Salad, Salad, Salad!

   So I'm pretty much settled at the new pad, aka apartment, aka house.  I know it's not a house, but for some reason I can't stop saying house when referring to my apartment.  Weird, I know, but everyone else seems to accept it, so I think it's time you should too.  Ha.  Okay, moving on.
  This week, and last week I've been pretty much living off of salads, which is fine by me as I LOVE salad!  I get really creative and put all kinds of things in my salads.  I also get creative with the dressings that I make.  My mom makes a mean vinaigrette and I love when she makes extra for me.  This week I got a little crazy (and lazy) and was dressing my salad with a mixture of Salsa and Dijon mustard- my two favorite condiments in the world.  And can I just say that they have been the yummiest salads?  Don't knock that combo until you've tried it.  So good!
   Anyway, this brings me to tonight's dinner.  Originally, I was planning on grabbing a vegan pizza and making a side salad. (Hey don't judge me, it's Friday!) But when I got to the store I saw some gorgeous baby bok choy staring at me so I snatched those up instead.  I was feeling like something 'cooked' so this was the perfect start.

image courtesy of userealbutter.com (the name is unfortunate)

    Back at home, after rummaging through my fridge, I pulled out a sweet potato and a red pepper (the rest in my fridge is greens - seriously) and got to work.  I washed the sweet potato and red pepper and then cut them up into 1 inch pieces.  After tossing them in olive oil I put the sweet potato in a baking dish with garlic (I used a microplane), oregano, turmeric, (cause it's good for you - and makes everything yellow!) salt and pepper.  I set the red pepper aside and baked the sweet potatoes for about 20min.  I added the red peppers back at this point and baked for an additional 30min.

   Meanwhile, I washed the Bok Choy and separated the stems from the leafy greens - you don't have to do this, but I prefer it this way.  I heated up a saute pan on medium heat and added olive oil (1 tbs) and garlic (finely chopped, or microplaned <-- if that's not a word, it is now!).  After about a minute I added the stems to the pan and a splash of Tamari.  I steamed it for a few minutes with the lid on until the stems became a bit soft.  Then I added the greens and another tiny splash of Tamari, stirred it and replaced the lid.  After a minute or two the greens were done.  I took it off the heat, added the juice of half a lemon and a sprinkling of Gomasio (toasted sesame seeds and sea salt).  Perfect... and time to plate!
   I always like to have something raw at every meal and even though I was craving a cooked dinner, this meal was no different.  So, in the fridge I went pulling out some baby spinach and broccoli sprouts.  I layered my plate with spinach, sprouts, bok choy, sweet potatoes, and red peppers.  I topped it off with some of the juice from the bok choy and (as always) some hemp seeds and nutritional yeast.  And, if I do say so myself, this was the BEST dinner I've had in a week (or two)! Ha.  Even though it was still just another SALAD! Ha. 
   Anyway, if you're wondering where the pictures are, well, they're on the camera.  My camera broke about a month ago so I've been using my old one, which now belongs to my mom, who's kindly letting me borrow it.  However, all the hardware is at her house so I have no means of uploading any pictures to my laptop. *sigh*  I did take pictures and will add them to this post as soon as I get my hands on the proper cables.  For now, you will have to take my word that the meal looked as delicious as it sounds (at least I hope it sounds delicious, cause it totally was!).

***Update - Feb. 19, 2012***

I finally got the cables to the camera! Woohoo!  Here's a picture of the yummy dinner I had.  And yes, if you're wondering, I do like to glob on nutritional yeast whenever I get the chance!

Happy cooking!
Love,
Ves xx

Ps:  I'm so sorry it's been so long between posts!  I'm constantly hoping that I'll miraculously have enough time in the day to accomplish all the things that I want to.  Of course, that never happens!  It turns out that when you live on your own you actually have more responsibilities (duh) and more things to do (not less).  I think I've been living in la-la land for too long.  I'll get it together soon (I hope).