Baked Quinoa with Figs and Lemon

I admit that I am a fig addict. I make excuses for myself: "They're only available for a short season." "I love them, and people should eat what they love." "I can walk right by a stand selling figs without even stopping. Or whimpering." 

Okay, that last one is a lie. I admit it. I can't get enough of 'em. This is day 7 of my week of Fig Obsession. I'm no where NEAR the end of my supply of fig recipes, though, so there will be more before the season is truly over! 

¾ cup cooked quinoa

1 lemon, half juiced, and the other half sliced thinly

4 TBLSP brown sugar

1 TBLSP rice vinegar

1 TBLSP water

3 fresh figs

Salt to taste

1 TBLSP parsley or cilantro, minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, sugar, vinegar, and water.
2. In a single-serving baking dish (about 4” square), put the quinoa in an even layer on the bottom of the dish. Arrange the figs and lemon slices on top of the quinoa, and pour the vinegar mixture over them.
3. Sprinkle the top with salt and parsley.
4.  Bake for 30 minutes, basting the figs with the vinegar so they don’t brown too fast.

Makes a nice side dish, or you could add seitan, Tofurkey dogs, or some other faux meat to give it some protein. You could also replace the quinoa with noodles or cauliflower. Yum! 

Fig and White Pasta Sauce for One

I really love figs. If this week of posting a fig recipe every day hasn't convinced you, this little gem of a recipe should. It's a classic white sauce with precious fruity goodness added to the top. I could eat this every day for the entire fig season. Day 6. 

Pasta for one (I used gluten-free rice rotelle, but anything will do), about 3 ounces

4 teaspoons vegan butter, divided

1 TBLSP all-purpose flour (use almond flour or corn starch if you’re gluten-free)

Pinch of salt

½ cup almond milk

3 fresh figs, stemmed and quartered

8 Kalamata olives, chopped coarsely

½ TBLSP lemon zest, more if you’re inclined

Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Boil sufficient water to cook the pasta. When the water is at a boil, add the pasta and begin the sauce.
2. Melt 3 teaspoons of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Gradually stir in the flour to make a roux. It should get smooth and bubbly in 2 to 4 minutes. Don’t let it burn, but get it right to the edge.
3. Add salt and stir.
4. Remove the roux from the heat and gradually stir in the almond milk until it’s smooth. Just slop the milk in a little, stir some, and repeat. If your pour it all in at once, the sauce will break and there’s no repairing it. Once the milk is about half in, you can pour in the rest.
5. Return the sauce to the stovetop and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer.
6.  In a small non-stick sauté pan over medium heat, put the last teaspoon of butter in with the figs and olives, and warm them through, about 5 minutes.
7. Back to the white sauce, stir in the lemon zest and the pepper.
8. Once the pasta is ready, drain it thoroughly and put it into a serving bowl. Pour the white sauce over the top and give it a little stir. Top with the figs.
9. Bring this to me immediately, so I can eat it all up and make sure that you’ve done it right. 

Corn Salad with Figs and Peaches for One

This salad is a nice slice of late-summer happiness. Okay, so maybe I'm moments from my annual fig-induced coma, but I really liked all the textures, complex flavor combinations, and, well, the figs! Day 5 of my Fig Obsession Week.

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon vegan mayonnaise

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

Pinch of salt

Pinch of black pepper

Pinch of garlic powder

1 TBLSP your favorite herb, chopped (I like a mix of dill and cilantro, but basil would be lovely too.)

½ teaspoon capers, rinsed and chopped

1/2 ear of fresh corn, husked and kernels removed (cooked or raw, your choice)

1 TBLSP Kalamata olives, sliced into rounds

1 small carrot, julienned or cut into strips with a potato peeler

½ bunch watercress, torn into bite-sized pieces OR 2 leaves of red-leaf lettuce

1 TBLSP sliced scallions

½ a peach, sliced

1 fig, sliced or quartered

1. Combine the lemon juice, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, garlic powder chopped herbs and capers.
2. Toss the corn, olives, carrot, and scallions together and add enough of the dressing to coat the salad.
3. Lay the lettuce on the plate. I like to tear it up to be bite-sized, but you do it how you like it.
4. Position the peach slices around the lettuce and make a nice mound of the corn salad in the middle. Arrange the fig pieces attractively on the salad.

