Snack Plates, Salads, & Soup

Now that most of my friends and I are fully vaccinated, we're having more and more get-togethers, and it's been amazing! My friend Susan invited me over for White Claws and snacks after work last Thursday. It was the first time I'd seen her (except in passing on the Greenline) in a year! She made this lovely snack plate with Miyoko cheeses, vegan deli slices, vegan chicken salad, vegan pepperoni jerky, crackers, grapes, and dark chocolate. We sat on her back porch while her two dogs played in the yard. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been eating lots of bowls and salads since we returned from camping. Just trying to get some healthy habits back. Here are a couple recent salads. This one has an oil-free vegan Caesar dressing from Dreena Burton's Plant-Powered Dressings e-book. Those little puffs are Simple Truth Chickpea Puff Salad Toppers. I love a fun, crunchy salad topper! This also has carrots, tomato, cucumber, green olives, pickled beets, chickpeas, and sunflower sprouts.

This salad has roasted chickpeas (homemade, not the chickpea puffs), broccoli, vegan cheese shreds, bell pepper, carrots, dried cranberries, and cashew ranch.

I've been working on chakra balancing since mid-last year, starting from the root and working my way up. With each chakra I focus on, I make the corresponding chakra soup from Sahara Rose's Eat Feel Fresh cookbook. I'm finally on the crown chakra so I made her Crown Chakra Soup a couple weeks back. This is made with roasted beets and cashews for a creamy borscht-like soup. It's topped with cashew cream.