Kid Friendly Salad Recipe......Think BBQ and Ranch!

BBQ Ranch Salad Recipe!!

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I served this delicious salad for dinner a few nights ago and the kids LOVED it!  My husband said it was the best salad he had ever had!

You can't go wrong mixing BBQ sauce and Ranch dressing together in the same recipe.

This delicious recipe would be the perfect salad for a summer BBQ or to grace the table at your next potluck, I guarantee you will get many recipe requests with this one! 

Lately I have been creating in the kitchen constantly.....I'm on a good roll and that doesn't always happen.  It has made my weight loss goals fairly difficult to achieve though.  I am constantly battling the strong desire to keep eating and eating and eating even though I'm full and that is NOT conducive to losing the last 5 pounds or so that I have wanted to lose.  Yes, I gained the typical 'Holiday weight' this year and I have been struggling to get it back off.

The absolute BEST program I have found for emotional and compulsive eating is The Beck Diet Solution!  It actually helped me lose the weight I had been trying to lose for years and quite quickly as well.  The book warns not to quit early but to finish the WHOLE program.....well of course me, the biggest impatient short-cutter ever quit once I met my goal weight I quit.  Exactly as the book said, I had not got my new habits down completely and fell back into my old ones!  Stupid, stupid, stupid.....I should NOT have done that....I was warned!

So starting on Monday I will be beginning the Beck diet solution again, it does not really prescribe any specific diet it is more about learning habits that prevent over-eating and other bad habits surrounding food.   Anyway, I may  post from time to time on my progress so you can benefit from seeing how I am doing with this program as I know emotional eating is such a common problem.

Vegan & Gluten Free Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

Vegan and Gluten Free Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

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Low calorie, iodine and calcium rich kelp noodles are topped with fresh, finely chopped vegetables smothered  in a rich, creamy and spicy sesame asian dressing.  This salad is a light, refreshing summer lunch with a kick!

You'll notice the noodles are clear, they are nutrient rich kelp noodles.  The noodles are gluten free and delicious.  If you eat them raw they are quite crunchy which I don't mind.  

***If you like soft noodles soak them in the dressing for an hour before lunch and they will be perfect, soft noodles.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day.  I made a delicious, vegan French toast for my husband at breakfast and topped it with fresh sliced strawberries, maple syrup and sprinkled on stevia instead of powdered sugar.

We had an amazing vegan Father's Day BBQ with amazing veggie burgers that featured:  celery, bell pepper, onion, carrots, almonds and black beans.  We also had grilled corn, potato salad, melons and an amazing chocolate silk pie with a brownie crust and raw ganache topping.

I know I have tempted many of you by announcing that I made some delicious vegan calamari, however I still want to tweak the recipe a bit before I post it so it will be a little longer before it is posted.  The taste and texture of the mushrooms were great but the breading wasn't as crunchy as I would have liked.....so you'll have to wait!

We have been incorporating more raw foods into our diet lately.  It always seems that as summer rolls around I crave a lot more fruit and fresh foods.  During the COLD winter months we eat a lot more hot soups and baked potatoes.  

My husband has finally come around and decided that he needs to eat more living foods!  Hurray!  That is not an easy thing for him but as he has begun suffering from increasing back pain, arthritis, fatigue and health problems I think it has finally inspired him to eat better.  He eats a vegetarian diet, but NOT a healthy one.  He consumes MASSIVE amounts of sugar.  For example, he will get a veggie sandwich at subway and follow it up with 3 or 4 cookies!

I am so glad he is feeling inspired to change!   A vegetarian diet is obviously a step in the right direction toward living a compassionate life, but it certainly does not guarantee health if you fill that vegetarian diet with soda, oreos, potato chips, cookies and other vegetarian junk food.  I am converting my junk food vegetarian husband into a health food superstar vegan hubby!  I will keep you updated on his health and diet progress.

I know that you all know I do not advocate consumption of refined vegetable oils.  I do find it odd that we condemn white flour because it is stripped of fiber and nutrients and yet we do not condemn vegetable oils which are also stripped of fiber and nutrients!  However, I do allow about 1-2 tsp. of oil per serving in some recipes because it adds the right flavor or texture to a dish.  

**The sesame oil is VERY  important to the flavor of this dish and adds a negligible amount of fat.  Don't skip the sesame oil.