     This makes about ¼ cup of dressing, which might be too much. You judge for yourself. Use the leftovers for tomorrow’s salad, or drizzle it over steamed veggies.

Fig and Chia Seed Pudding for One

Today is Day 4 of my Fig Obsessive publications. The more I eat figs, the more I adore them. I adore them the way cat ladies adore their kitties--well, um, except I eat them. I stare at them, watch the little beauties until I know what I want to do with them, and then I gulp them all down!

Today's recipe makes me think of that Ogden Nash poem "Are You a Snodgrass." You make it and tell me if it doesn't remind you of it too...

1/2 cup almond milk

2 TBLSP chia seeds

2 fresh figs, chopped

½ teaspoon orange, lemon, or lime zest

1 ½ TBLSP maple syrup, plus extra for garnish

1 TBLSP walnuts, chopped (for garnish)

1 fig, quartered lengthwise (for garnish)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the almond milk, chia seeds, zest, and maple syrup. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
2. Add the chopped figs and stir it up again.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight, until it’s thick and like a chunky pudding.
4. When ready to serve, give it a good stir and then garnish with a quartered fig, the walnuts, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

      This might be a bit sweet for breakfast (I’m more of a savory breakfast person), so try it for post-rehearsal, movie night, or just when you deserve a little dessert.

      Oh, and I'm a swozzler, although there were no swozzling opportunities in this meal. 

Fig and Almond Tart for One

Fig Obsession, Day 3. Two things have happened. A couple of you have (appropriately) delivered the goods, bringing figs to me for consumption. But also, there are more figs in my local stores. Hooray! Life is good!

This little tart is a good way to use up some figs that are starting to look tired. It's hard to tell from my photographs, but mine is about 4 inches across and nearly flat, so you get maximum mileage out of your figlets. It's a sweet treat after dinner.

2 teaspoons flax meal

2 teaspoons water

¼ cup raw almonds

½ TBLSP all-purpose flour

2 TBLSP confectioner’s sugar, plus more for decorating

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ TBLSP vegan butter

½ TBLSP Grand Marnier, brandy, or cognac

½ TBLSP lemon zest

3 fresh figs

      Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 4-inch tart pan with cooking spray, or grease it with vegan butter or oil.

1. Put the flax meal and water in a small bowl, give it a stir, and then leave it to thicken up.
2. In a food processor or blender, process the almonds to a fine texture.
3. Sift the flour and confectioner’s sugar together into a small bowl and mix in the ground nuts.
4. To the nut mixture, add the flax glop, vanilla, butter, Grand Marnier (or substitute), and lemon zest and combine.
5. Plop the batter into the prepared tart pan and push it out to the edges so that it lies evenly on the bottom of the pan.
6. Slice the figs into thin slices and arrange them on top of the batter in a pretty pattern.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the tart is set and golden brown.
8. When it’s cooled, sprinkle with additional confectioner’s sugar. 

Then bring it to my house so that I can eat all the figs. 

Fig, Sweet Potato, and Wild Rice with Piccata Sauce for One

Today is the second of my Fig-a-palloosa week. I'm obsessed with figs, and I'm showing the world, like carrying a banner! The trumpets blare, "Figs! Figs! Figs-a-figgy Figs!"

All of you who live far away, you make these recipes, but those who live near me, please just bring me the figs. All of the figgies! Hurry!  

1 smallish sweet potato

5 TBLSP wild rice

1 teaspoon vegan butter

1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced

2 fresh figs, chopped into ½-inch chunks

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

1.     Rinse the sweet potato and poke holes in it with a fork. Wrap it in aluminum foil and bake until tender, between 45 and 60 minutes.

2.     Meanwhile, boil plenty of water, add the wild rice, and boil, covered, until tender, also about 45 to 60 minutes. Drain the rice and put it into your serving bowl.

a.     If you’re going to make a sauce for this, you can do that during this cooking time. I’m using a piccata sauce that I’ve adapted from The Candle Café Cookbook. It’s included below. But it’s fine with no sauce, or with pesto, Alfredo, creamy avocado, Green Goddess—whatever you like!

