Lunch

Hi friends. I hope you had a great weekend and your week is off to a great start. I took the weekend to disconnect from the computer a bit so that’s the reason I haven’t posted in a few days. I actually traveled “home” to visit with my family on Friday/Saturday, which was lovely. On Sunday I watched one of Isaac’s frisbee games and did a food prep for the week – including the recipe for “chicken” salad I’m sharing today and black bean burgers, which I’ll share the recipe for soon.

Here’s a little back story on today’s recipe -

One of friends mentioned that she LOVES the Vegan Chicken Salad from the Whole Foods prepared foods section but it hasn’t been there in a few months. I decided to recreate it so she can make it at home. As it turns out, there are two different types of Vegan Chicken Salad served at Whole Foods – one that uses soy “chicken” nuggets as the base and one that uses tofu. The tofu version seemed lighter and healthier so I went that route, hopefully it’s the one my friend likes.

I’ve never had the vegan chicken salad from WF but the result of my creation was a delicious tofu salad that has a savory flavor and nice crunch! I even had two meat eating guys try the chicken salad and they both said it was great so if you’re up for trying something new, give this recipe a try because it’s tasty. And on a nutrition note, the salad is pretty healthy – it has a good amount of protein, veggies and only a small amount of oil – no mayo needed.

The recipe makes quite a few servings so you could easily make a batch and have it for lunch over several days. I enjoyed it served on a bed of greens with some additional veggies but you could easily put it between two slices of bread or stuff it into a pita as well. Although, if I were going to put it on a sandwich, I’d probably add a little hummus or mustard to the bread for a little extra moisture.

Vegan “Chicken” Salad

Ingredients

• 1 lb extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
• 1 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 cup finely chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup silvered blanched almonds
• Juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
• 2 Tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos (reduced sodium soy sauce or tamari would work too)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• black pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Crumble tofu into small pieces in a medium to large size bowl.
2. Mix celery, green onion and almond with tofu.
3. Mix lemon juice, liquid aminos, olive oil, garlic powder together in a small bowl.
4. Add liquid to the tofu mixture and stir well to combine.
5. Sprinkle on black pepper.

Have you had either version of Vegan Chicken Salad from Whole Foods? Which do you like better?

Help me out by trying this recipe and telling me if it’s just as good.

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