Quinoa and Vegetable Salad with Low Fat, Oil Free Citrus Dressing

Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Citrus Dressing

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Nutrient-packed quinoa salad topped with a delicious low-fat, oil-free citrus dill dressing.  This salad would make a delicious lunch or a light, refreshing dinner on a hot summer evening.  The The combination of fresh lemon and orange juice make a perfect citrus combination in this refreshing dressing and the dill adds a delicious flair of flavor!
We had a fun Memorial Day BBQ complete with grilled veggie burgers, corn, potato salad, watermelon and a delicious 7 layer bar dessert that unfortunately did not set up.  
It is so hard when you  make this delicious dessert only to take it out of the oven and realize that it did not firm up!!!  I was at my moms house dealing with very limited access to ingredients and of course the dessert has to be a complete flop!  It would have made a FABULOUS topping for some homemade vanilla ice cream though.
I made a delicious crust with gluten free graham crackers, pecans, turbinado and some earth balance.  Topped with with a delicious coconut, pecan, vanilla cream and chocolate chips.  It would have been the perfect dessert if I had had access to some silken tofu or cashews to help thicken up the coconut cream topping....  Oh well I guess you can't win every time.
I made these delicious veggie burgers with pinto beans, kidney beans, brown rice and a bunch of delicious flavors and so I decided to make it again for memorial day.  I added some potato starch to make sure they held together on the grill....BIG MISTAKE!  Don't change recipes on the day you are serving other people!  The potato starch made the veggie burgers gooey!  I tell  you I really succeeded in messing up the memorial day BBQ Royally!    However, we had  a great time and everyone enjoyed the day despite my culinary disasters. 
I hope you enjoy this delicious salad recipe as much as I did!

Delicious Mexican Restaurant Inspired Mango Dressing

Low Fat, Low Sugar Delicious Mango Dressing

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Enjoy this delicious, light mango dressing created to mimic the dressing served at my favorite Mexican Restaurant.  My husband and I often visit one of the quick Mexican restaurants in town because of their inexpensive but delicious food.  We always share a delicious veggie salad and the mango dressing just makes the salad over the top delicious!

I realize that the mango dressing served in the restaurant is probably loaded with oil, sugar and calories and so I decided to try and come up with my own mango dressing without the high fat, high calorie ingredients.

This dressing was SO good my kids both gobbled up their salads and asked for seconds!!!

I know when I started cutting back on refined oils in my diet the HARDEST thing to find was a good salad dressing without oil.  Most oil-free salad dressing recipes I tried were bland and let's face it not worth eating!  It took a long time for me to learn the tricks of oil free salad dressings but once you learn it the sky is the limit!  You can make the most satisfying, delicious oil-free salad dressings in minutes!

Here are a few oil-free salad dressing tips:

• If you use vinegar mixed with soymilk the soymilk will curdle and thicken naturally so your oil-free dressing will not be runny.  Substitute the soymilk for the oil in any dressing that you want creamy.
• You can also use a combination substituting about 3/4 of the oil with peeled chopped zucchini and 1/4 cashews.  This will provide thickening and a little fat for flavor.
• If you do not want a creamy dressing such as a vinaigrette style dressing you can simply use peeled chopped zucchini in place of the oil.
• If you are making a sweeter style dressing use 1/2 peeled chopped zucchini and half liquid sweetener to replace the oil in the recipe.

If you are looking for that perfect oil-free salad dressing this is one you are going to want to try!  It is delicious over brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, guacamole, green leaf lettuce, onion, broccoli, carrots and all kinds of yummy veggies.  You can also serve it on top of a lunch burrito!

Enjoy!

Last Mary's Mini Menu Post

The Final Post on my Mary's Mini Journey

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Breakfast Salad with Apple Cinnamon Dressing

I have recorded a 5 day journey of Mary's Mini weight loss diet menu and it has been quite a journey.  However, I don't want to bore my readers with the mundane menu's on this simple diet.  I hope you have been able to get a small glimpse into the simplicity of this 10 day program as well as some interesting menu ideas.  You can do the same thing no matter what starch you choose on the diet, you can roast potatoes in a BBQ sauce, or food process cauliflower into small 'rice' and make oil free fried rice with it, you can make delicious pasta with spaghetti squash or spiralize zucchini and put your favorite marinara on top, you can do so many things with this diet if you just use a little creativity. 

As my last post on this diet I wanted to let you know what my weight loss has been so far......

2.6 pounds weight loss in 5 days!!!

It really is a very easy, simple approach to weight loss, the key though to any weight loss program is to maintain that weight loss through continued diligence in maintaining a healthy lifestyle AND dealing with emotional triggers that inhibit weight loss.

I am not quitting on the program, I just want to move on to bigger and better things on the blog!!

With this last post I will be moving on to my next challenge........

Gluten free Goldfish crackers for my daughter

My neice came to stay with us overnight and she brought some goldfish crackers with her and it reminded my daughter of when she used to eat them....long before my journey into a plant-based diet and she begged me to make a vegan, gluten free version of them.  So that will be my next challenge, although I may end up posting a few recipes before hand if it takes me awhile to perfect.......