3.     Heat the butter in a pan and cook the garlic and fig pieces in it over medium heat, stirring often, until the garlic is crispy and the figs are starting to relax, about 3 to 5 minutes.

4.     Free the sweet potato from its aluminum jacket and cut it into 1/2-inch chunks. Put them with the rice and add the figs and garlic to it.

This makes a nice side dish, or you could add nuts, tofu, seitan, or tempeh to it, and make a main dish out of it. Yummy! (You might also stuff a “Field Roast” with it for the holidays, as I originally found this as a chicken-stuffing recipe.)

It’s not quite as yummy with dried figs because it’s sweeter, but it’s still pretty good. You could also do it with ordinary white or brown rice, or Trader Joe’s Rice Medley that has mustard seeds in it.

Piccata Sauce for One

2 TBLSP olive oil

1 shallot, diced

2 TBLSP yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

1 TBLSP capers, drained and chopped (if they’re large ones)

¼ cup dry white wine

1 TBLSP lemon juice

¼ cup water (or veggie broth, if you have a clear, unsalted, light one)

2 teaspoons unbleached flour

1 TBLSP vegan butter

2 TBLSP parsley or cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the shallots, onions, garlic, and capers, and sauté, stirring often, until softened, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the wine and cook until it’s reduced by half, maybe 5 minutes, depending on how high your burner is turned.
3. Whisk in the lemon juice and let it reduce a bit more.
4. Add the water and the flour, and bring it back to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat and simmer for about a minute.
6. Whisk in the butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.

This is a great sauce over seitan steaks, rice, pasta, steamed veggies—just about anything you can think of! It’s just the right combination of sweet and sour, vinegar and spice.

Almond and Fig Cake for One

If you know me at all--even a little bit--you know that I am OBSESSED with figs. I adore them in any way, shape, or form, and I have oodles of recipes from sweet to savory and back again. The fig season is short, and due to a drought this year, we're having an odd one, with trickles of ripe fruit, sudden gluts, and then trickles again. I've decided that for the next week or so, I'm going to put out a LOT of fig recipes (for single servings), but I want to be clear: If you live near me, YOU MUST GIVE ME ALL THE FIGS. These recipes are only for those who live far far away. All the figs in my neck of the woods are mine mine mine. Are we all clear?

Whew.

Okay. Here we go! Today's recipe is a sweet little cake. You could do it up for breakfast, but I like it as a mid-afternoon treat.

2 fresh figs, stemmed

1 1/2 TBLSP ground flax seed

2 TBLSP water

1 tsp lemon zest

¼ cup almond meal (or finely crushed almonds)

2 TBLSP all-purpose flour

1 ½ TBLSP oat flour (just zip some oats in your blender)

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

Dash of salt

Dash of cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg

2 teaspoons maple syrup (or slightly less agave)

2 TBLSP almond milk

1 teaspoon almond oil (you can use canola if you don’t have this one)

1 teaspoon sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line one ramekin with parchment paper. This will be a nice craft project. Or, you could line a muffin tin with a cupcake liner.

1.      Puree the figs in a food processor or blender and scrape the goo into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly, until the puree begins to boil, about 5 minutes. You’ve just made jam! Let it cool, and then refrigerate it. (You can put the hot jam into the cake. The refrigerator is for the left-overs.) 

2.      In a small bowl, let the flax seed and water amalgamate until it’s a gooey mass, about 3 minutes

3.      In another small bowl, combine the zest, almond meal, both flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

4.      Whisk the flax glop, maple syrup, almond milk, and oil together and then add it to the flour mixture, stirring until it’s thoroughly incorporated into a batter.

5.      Fill the ramekin about half-way with batter. Add about 1 TBLSP of the cooled fig puree to the center of the dough and then cover the figginess with the rest of the batter.

6.      Sprinkled sliced almonds on top.

7.      Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. 

