The stories of the last few weeks, Part II, Avocado "Buttermilk" Dressing and Spinach Salad

I like thumbing through Mari's vegetarian cookbooks. There's lots of great ideas in them, and things that i feel challenged to veganize. One that caught my attention in particular was Avocado Buttermilk Dressing.

My god, that sounded so good. Immediately I thought of something rich and creamy and a pretty shade of green... I wanted to make it, but not with actual buttermilk. So, I poked around the internet for a while about how to make vegan mayo. The answers were pretty uniform, involving soy milk, safflower oil (for some reason, it's the only one that properly thickens), acid of some kind, a pinch of salt, and a tiny bit of sweetener, be it agave or brown rice syrup, or in my case just a pinch of organic sugar.

And into the food processor went about 3/4 cup of soy milk, about 1/2 cup of safflower oil, 2 Tbsp of cashews, 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, a pinch of sugar, salt to taste, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, garlic powder and an avocado. It was exactly as I thought it would be, rich, delicious, and the most perfect shade of green!


Avocado and spinach leaves (the only leafy green in my crisper drawer) got me thinking about bacon, and the things that are good about it- namely the smoky, salty goodness. I recreated said goodness with white onions and walnuts sauteéd in olive oil with salt and lots of smoked paprika. Here the onions get a turn in the pan:


I topped off the salad with a few little bits from our rowdy green onion garden we have going on the windowsill above the sink:


It came out pretty delicious, though the dressing (as previously mentioned) is very rich! I think it would make an awesome spread on a sandwich, maybe with tomatoes and some crisp tempeh or tofu. The photo of the salad is regrettably blurry and for that, I apologize.