Tropical Jicama Salad

Tropical Jicama Salad by The Peaceful Kitchen

This salad may not look like anything fancy, but the flavors are divine!  This was another recipe created out of whatever I had on hand.  I needed to use the Jicama we received in our bountiful basket, the pineapple on the counter was ripe and ready and I had a lot of oranges!

The flavors in the dressing mix beautifully with this salad.  My parents raved over and over about how amazing this simple salad was!  The salad is topped with an oil free salad dressing recipe.  I make all of my salad dressings oil free and use nuts or seeds as a fat source.  I try to avoid refined oil in my diet as much as possible unless I am creating a delicious dessert recipe for a special occasion.  I hope you enjoy this delicious tropical salad with oil free salad dressing.  My parents LOVED this salad, it is delicious!!

Menu ideas, healthy recipes and birthday cake

Roasted Potatoes, Cream of Tomato Soup and Birthday Recipes.....

I am changing my focus a bit because many of the menus feature very similar recipes and leftovers so I don't want to bog down readers with redundant photos and recipes so I am going to feature the new recipes and menu ideas.  I have improvised a lot and created my own recipes along the way but overall it has been an excellent experience, it is nice for a change to have everything planned out for me.

Looking for the recipes.....

Integrative Healing Clinic
Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans

  I needed to use the fresh potatoes and green beans from my garden and so I created a very simple roasted potato recipe.  These potatoes turned out delicious!  Excellent for a simple, healthy meal.

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes Recipe

Serves 4

 

 

Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup

I have so many fresh tomatoes from my garden that I had to find a way to use them.  This soup is delicious and can be served in so many different ways.  It is an excellent soup to make after harvesting fresh fall tomatoes from the garden.   I cannot guarantee the same delicious  flavor with store bought tomatoes.

 

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Sauteed Tempeh and Buckwheat 

Salad in Asian Peanut Dressing

You can see the beautiful, rich buckwheat noodles in this recipe.  This was a hit with my family, it is simple to prepare and is delicious!

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Healthy Birthday Cake Recipe

Birthdays are one of the few times during the year that I let the kids have their favorite foods, however I do create their favorites as healthy as I can while maintaining the integrity of taste.  This is a beautiful oreo cookie cake that my daughter requested as her birthday cake.  Delicious!

Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe:

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Chocolate Mint and Chocolate

Peanut butter cup Cookies

There is a cookie shop that my husband likes to buy cookies, that is his worst weakness, sugar.  I wanted to make a healthier version of these cookies because my daughter loves them and requested them for her birthday.  I have a recipe for chocolate peanut butter cups and mints or you can purchase dairy free peanut butter cups online. 

These cookies are EXTREMELY rich but they are SOOOO Delicious!  In fact, my husband likes mine better than the non-vegan origianls, YAY!!

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My Birthday Recipe Creations, burnt almond fudge ice cream and taco salad

My Special Birthday Recipe Creations

Looking for The Peaceful Kitchen Recipes:
Integrative Healing Clinic

Mexican Salad created after my favorite Mexican fast food restaurant

I created some exciting recipes for my birthday dinner in April. Since January I had been craving my favorite dessert from my unhealthy college days "Burnt Almond Fudge Pie with Caramel topping."

I planned the menu for my birthday dinner and it was a big hit! My sister took the photos of the food for me so I could share them with you.

The Mexican Salad contains:

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Sweet Pulled Seitan

Black Beans w/ sauteed garlic, onion and spices

Mexican Rice
topped with tofu sour cream, guacamole and salsa!

These recipes will be coming out in the May/June recipe collection and they are not to be missed, they are AMAZING replicas of the famous mexican restaurant!!

Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream Pie topped with Soywhip and Carmel Sauce

I could not have hoped for a more decadent, delicious replica of my favorite dessert. This was pure HEAVEN!!! It is exactly as I remember.....only dairy free.

You can certainly make this soy free by using almond milk, be careful what milk you choose to use or it will not be creamy enough.  Do not use rice milk, flax milk, oat milk or any other light milk.  Hemp milk will work as well as almond milk.

I must note that the soywhip was melting because we had just topped it with hot carmel but I think you can see how absolutely fabulous this pie was!!
This ice cream recipe is so amazing it is actually firm like you find in grocery store ice cream. It is rich, chocolatey and as creamy as ice cream can possibly be!! You do not want to miss this recipe. This ice cream can be made into your favorite flavor. Strawberry, Peach, Vanilla, Butter Pecan, you name it.


Vegan Burnt almond Fudge Ice Cream Recipe

The new May/June recipe collection will have some amazing recipes. Hot out of The Peaceful Kitchen last night:

A replica of a famous Italian restaurant's Minestrone soup!