Chinese Kickin’ Salad for One

This is a play on Chinese Chicken Salad (the kind you can’t get in China but is all over the rest of the world—I’ve seen it in the US, Germany, Belgium, and France). The dressing is incredibly easy and tasty, and I find myself using it for all kinds of things far beyond this salad.

The Teriyaki Tofu recipe that follows is NOT for a single serving. It’s just not practical to make only one serving’s-worth. The good news is that you can use these little bites in all kinds of creative ways. I keep them in a little sealed container and snack on them—they’ll keep for more than a week unless you chow down on them, like I do. I like to eat all the little bits of garlic and ginger that have been soaking and baking too. You can probably smell my breath from here…

For the Salad:

¾ cup cabbage, chopped or shredded (any color, but I like a mix)

½ carrot, shredded, grated, or sliced

1 green onion

1 very small sweet potato, baked or steamed (optional)

3 artichoke heart quarters, cut in half lengthwise (optional)

¼ cup baked teriyaki tofu (recipe follows)

¼ avocado, sliced lengthwise thinly

1 TBLSP cilantro, chopped finely

1 ½ TBLSP sprouts, bite-sized (pea sprouts, mung bean, or radish)

3 TBLSP crispy noodles

1 tangerine, peeled and segmented

1 TBLSP sunflower seeds

1 TBLSP peanuts

For the Dressing:

1 TBLSP tamari soy sauce (you can use regular, no problem)

1 TBLSP white or yellow miso

1 TBLSP mirin

1 TBLSP rice vinegar

½ teaspoon of garlic powder

¼ teaspoon of ground ginger

1. Layer the salad elements or place them in an appealing pattern in a bowl or plate. Or, you could just toss ‘em all in there, let ‘em fall where they may.
2. Put all the dressing ingredients into a small bowl and whisk, or, better, put them into a sealed container and shake vigorously.
3. Pour the mixed dressing over the salad and devour!

This dressing multiplies easily. Just put equal amounts of the four main ingredients together and adjust the garlic and ginger powders to taste. It goes very nicely on rice or quinoa salads, makes a good marinade for grilled veggies or tofu, and can dress up a boring steamed veg, like corn on the cob.

Teriyaki Tofu (not for One—there will be left-overs)

1 container (14 ounces, or whatever is about a pound) firm tofu

¼ cup tamari or soy sauce

2 TBLSP mirin or sherry

1 TBLSP granulated sugar

1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and minced or put through a garlic press

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced or put through a garlic press

1. Slice the tofu into thin slabs. I like mine about a quarter-inch thick by half an inch wide by two inches long, but do what suits you or your recipe. There will be left-overs after the Chinese Kickin’ Salad.
2. Place the rest of the ingredients (soy sauce, mirin, sugar, ginger, and garlic) in a bowl large enough to hold the tofu and for the tofu to be turned a few times. Stir it all together until the sugar dissolves.
3. Place the tofu slabs in the sauce and turn them a few times to make sure that every side of the tofu is covered. I use my hands, as the tofu is pretty soft and can break easily. If you’re more fastidious than I am, you could use a wooden spoon.
4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for half an hour or longer. Turn the tofu over every 15 minutes. I’ve never left it longer than 3 hours, as the tofu didn’t seem particularly more affected than it had at half an hour. Marinating the tofu makes it form a little skin that you can’t really see, but when you bake it, it stiffens in a way that baking plain tofu doesn’t do.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

