Vegan Moroccan Carrot Salad

This is one of my favourite summer staples as you can enjoy it alone, or add it as a topping to other salads, stir it into a bowl of hot quinoa or put a hearty scoop into a wrap for a burrito. Crazy versatile, and keeps in the fridge for over a week in a resealable container (we use those glass ones with the super clippy lids).

You'll want a food processor to make this, one that has a 'shred' setting or else (and trust me on this!) you'll be very, very sick of hand-shredding carrots by the end of this.

THE SALAD

• 1 lb of carrots, scrubbed and top/tailed. No need to peel if you use a firm bristled scrubbing brush, like I do. Peels are good for you! 
• 1 cup of fresh dill, minced. 
• 6 parnoosh dates, pitted and diced. 
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, diced. 
• 1/4 cup raisins (you can also use dried cranberries, diced dried apriots...you get the picture!) 
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

Shred all the carrots in the food processor and toss with the dried fruits and the dill. You'll want a very large bowl for this part. 

THE DRESSING

• 1T or more of cumin (see, I love cumin so I'll add a ton of it. I probably use closer to 2T but that's just my taste)
• 1/2 T red chili flakes
• 1tsp or so ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

combine all the ingredients and mix really well; you'll want to maybe let the dressing sit for an hour or so to combine the flavours well before mixing into the salad. 

Hardest part of making this? Not eating the rest of the packet of dates, thereby ensuring you're not hungry for dinner when you're done making the salad. Ooops...

Lemon Dill Roasted Mushrooms.

While the name says it all, it doesn't take into account the tangy savoury chewy awesomeness in a casserole dish that this engendered. This was a super successful experiment!

What I used:

a pound of whole cremini mushrooms, srubbed and quartered.
1 lemon, scrubbed very well and sliced into rings
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T Braggs
2 T veggie broth
3T of dill
1T minced garlic
1T pine nuts
sprinkle of rosemary
ground black pepper (to taste)

combine and marinate overnight in a tightly sealed container.

Transfer to a 8" round casserole dish with a lid, add another 1/2 cup or so of veggie broth and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Serve over quinoa or brown rice to take advantage of the amazing sauce!