lunch Archives - Veggie Staples

I told you guys here how much I’ve had a craving for pasta salad lately! Call it a pregnancy kick or just a warm weather thing, I’m not really sure! This black bean pasta salad (completely gluten free and vegan) with avocado cilantro dressing is perfectly light and great for the warm weather! The best thing about pasta salad is you can put anything in it you have sitting in the fridge; veggies, fruit, etc.

I’ve also become quite obsessed with tolerant pasta, a pasta made entirely out of black beans (16 grams of fiber per serving!) or red lentils (I did a mixture of both here). Great texture and taste, now if only I could actually figure out how to make this on my own?! They don’t make too many pasta molds out there to make your own pasta other than ravioli!

And lastly, one of my biggest hot spots is salad dressing. Have you ever looked at the back of any salad dressings? It gets me really worked up when I’m short on time and I have to try to find something to use for salad dressing. Most of the time I end up going back home just to make it anyways. 99% of salad dressing are full of corn syrup, sugar, etc. Not to mention the huge list of ingredients that are completely unnecessary… And it’s so easy to whip up your own dressing! You can make them just as good or better! (you can also try my tahini dressing from my veggie summer rolls) What is your favorite flavor of dressing?

Black Bean Gluten Free Pasta Salad with Avocado Cilantro Dressing

Ingredients

for the salad
1/2 cup tolerant black bean pasta
1/2 cup tolerant red lentil pasta
4 cups organic spring mix lettuce
2 red peppers, washed, sliced and chopped
1 cucumber, washed, peeled and chopped
2 large heirloom tomatoes, washed and chopped
for the dressing
1/2 cup plain coconut milk yogurt
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 handful of cilantro, washed

Instructions

for the salad
Cook pasta as directed on box
Run under cold water when done
Mix in a bowl with remaining salad ingredients, set aside
for the dressing
Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor
Pour dressing over salad and toss well (best if served chilled)

http://veggiestaples.com/black-bean-pasta-salad-avocado-cilantro-dressing/

A few weeks ago I stopped by my local grocery store and was hungry (always a mistake, as you know) and found Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Pancakes on sale in the health food section (paleo, gluten free and dairy free). I ate them for an afternoon snack all week and then thought to myself ‘why not make my own?’… This is pretty much the same thought I’ve had with veggie burgers for a long time, but I have yet to whip up a batch of those either! (Hopefully once summer comes).

Either way, the ingredient list is on the box and I knew I could easily figure out how to throw some of these together and then be able to stock pile and eat them whenever I wanted! I used regular white potato, but you could easily use sweet potato, add cheese (if you can tolerate it, or even add some nutritional yeast), omit the onion, add carrots or zucchini, etc. There are a ton of possibilities to mixing it up to suit your taste buds! Either way, these spinach potato pancakes are a winner in my book & I know you will love them too! Kid friendly!

Spinach Potato Pancakes

Ingredients

1 medium potato, washed, peeled, boiled and chopped
1 medium onion, washed, peeled and chopped
1 cup spinach, washed and chopped
3 tablespoons almond flour
2 eggs
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
coconut oil for frying

Instructions

Peel and boil the potato until soft
Remove potato from heat and allow to cool
Wash, peel and chop onion
Wash and chop spinach
Chop potato
In a small bowl, mix all ingredients until well combined.
Heat frying pan on medium heat, adding enough coconut oil to coat pan
Measure out 1/4 cup of mixture for each pancake (mixture should make 6 small pancakes)
Flatten into a small patty (3 should fit on the pan)
Flip patties when slightly brown on one side (3-4 minutes)
Eat warm or cold as lunch, dinner or a on the go snack!

http://veggiestaples.com/spinach-potato-pancakes/