1. Place the tofu in a SINGLE layer on a non-stick cookie sheet (not on parchment paper, and don’t grease the sheet unless you want greasy tofu). I do it in neat rows because then I can tell which I’ve turned throughout the cooking process. Feel free to be more wacky than I am.
2. Pour any unabsorbed soy sauce mixture liberally over the tofu. (There will be plenty.)
3. Bake for 20 minutes, and then pull the pan out of the oven and close the oven door. Turn each piece over and return it to the oven. (I use a pair of forks because I find that tongs weren’t delicate enough. Don’t use your hands here, though, okay? It’s hot.) The undersides will be wet and soft and the topsides will be starting to firm up. Some of them may break during this process, as they’re still very soft. Most of them won’t though.
4. Bake for another 15 minutes and then pull the pan out of the oven and close the oven door. Turn each piece over and return it to the oven. Again, the undersides will be wet and soft and the topsides will be starting to firm up.
5. Bake for another 10 minutes and then pull the pan out of the oven and close the oven door. Turn each piece over and return it to the oven. Again, the undersides will be wet and soft and the topsides will be starting to firm up. Yup. That’s the third time and the undersides are still wet! Don’t fret. The key is that when the leftover sauce is pretty much all evaporated, the tofu is most likely done. Until then, keep giving them 10 or 20 minute visits to the hot oven and flipping them over. 
6. Remove them from the oven and let them sit cooling until they’re room temperature. They will be fairly firm on both sides once they’re cooled. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

I use these little bites in wraps, salads, tofu scrambles, and as snacks all by themselves. I find that marinating tofu in anything, from plain soy sauce to salad dressing, and then baking it, has this nice firming effect. Yummy! 

Fig and Squash Soup for One

It’s cold and gray here in San Francisco, a classic weather day for August. (Souvenir shops sell a lot of sweatshirts because tourists don’t realize how far we are from Los Angeles and nobody told them about microclimates.) Luckily for me, my dear friend gave me a huge pile of fresh figs so I could make this lovely soup to warm up!

1 TBLSP sesame oil

¼ yellow onion, diced

1 teaspoon garum masala (you could also use curry powder)

1 cup squash, peeled and cubed (I used butternut, but banana, acorn, or pumpkin would all do nicely)

½ teaspoon fresh ginger, diced

2 fresh figs, chopped

½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice (about one slice’s worth)

½ cup water

½ cup almond milk (soy or coconut milk will also do)

Salt, to taste

1. In a small soup pot, sauté the onion in the sesame oil until it’s soft. It doesn’t have to be all the way cooked through. Add the garum masala, stirring to make a paste with the pan liquids.
2. Add the squash, ginger, figs, lemon juice, and water, and boil until the pumpkin is soft. Everything will relax into a nice lumpy mush.
3. Puree with an immersion blender or pour it into a blender or food processor, and blend until nearly smooth. You might like some chunks. It’s your choice. Return to the pan, if necessary, add the milk and salt, and reheat.

Serve with bread and a salad for a yummy main course. 

Brussels Sprouts Coleslaw for One

For the Salad:

¾ cup raw Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, shredded (about 5 sprouts)

2 radishes, sliced thin

¼ green apple, sliced into thin strips (I love Grannysmith for this)

1 large green onion, sliced thin

1 TBLSP raw unsalted sunflower seeds

For the Dressing:

1/8 teaspoon dried tarragon (fresh is even better)

1 TBLSP Veganaise (or any mayo of your choice)

A slosh of apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a small bowl.
2. Then mix all the dressing ingredients together. Plop the dressing into the slaw and stir gently until the dressing is evenly distributed.

The bottom photo uses the slaw as a side dish for Fig Linguini. Yummy!

Sweet Potato Chips for One

Everyone likes a little salty crunch with their lunch. Try these simple chips for a tasty treat! They’re fast and easy, and you can switch them up and try it with zucchini, carrots—even kale! The top photo is about half of a very large white sweet potato and the bottom photo is three small red ones. 

3 small sweet potatoes or one large

2 TBLSP olive oil

Garlic powder (cayenne pepper is another option)

salt

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick foil.

1. Slice sweet potato(s) about the thickness of a quarter. I used a mandolin so I’m sure they’re all the same thickness, but if your knife skills are better than mine…It’s important that they’re all the same thickness so that they’ll all cook at the same speed.
2. Place the slices on a sheet of paper towel and press another paper towel on top of them. You want to squeeze out a little liquid so that they’ll cook a bit faster and to increase the crunch factor.
3. Lay the slices on the prepared baking sheet. Place them tightly next to each other, making sure not to overlap them.
4. Pour oil in small bowl and with a pastry brush or your fingertips, lightly brush the olive oil on each slice.
5. Sprinkle with salt, using LESS than seems right. These shrink in the oven and so the saltiness will increase. You can always add more later. Sprinkle them lightly with garlic powder (or cayenne pepper). I like to do one baking sheet of just plain salt and one of both garlic powder and salt. Yum. My kitchen smells fabulous!
6. Bake for 45 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets 160 degrees and bake an additional 40-50 minutes, until they start to brown and are crisp. Watch them, because suddenly, they burn, after a long time of just sizzling.

