Thai Chili Slaw Salad

Salads are amazing and as long as you don't smother your salad with fatty dressing or nasty meats and cheeses, they're probably the healthiest meal option you can choose. I've recently done a lot of reading about the power of raw foods and I have been trying to incorporate them into every meal. Raw fruit is easy but sometimes raw vegetables are just kind of blah. In this salad, raw broccoli, cabbage, carrots, spinach, and bell pepper are jazzed up with a creamy, spicy, chile dressing. Even though the dressing isn't raw, it's packed with protein from silken tofu and tahini. This salad makes a great quick side dish or entree for any meal.




Thai Chili Slaw
1 9oz. bag of baby spinach, chopped or torn into little pieces
2 16oz bags of broccoli slaw
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Chile Dressing
1/2 package silken tofu (firm or soft)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 to 2 T tahini
1 to 2 T braggs or tamari
1 clove garlic
1/2 T ginger root
2 T water
a few drops siracha
1 T Red Curry Paste (make sure you check the ingredients because most brands have fish sauce or something equally gross. Below is a picture of Thai Kitchen Curry Paste which is completely vegan!)

Assemble all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl (make sure you slice the pepper and the spinach) and toss together.




Throw all of the dressing ingredients into a food processor or blender and process til smooth and creamy. Adjust the amount of water until you get a nice creamy but not puddingy texture.
Pour the dressing over your slaw and mix together. You can wait to dress until right before you serve the salad or you can let the flavors marinate in the fridge. The slaw is pretty sturdy, so it shouldn't wilt. Enjoy!

Healthy Banana Muffin Cookies with Raw Icing

Like the majority of the population, I love baked goods. Being a fairly healthy person, I shy away from those full of refined sugars, flours and lots of fat. I also usually just cook for myself, so making a recipe that yields dozens usually means I probably eat more than I should or things go bad. When I'm craving some type of baked treat, I just throw a bunch of ingredients into a cereal bowl and pop whatever I've created into the oven. Today I made some banana "cookies" but they definitely have a muffiny texture. Since I never measure ingredients, I'll estimate and feel free to tweak and add whatever you want. These pack a nice banana flavor and have a nice moist, spongy texture. They're fat-free if you don't add any nuts or icing (but you should because nuts are bursting with nutritional amazingness) and only use a tad bit of extra sweetner!

Banana Muffin Cookies
1/2 one large banana or one small banana mushed
2 t Maple Syrup (pure!!! no HFCS)
1/2 t Vanilla Extract
3/4 to 1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Cinnamon
3 Dates, chopped
1/8 C Walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Mush the banana in a good sized cereal bowl ( probably about 3-4 cups in size), it's okay to leave some small lumps because it gives the cookies some nice texture. Mix in the vanilla and maple syrup. Sift in flour, BP, BS, and cinnamon. If the batter is too dry, add some "milk" or water and if it's to liquidy, add some more flour (the batter is very sticky, think "thick muffin batter"). Try not to over stir because this will make the cookies tough instead of tender and soft. Fold in the dates and walnuts.
Scoop hunks of batter onto a greased cookie sheet (I got 3 cookies from this recipe) and flatten with a fork to about 1/2 an inch thick. Pop them into the oven for 10 min, it's fine if they're still a little mushy but you want them to brown a little on the bottom. Let cookies cool on a rack for 5 min. or, if you're like me, let them cool on a plate or in your mouth.



Raw Icing
1 1/2 T Raw Cashew Butter
1 t Raw Agave Nectar
1 t Raw Maple Syrup

Mix all of the ingredients together and slather on cookies while they're still a bit warm. They take your cookies from just plain delicious to divine.


I hope you enjoy this recipe. It would make a great breakfast or snack and you don't have to feel guilty about anything.