Plant Based U

Fat-Free and Low Fat Vegan Plant Based Recipes

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Raw Kale, Mandarin, Goji Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

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Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Have you ever had a craving for a deeply satisfying and hearty kale salad? But you don’t want just a big pile of kale…. no you want all sorts of yummy textures and flavors in your kale salad to keep things interesting.

This is that salad.

It’s perfect for a dinner entree, a potluck, or a weekday take along for lunch. I like to make up big salads and then keep the dressing on the side that way I can have as much or as little dressing as I like and save any remaining salad in a sealed container in the fridge.



Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Most kale salad recipes are heavily dressed with oil and salt and I find it hard to stomach. I want to taste my greens and not the oil so I paired this with a delicious homemade citrus ginger cashew dressing. It has some natural sweetness and creaminess from the cashews and is super easy to whip up in the blender with some fresh ginger and orange juice. Fresh squeezed orange juice is a great choice for liquid in salad dressings because it has some natural sweetness, and acidity and you can toss almost any fruits or veggies and/or nuts and seeds into it and blend it up.



So make up a big bowl of this hearty kale salad and you’ll have a light yet satisfying entree salad for 3-4 or a delicious side salad to serve along with baked potatoes, rice pilaff, pasta marinara and more. Enjoy!

Low Fat Vegan Chef's Kale Mandarin Orange Goji Berry Salad with Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

Raw(ish) Vegan Kale, Mandarin Orange and Goji Berry Salad

Serves 6-8 side servings

Ingredients:

1 head of kale, stems removed and chopped
1 head of romaine, chopped
3 cups loose packed spinach
1 english cucumber, sliced
4-5 mandarin oranges, peeled and sectioned
3 tbsp goji berries soaked and patted dry
2 cups cooked quinoa (I seasoned mine with vegetable broth) *can omit if you desire a 100% raw dish

Directions: 

1. Arrange salad greens in a large bowl and mix together.
2. Garnish with remaining ingredients.
3. Serve with dressing on the side, or toss dressing with salad for a marinated salad.

Raw Vegan Citrus Ginger Cashew Dressing

 Ingredients:

1 cup fresh squeezed clementine or sweet mandarin juice
2 medjool dates, pitted
1 tbsp Spicy Pecan Vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 cup raw cashews (unsalted)
Dash of salt and pepper *optional

 Directions:

1. Blend dressing ingredients together. Best used within 3 days (due to fresh orange juice which is perishable).

Additional Tips:

If you prefer to make this your weekday lunch salad for 5 days a week, arrange the salad in 5 sealable containers and store the dressing in small airtight containers.

What are your favorite ingredients to toss into your kale salad?

Sweet and Savory Asian Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

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Often when I make salads at home I toss whatever I have in the fridge into a bowl and make a homemade dressing for it. This is a giant salad I made one night for dinner and it was so filling I didn’t need anything else! But I kept it lower fat by not adding anymore nuts or avocado to it and added chickpeas instead for calories and protein.

I also like to add apples and dried fruit to salads to give them more flavor and calories as opposed to lots of nuts or seeds. Salads can be much more appetizing when you make a fresh homemade dressing. Store bought dressings often contain a lot of junk and it’s super easy to make your own at home. I usually make my dressing recipes up as I go along and season them to taste. This one is no exception and I think you’ll like it!

Sweet and Savory Salad Ingredients:

6-8 cups of salad greens like spring mix, or baby greens
2 apples, peeled and diced
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup of sugar snap peas
1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced *optional
2 tbsp dried cranberries

Orange Sesame Dressing Ingredients:

4 tbsp tahini (sesame seed butter)
2 tbsp orange vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)
8 dates, pitted and chopped
1/3-1/2 cup water (as needed for consistency)
Dash of salt

Directions:

1. Arrange salad ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Combine dressing ingredients in a blender or VitaMix and blend until smooth.
3. Serve and drizzle with dressing.

Additional Tips:

Use dressing within 3-4 days and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

Mix up your dressings by purchasing a few different types of fruit vinegars. Trader Joe’s makes a few varieties and so does Dr. Fuhrman (sold on his website). Having a little variety makes creating different tasting dressings so easy.

What’s your favorite salad dressing recipe?

Pomegranate Apple Green Salad With Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

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The other day I went to a raw food potluck in Calgary and someone made this delicious salad that had a bunch of mixed vegetables and pomegranate seeds and it was quite delicious. So I thought why not make my own pomegranate salad for the holiday season?

To easily peel a pomegranate, you can cut it in half and fill a large bowl or sink full of water. Start peeling off the outer peel. The seeds will sink and the white parts will float so you can scoop them out and discard them. Once you’re done peeling everything apart you can drain the water and you’re left with pomegranate seeds.

(Or you can go to Costco and buy packages of fresh pre peeled pomegranate seeds in the refrigerated produce section if you don’t want to peel one.)

This is a really lovely salad that I designed to be really simple to make yet seem a little fancier. It’s got antioxidants from the pomegranate and the raspberries and omega 3’s from the walnuts (in the dressing).

I prefer to make all of my own salad dressings and not use any oil in them at all. So I used walnut pieces for healthy fats in this dressing. If you don’t have fresh raspberries right now, you can also use frozen. Just let them sit out for a few minutes to defrost a little first.

So let’s check out the recipe:

Raw Vegan Pomegranate Apple Green Salad

(With Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette)

Serves 2 side salads or 1 medium/large salad

Salad:

4-6 cups mixed greens
1-2 apples peeled and sliced
1-2 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
3 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds

Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup mandarin orange juice (2 oranges)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp broken walnut pieces
2 large medjool dates, pitted
1 tbsp Trader Joe’s orange muscat champagne vinegar/other fruit vinegar/apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp Herbamare or salt *optional

Directions:

  1. Arrange the salad ingredients in side salad bowls or a large serving bowl.
  2. Place the salad dressing ingredients into a Vita-Mix or a blender and process until smooth.
  3. Drizzle dressing overtop of salad.
  4. Serve.

Additional Tips:

Feel free to double this recipe if you’re entertaining.

What’s your favorite holiday salad? Have you ever used pomegranates in a recipe? 

80/10/10 Recipe: Raw Winter Vitamin C Smoothie

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Winter time can be a little harder to get a wide variety of fresh ripe fruit. So this is an easy staple that you can add to your breakfast regime. Just make sure you are using fresh squeezed orange juice (home-made is best) and ripe bananas (that are very speckled and sweet). An unripe banana or sour oranges can really ruin your smoothie, so make sure you use quality ingredients that taste good on their own first.

If you find that you are feeling cold in the winter months, make sure you take your fruit OUT of the refrigerator before using it. You do NOT want to be drinking cold smoothies and eating cold fruit when you are already feeling cold. Then your hands will get cold and you will feel like crawling back under the covers and staying in bed.

It also helps to do a few jumping jacks or running on the spot in the morning to get yourself warmed up and feeling more energized when it’s cold and blah outside.

Raw Winter Vitamin C Smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1 tbsp hemp seed

2 bananas, ripe

3-4 apples peeled, cored and chopped

Directions:

1. Place ingredients in Vitamix in order above and blend on high until smooth and creamy. If you have a regular blender you may want to chop up the apple into smaller pieces to make blending easier.

Enjoy!

What do you think of this recipe?