appreciated the variety of vegan-friendly restaurants. For instance, Vegan Ingredient Salad is one of my favorite salads in town. Flower Child, a restaurant a mere 7 minutes from my house, caters to vegan, vegetarians, and meat-eaters, alike. Although they serve meat, everything is from scratch, organic, and clearly healthy. Actually, it is the perfect place to meet a friend who doesn't share the enthusiasm for plant-based eating.
Flower Child's motto is "healthy food for a healthy world," and the line out the door proves how great their food is. Although their food is healthy and wonderful, they do use oil and some fats I am trying to avoid a clean eating plan. So, I decided to copy their recipe and make my own version of their delicious lemony tahini dressing.
Although most tahini dressings contain similar ingredients, this one is different and contains hardly any calories. In fact, other than the small amount of tahini, it is calorie-free and delicious.
Another aspect of this particular salad I love is the finely chopped cauliflower that has the texture of cheese. The first time I ate the Vegan Ingredient Salad at Flower Child, I remember looking closely at the cauliflower thinking they accidentally put cheese in my salad. To my surprise, it was cauliflower.
If you are interested in checking out their menu, here is a link. I always get inspiration for new recipes this way. You can too! Flower Child Menu
As we begin a New Year, my goal is to create nutrient-dense, healthy food with less fat and calories. My focus is to stay lean and mean this year and do so by adding much more raw food into my weekly menus to better my health.
Dr. Fuhrman once said "Permanent results come from a permanent change in lifestyle and diet style. You don't get permanently well unless you permanently change the way you live."
Vegan Ingredient Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 cups romaine lettuce torn or cut in bite sized pieces
- 4 cups spring mix
- ½ cauliflower I used yellow to resemble cheese; chopped in small pieces not whole florets
- ½ cup Kalamata Olives pitted, cut in half (optional)
- 1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
- 1 English cucumber quartered
- 6 radishes chopped or sliced thin (I chopped mine)
- ¼ cup fresh basil chopped
- 1 Avocado cut into bite sized pieces
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
Dressing
- 8 cloves of garlic minced (yes 8)
- 1 whole fresh lemon squeezed
- 5 Tablespoons Tahini
- ¼ cup Nutritional yeast
- ½ cup Champagne Vinegar
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Salad
- Prepare greens by washing, tearing and chopping
- Cut cauliflower, greek olives, grape tomatoes radishes, basil (these can all be chopped beforehand if prepping food)
- Cut avocado right before serving
- Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top after dressing is applied
Dressing
- Place all ingredients in a blender
- Blend until smooth
- Refrigerate until ready to use
- Will last one week in the refrigerator
- You may need to blend again right before servings s tahini and vinegar will separate when left int eh refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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