BLT Salad

Yesterday I was flipping through a cookbook my sister gave me – Vegan YumYum by Lauren Ulm – looking for some dinner inspiration. I ended up taking the Vegan YumYum blog recipe for BLT Salad and tweaking the dressing a bit (I used avocado instead of Vegenaise mayo) and the results were really amazing. This salad was so good, it took all of my willpower to leave some extra for my boyfriend to try later.

One of the greatest things about this salad is that the tomatoes are cooked a little. It really brings out their flavor, which goes so well with the tempeh bacon pieces. The avocado is the perfect creamy compliment.  Plus, we get to use my favorite kale variety, Lacinato kale, and we get to eat it raw. Time to get crazy.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Lacinato kale (aka dinosaur kale)
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach
• 1 package Lightlife tempeh bacon
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
• Freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup avocado (mashed)
• 1 tsp tamari or shoyu
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp raw agave
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Make the dressing first. I used a blender to blend all of my ingredients, but if your avocado is creamy enough you can just use a whisk/fork.

Pull the kale leaves off of the stems and chop them into small pieces.

Mix the kale and dressing together until the kale is completely coated and put in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes (more than 30 mins is fine too, the kale won’t wilt). Don’t add the spinach yet.

Chop tempeh bacon into small pieces. Put 1 tbsp peanut oil into a frying pan and add your tempeh bacon.  Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes until tempeh is a bit browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

Chop your cherry tomatoes in half. Using the same frying pan (don’t wash it out), add the other tbsp of peanut oil, the cherry tomatoes, and the sea salt. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes get a little tender and juicy. Remove and set aside in a bowl (with any juices that leaked out during cooking).

When you’re ready to make the salad, remove the kale from the fridge. Chop up the baby spinach and add it to the kale until it’s all completely covered with dressing. Stir in 3/4 of the tempeh bacon & tomatoes.

Top your salad with the rest of the tempeh bacon and tomatoes. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and a little more sea salt if you want.

EAT! <3

This salad rules. Make it tonight.