Tropical Detox Salad

I spent a few days in Boston last week at a conference - hence the lack of activity around here - and I came back home craving fresh and healthy meals, which always happens when I go away on trips. So this detox salad is what I'm eating this week!

I'm sure there are plenty of great vegetarian places to eat in Boston, but I didn't have any time to explore the city on my own, so my only meals consisted of the Starbucks in the lobby for breakfast, boxed lunches provided by the conference, and dinners at a restaurant nearby chosen by the group. That meant my options on the menu were somewhat limited to things like cheese pizza or pasta with tomato sauce, but I still had a good time which is what counts!

Needless to say, I couldn't wait to get back into my own kitchen and make a huge fresh salad to enjoy. The only vegetable remaining in my fridge was the rest of the parsnips from this recipe, so I searched through my bookmarks for other parsnip ideas and was reminded of this raw parsnip rice with pineapple from the taste space.

A raw salad full of fresh ingredients sounded like just the thing I wanted, so I headed out to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the components.

I ended up changing up Janet's recipe quite a bit to squeeze in even more fruits and veggies and turn the dish into more of a tropical inspired salad than her Thai version.

The base of the salad is a mixture of raw parsnips, carrot, and cauliflower all ground up to resemble the texture of couscous. Next, I added fresh pineapple, mango, red pepper and cucumber, plus some dried apricots, all finely diced to the same size.

Once you've got your fruits and veggies, the next component is to add more layers of flavour with lots of herbs - I used cilantro, mint, and green onion. And of course a great salad in my mind needs some kind of nuts, so I went with Janet's suggestion of adding chopped roasted cashews.

Finally, to bring everything together, I made a light and fruity dressing by pureeing more pineapple with some lime juice and ginger.

This turned out to be exactly what I was craving! The best way to describe this salad is that it's super refreshing, and how could it not be, with all of those raw ingredients? I loved the combination of sweet ripe tropical fruits with the crisp veggies, crunchy cashews, and fresh herbs.

My favourite salads are ones with lots of different ingredients so that every bite is interesting, and I thought all of the components in this salad were balanced out nicely so that one flavour didn't dominate.

This recipe also makes a big batch, and I'm happy to have a full container of it to eat for meals over the next few days until my cravings for comfort food come back!

Tropical Detox Salad
Inspired by the taste space

2 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped

1/2 a small head of cauliflower, chopped

1/2 a large red pepper, finely diced (about 1 cup)

1 cup finely diced cucumber

1 ripe mango, finely diced

1.5 cups diced fresh pineapple

1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

5-6 tbsp chopped cashews (I used unsalted roasted cashews)

1/4 cup finely diced apricots

Dressing

1/2 cup chopped fresh pineapple

Juice of one lime

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 tsp tamari

1 tsp mirin

1 tsp honey or agave nectar

1 tsp olive oil

Dash of herbamare or salt

Add the parsnips, carrot, and cauliflower to the large bowl of a food processor. Pulse until veggies are finely minced, but not pureed (the texture should resemble rice).  Transfer to a large bowl.   It should look like this: 

Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, stirring to mix thoroughly.

To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a blender and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.  Pour dressing over salad and toss to mix.

Store salad in the fridge until ready to eat. Serve cold or at room temperature.  Season each serving with additional lime juice and/or herbamare if desired.

Makes 4-5 large servings.

Carrot Cake Pancakes with Orange-Cashew Cream

One of my favourite family traditions is Pancake Tuesday. I always looked forward to it because it was the one day of the year when we would get to eat pancakes for dinner.  My parents would cook up a big platter with three or four different kinds of pancakes, and I would try them all!

Blueberry was always my favourite, but we also had chocolate chip, plain, and sometimes an apple-cinnamon or banana version.  Those traditional flavours will always be special to me, but now I like to come up with new kinds of pancakes to try.

My latest favourite is carrot pancakes, because they're just sweet enough for breakfast and I figure since they have a vegetable, they're also appropriate for dinner!  So to celebrate Pancake Day this year, I made these vegan carrot cake pancakes topped with an orange-cashew cream.

The pancakes themselves turned out nice and thick and fluffy, and to get the carrot cake flavor, I added some warm spices, shredded coconut, chopped walnuts and dates to the batter. I also used coconut milk in both the batter and the cashew topping, and topped them with some orange zest.

I also used this opportunity to try my new NuNaturals stevia products.  Instead of adding sugar and vanilla extract to the batter, I used their alcohol-free vanilla stevia drops.  The amount I used added just the right amount of sweetness for my tastes, but my sister thought the pancakes weren't sweet enough, so you might want to use more drops or add 1-2 tsp of sugar or sweetener to the batter if you prefer a sweeter pancake.

These pancakes would taste great on their own or drizzled with maple syrup, but I really liked eating them with the cashew cream that I made by blending a small amount of soaked raw cashews with a bit of orange juice, coconut milk and stevia drops.

Since I was only making a small amount of cashew cream for a single serving, I had a hard time getting the cashews to blend properly so my "cream" was still a bit chunky.  But I still loved the taste and it made a nice topping for the pancakes as a substitute for cream cheese frosting that is usually found on carrot cake.

So if you're looking for new inspiration for Pancake Tuesday, try these carrot cake pancakes or check out the Pinterest Board I created full of more creative pancake ideas!

Single-Serving Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes with Orange-Cashew Cream

Adapted from The Tie Dye Files and The First Mess

Cashew Cream

2.5 tbsp raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 4-5 hours

1-2 tbsp coconut milk beverage

1 tbsp orange juice

5-10 drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia liquid

Pancakes

1 tsp flax mixed with 2 tsp water

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp rolled oats

2 tbsp sweetened or unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp each nutmeg and ground ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk beverage (or another non-dairy milk)

10 drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia liquid (or 2 tsp sugar)

3-4 dates, soaked in hot water for a few minutes then drained and finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped walnuts

For the cashew cream:

Drain the cashews and place in a food processor or blender. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth (I would recommend starting with 1 tbsp of coconut milk and add more to thin out the cream if necessary). Set aside or refrigerate if you are making it ahead of time.

For the pancakes:

First, mix the flax with the water and let sit for at least 5 minutes to thicken.

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour through to salt).  Add the grated carrot, coconut milk and stevia and stir gently to combine. Fold in the chopped dates and walnuts.

Heat a large skillet on medium-high and spray with low-fat cooking spray. Add the pancake batter to the pan in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup measures (I divided the batter into two large pancakes, but you could easily get three pancakes).

Cook on one side undisturbed for a few minutes, until the bottoms are set and browned. Carefully flip pancakes with a spatula and cook 2-3 more minutes on the other side. 

Serve with cashew cream on top and maple syrup if desired.

Makes 1 serving (2 pancakes)

This was submitted to Wellness Weekend at Diet, Dessert, and Dogs.