A Caesar Salad Story (But it requires croutons!)

SALAD...

What can I say about salad?  It's healthy and I love it.  It's literally my "go-to" meal when I'm feeling lazy.  There's nothing more "Fast Food" than salad.  You may have to do a bit of preparation upfront, but it all pays off in the end.

My favorite go-to lettuce is romaine.  It HAS to be organic and it HAS to be green and thick.  If it's not those things combined, then I feel like I'm eating nothing. Romaine has several vitamins and minerals in it, including Vitamin A, B-Vitamins, Vitamin C, and Vitamin K.  Romaine lettuce also has protein, calcium, iron, oxalic acid, and omega-3.  Google it and you'll be pleasantly surprised regarding its nutritional composition.

Now, as I continue to blog, you will see that I really enjoy salads and salad dressings.  Not all of my salads are "fat free" by far, but they sure aren't bad for you or not tasty.  I LOVE them!  Yes, love them; love them!  Today's option is something that I never get sick of eating.  I am actually forced to stop when I run out of my homemade croutons (Recipe coming at a later date).  I should let you know that I make a delicious raw agave-spelt bread.  It's not gluten-free, but it's not highly acidic either.  I mix organic bread flour in it at a ration of 60 to 40 spelt or at a ratio of 40 to 60 bread flour, depending upon how soft I want the bread to be.  When I make croutons, I use more spelt than bread flour.  This was indeed a digression, but I love my croutons all the same.  The spelt helps lower the acidity of the wheat-based bread flour.  I started doing this because I thought I was gluten-intolerant for a while, but I was able to eat this mixture with no problem.  Finally, I cleaned out my body and I haven't had a problem since.  That was another digression, now back to the salad...

I am a vegetarian and I am moving into a vegan life-style, therefore, I am seeking to avoid all egg and dairy products at the moment.  I am in love with a vegetarian Caesar dressing, but I had to find a vegan version, which I did at Food.com.  Here is the original version of the dressing I use:

Original recipe from the Food.com site: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-caesar-salad-dressing-143126?scaleto=12&mode=null&st=true&oc=linkback

I've only changed four things in the original version of the recipe.  First, I scaled the recipe for 12 servings.  It's not worth my while to make a few servings.  I want it to last a week.  Next, I use Bragg's Amino acid in the place of the soy sauce.  Then, I add an additional ingredient, a dash of sea water.  Lastly, when I make my almond milk, I use the leftover pulp for the paste; however, if I am in a hurry, I use veggie Parmesan from the Galaxy Foods (http://www.galaxyfoods.com/galaxy-products/vegan/) brand.  Now, this is expensive, but muy delicioso!  Now, I am a fan of both Galaxy and Daiya vegan products at the present, but should I discover something I don't like about them, I'll let you know.  At present, I am continuing my work on refining my homemade cheddar and mozzarella cheeses and sauces.  Right now, the only vegan cheese I make that I like is the pimento cheese spread (Recipe coming at a later date).  Yep, tastes the same to me.  I truly hate to compromise flavor.

Well, to make the salad, simply wash and cut up some Romaine lettuce.  I usually do this ahead of time, which makes this truly fast food. (If you have a machine that vacuums out the air of mason jars, then you could wash and cut up your romaine salad, put it in a spinner and spin until dry, stuff into a WIDE-mouth mason jar, put the first lid on, vacuum seal it, put the surrounding lid on it, and refrigerate.  This keeps very well for about 10 days.  I may blog about this one day.)  I eat about three to four cups (a whole mason jar) of salad at a time.  Place the romaine in a bowl, sprinkle the homemade croutons on it to your desire, then pour the salad dressing on it as desired.  My husband likes only a little dressing, while I love a lot. Grind some Monk's pepper (I use Monk's pepper/Chaste Berry Tree Tea in place of peppercorns)  on top. Toss.  Voila!  Done!!! You may now eat! You have a vegan Caesar that will rival just about any anchovy-based version.  Enjoy!

Picture of my Vegan Caesar Salad

Now, at times I'll add some oven-baked or fried meat-substitute to the salad to make it more substantial, if I'm REALLY hungry, but oftentimes, I just eat it with the croutons.  That's what I had last night.  I think I just made myself hungry enough to have some more today.  

Leave me a comment if you loved the recipe or have found something else adds better flavor.  Experimenting with recipes is one of my biggest joys. Somehow, I feel like a mad-kitchen scientist when I'm doing it.  The only thing, I lack the white jacket and goggles. LOL!