Also a delicous, low fat Blueberry scone recipe!

Spring Creations

Spring Creations at The Peaceful Kitchen

Paradise Cake

I created this recipe for a family party and it was a HIT, everyone LOVED IT! My mother decided it needed to be called Paradise Cake.....

This luscious cake was made with homemade coconut pudding that was then added to a beautiful vanilla cake recipe. The Whip Topping has homemade cream cheese, Soy whip and pinapple. It was absolutely delicious! This recipe will be added to the website the end of May.

Chocolate Streusel Cake

This decadent cake is a light, moist cake with chocolate and turbinado crumble swirled throughout with a thick cinnamon crumb on top.

It was a hit at our Girl's Night Out party a few weeks ago. The cake is very moist and the subtle chocolate flavor adds a fun twist to crumb cake that chocolate lovers enjoy.

Don't miss out on the upcoming recipe collections, they have some delicious, exciting recipes!!

Apricot Tempeh Coleslaw

This is a fun, spring recipe with a delicious twist on an old favorite....apricot preserves.

It has sauteed tempeh, purple grapes and cabbage in a non-dairy mayonaise with apricot dressing.

Take this to your next BBQ, it is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

Creamy Tempeh Salad

This is a fun salad recipe, it can be used to make Tempeh salad sandwiches or it can just be eaten on a bed of romaine lettuce. This salad has sauteed tempeh, cucumber, tomato halves and is smothered in a delicious non-dairy mayonaise sauce.

A Peaceful Thanksgiving Feast!!

I know there are many who believe that you can't have a delicious vegan Thanksgiving, well you absolutely can!! On the left you have homemade tofurkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, the top of the plate is tempeh sausage stuffing, the right side is Cranberry salad with 'whip cream', green bean casserole in cream sauce with homemade onion rings, A croissant roll, and of course yam casserole with an oat cinnamon crumb topping!

Cashew Cream Egg Nog

I served a beautiful, light, creamy Egg Nog with our Thanksgiving dinner. As a child I HATED Egg Nog, that junk you buy in the store is not edible at all. It is so thick and so sugary that even as a sugar loving kid I couldn't drink the stuff. This egg nog is light, but very creamy. It is heavenly! I created this in a cashew cream base because I think it gives it a richer, creamier flavor than soymilk.

Gala Apple Pie

I used gala apples, a little coconut oil and maple syrup to flavor the pie. It was hard to stop eating it!








Vegan Chocolate Mousse Pie with Oreo Crust!

HEAVENLY!! This pie was so decadent and creamy. This was a hit with my chocolate loving husband. While it may not be a very traditional Thanksgiving pie, my husband insisted that I come up with a chocolate mousse for Thanksgiving and so I did. It was amazing!

Latest Fall Recipes

Pumpkin Hummus Harvest Pizza

It has a light pumpkin hummus topped with tempeh sausage, chopped spinach, bell peppers, onions and a special balsamic drizzle. I would have added tomatoes but I didn't have any. I must admit it is a strange combination for pizza but it is AMAZING!! I decided to try half with vegan mozzarella cheese and half with my own homemade macadamia nut harvest cheese but this pizza doesn't even need cheese the pumpkin hummus has a cheesy flavor. It is a fun fall dish to serve with warm whole wheat breadsticks!!

Cheesy Garlic Yams and Butternut Squash 

Okay, so I've been a little over zealous with the yams and butternut squash lately. I LOVE yams and squash so I have been making every combination I could think of. My daughter informed me tonight that she was sick of yams and squash and asked me why we had to have it every night. Poor Kid. I will be moving on to spaghetti squash and acorn squash for variety.




Quinoa Stuffing

I wanted to make a gluten free stuffing for those who have wheat sensitivites or do not eat wheat. This has a delicious flavor and texture. This is my quinoa stuffing. It may not have the appearance of bread based stuffing but it has a lovely flavor and would be beautiful on any Thanksgiving table.

Balsamic Roasted Yams

We are all used to traditional sweet yam recipes but there are some excellent savory yam and squash recipes out there. The combination of the sweet yam and the balsamic vinegar is delicious!

Creamy Broccoli and Dried Cranberry Salad

My husband LOVED this salad. It has a delcious veganaise and agave whipped dressing with dried cranberries, red onions and broccoli. YUM!!!

This would make a lovely addition to a holiday meal!

Maple Glazed Carrots and Pecans

These carrots have a beautiful look and they taste delicious. They are definately a crowd pleaser!!

They are extremely easy to make and are a great side dish when you are serving children. Children seem to gravitate toward the sweeter taste and you are acutally getting a vegetable in for them so that's a bonus!




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