Let them cool before serving. But don’t wait too long! They’re best eaten within a couple of hours of baking, or they start softening up. 

Joyful Almond Cookie for One

This substantial cookie is reminiscent of an Almond Joy candy bar. You can shape it like a cookie, or, you can shape it like a candy bar and melt a few chocolate chips on the top. In one batch, instead of stuffing a third cookie, I sprinkled the left-over filling on top and studded with chocolate chips. Yummy!

Filling:

4 TBLSP dried unsweetened coconut

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 teaspoon maple syrup

Dash of vanilla extract

Pinch salt 

Cookie:

1 ½ TBLSP ground flax seed

2 TBLSP water

1 ½ TBLSP coconut oil

1 TBLSP almond butter

¼ teaspoon almond extract

2 TBLSP maple syrup (or 1 ½ TBLSP agave nectar instead—agave is sweeter)

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 TBLSP unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

10 whole almonds, toasted and chopped roughly

1 TBLSP chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. Put the flax seed and the water in a small bowl to think about becoming egg-like.
2. Put all of the filling ingredients (coconut, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt) into a blender and whirl until it’s a smoothish mass. With so few ingredients, it’s isn’t going to blend all the way smooth, and plan to spend a lot of time scraping down the sides.
3. Now, make the cookie. In a small bowl, combine the coconut oil, nut butter, vanilla, and maple syrup. By the time you’re finished mixing it up, your flax seeds should be pretty viscous. Mix them in too.
4. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and stir until just combined.
5. Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared baking sheet and flatten into two gigantic pancakes or three mere-mortal-sized ones. Sprinkle the toasted almonds in a neat pile in the center.
6. Divide the filling evenly among the cookies, squeezing and shaping it into an oval or rectangle. Try to get it as tightly squeezed as possible, to make wrapping it easier. Then plop the filling into the center of cookie, on top of the almonds. fold the surrounding pancake up around it. Once the filling is mostly encapsulated, you can pick the pancakes up and roll them into balls between your hands or compress them into a boxy kind of shape on the parchment paper. Make sure the thing is sealed well. Press the chocolate chips into the top if you’re going that route.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet or they will crumble!

Green Goddess Dressing for One

This unctuous and liquescent sauce will predispose you toward gratuitous and superfluous polysyllables without apparent foundation. You won’t need much of this creamy richness, and you’ll love the color as much as the texture and taste.

I find it useful on starches (like rice, quinoa, and noodles) as well as on steamed veggies, salads, and as the secret sauce on my bean burgers.  

1 small garlic clove

1/3 of an avocado

1 ½ teaspoons water

6 fresh basil leaves

3 sprigs of fresh parsley, stems and all

1 green onion (dark green part only, not white)

2 teaspoons tahini

3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

Pinch of kosher salt

Dollop of maple syrup or agave

(optional slosh of olive oil)

1. Process the garlic clove in a food processor or blender until finely chopped.
2. Add in the avocado, water, basil, parsley, onion, tahini, and vinegar or lemon juice. Process until smooth.
3. Add salt and pepper and just a slosh of sweetener.  
4. If it’s too tart for you, try adding more tahini, water, or a slosh of olive oil.

This beautifully green dressing is good cold on salads or as a dip for crudités, but I love it over quinoa and steamed vegetables, perhaps with a bit of veggie burger crumbled over the top. 

The upper photo is quinoa with zucchini, sweet potato, red onion, and crumbled Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Barley Burger that had a bit of vegan mozzarella melted on it.

The lower photo is mixed greens, carrots, radishes, jicama, green onion, pear, Kalamata olives, and leftover Quinoa, Sweet Potato, and BarleyBurger.