Whew!

Turns out, I'm a bit anxious with the trigger finger when taking pictures, and I sometimes don't let my camera finish before changing settings....thus I corrupted the memory card. OOPS!

After much head scratching and backing AWAY from the computer, I was able to recover the pictures and reformat the disc so that I could share with you this...

Tonight's brainchild....Sesa-not-so-much-usually-for-me Bean Sprout Salad. Ya see, I'm that girl who, when finding the ingredients include tahini or sesame oil, deflates a little bit because I always think that the end result is overpowered by the sesame flavor and find that it's all I can taste. If my tastebuds were fans of this flavor, that would be great! But alas, they typically respond with, "blech!". I can tolerate tahini things but don't crave or truly embrace them usually. Actually, when a recipe calls for tahini I will often substitute cashew butter (yum!), and when it calls for sesame oil, I'll use just about anything but.

But tonight I wanted something asian inspired, and I wanted to use the sprouts I'd bought recently (a mix of mostly mung, some adzuki, and some lentil). I remembered a dressing I'd tweaked in the past and absolutely LOVED (granted, I'd subbed some oil or another for the sesame), and thought it might work in the salad that was already being conjured up in my brain.

Armed with a 'maybe it was just the sesame oil I was using before that I didn't like' attitude, I picked up a new, small bottle at the store while out, and rushed home to get a'mixin. Here's what I dreamed up:

Sesa-not-so-much-usually-for-me Bean Sprout Salad
(I'm totally open to suggestions for less....complicated names :)

Dressing:
1/2 c. veganaise
5 Tbs. rice vinegar
2 Tbs. sesame oil
2 Tbs. sugar (or your favorite sweeter equivalent, next time I'm gonna use agave)
1 Tbs. low sodium tamari
1 clove garlic, crushed

Mix in blender until smoothe. (This will make a ton. It almost fills my little salad dressing cruet, but you can then use it however you please in your own creations! Or, cut it down as you'll only need about 3 Tbs of it for the salad).

Salad:
Approx. 8 oz. fresh sprouts
1 med. carrot, grated,
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, minced
1/8 red onion, minced
3-4 scallions, chopped
(basically, you can throw in whatever veggies you'd like, but this is what I had on hand and I loved the combo of flavors, it was really about the sprouts standing out more than anything)

If you sprout your own (I so want to do this!) or know that your sprouts are organic, go ahead and just mix it all up and enjoy! Since mine are bought at my local grocer, I blanche mine for about a min. and a half in water that's at a rolling boil, then rinse and cool in cold water before tossing with the veggies and about 3 Tbs. of dressing.

This dressing is reeeally thin. I've used it to make a tempeh salad before, and that works really well, too. I liked the sesame flavor. It's really subtle but there. It doesn't over power the sprouts or veggies and it doesn't hide out either. Perfect, and just what I was hoping for! Maybe it really was the brand that turned me off...tho, that doesn't explain my tahini aversion...hmmmm.

On a totally unrelated note, I woke up this morning craving Dreena's Avacado Cashew Sauce from Vive le Vegan. If you haven't made this one yet? DO IT! It's rather addictive. I woke up this morning, threw it quickly together in the food processor...
and promptly treated myself to a late brunch burrito. I'm sorry to say that I didn't have any leftover burritos that I'd made myself (her chipotle veggie burritos that I think are also from Vive are one of my MOST favorite tasting burritos), but that was probably just as well, as Amy's non-dairy variety are filling and tasty but not at all spicy, and spice is something I'm still having to avoid right now.

I topped the burrito with a healthy heaping of the avacado sauce and a dot of Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream (for the artsy possibilities, mostly :) and chopped up a lone tomato that would have gone to waste (since I've been avoiding them as well) then tossed in a couple blue corn chips to help scrape up the last little bits.

The remaining avacado sauce will make a wonderful dip for come corn chips while watching the game tomorrow. YUM!