I spent most of yesterday in the kitchen, but WOW:

I was pretty impressed with myself!  I made 3 salads and tofu. 

I went to the Dekalb Farmers Market earlier this week so I had a lot of fresh produce I wanted to use.

1) Kale Waldorf Salad
I found this recipe on WholeFood's website.  They have a fabulous recipe collection.  I typed in vegan and gluten free - 377 recipes appeared.  I read through those and saved the ones that sounded good in my recipe box on WF's website.
Here is the recipe:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=2853  
The walnuts I bought just did not smell right to me.  So, I substituted cashews for the walnuts in the dressing.  In the salad I put in pistachios instead of the walnuts. I think I will continue to make it that way.  I loved the sweet, crunchy, yet slightly spicy from the dijon mustard taste.  And, taste testers response - Chad said he was most scared of this recipe - yes he said "scared" but to our surprise, he loved it and had 2 servings.  S enjoyed it and Ry would not try it.  I ate 2 servings and finished the rest of it today.  Loved this recipe!

2) Zucchini Pasta
This is from Whole Living.  It appealed to me because it looked easy and I like to try "raw" recipes (which the waldorf salad above was raw as well!)
Here is the recipe link:
http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/zucchini-pasta

I made a few changes.  Again,  I had to replace the walnuts, so I did almonds instead.  I chopped the nuts in half.  I also used 2 zucchinis.  I am trying to add more Omega 3 in my diet, so I used flax seed oil instead of the olive oil it called for.  I only used 1.5 TBS of oil instead of 2.  I also tried elephant garlic which has a milder taste.   Chad and I both liked it - the garlic was too much for me.  It will be awhile until I make this one again, Waldorf was much better.  The girls did not try this one!

3)Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango
This one is from my new found favorite website theppk.com
Here is the recipe: http://www.theppk.com/2010/04/quinoa-salad-with-black-beans-mango/

Another great quinoa recipe!  It was missing a little kick that Chad and I like.  I added double the red wine vinegar.  But we felt it needed just a hint more spice - salt and pepper helped.  Maybe chop up a little jalapeno?  Overall though it was a good salad and I will make this one again.  S tried and liked.  Ry did not try.  (Are you spotting another trend?) 

Lastly - I marinaded firm tofu, after pressing out all the water.  I smeared a little tahini on each piece of tofu, then drizzled gluten free soy sauce over each piece.  Then put cilantro leaves on top.  The tofu marinaded for a couple of hours.  Then I baked them in the toaster oven  - no precision here, I just checked on them every ten minutes.  Then I broiled them for a couple of minutes. They turned out great. AND, Ry's plate now just consisted of some of Chad's chicken, and to make me feel better a piece of tofu.  Well, she did not like the chicken and ate all the tofu!  Unfortunately she wanted more, but I had polished off the last of the tofu.  We made a special trip to the store today to get more tofu so I can finally make her a tofu she enjoys!

NOTE - All of these recipes are VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE!  And, the first 2 are RAW!