Sea Veg Salad, Scones, and Soap!

The last few days were plenty busy. We avoided the crowds and skipped fireworks. I know, not very patriotic, but it was relatively stormy in Boston yesterday anyway. My town has fireworks for its Founder's Day festival in June, so it feels like we just saw fireworks not that long ago.

Anyway, I finally decided to brave making the sea vegetable salad I like to order at my favorite restaurant. First, I boiled the arame and hiziki in water. While that was cooking, I mixed up the carrot ginger miso dressing. It is definitely not the same dressing I get at the restaurant as this was creamy with silken tofu.

The recipe came from a group on Yahoo that I frequent. The credit says, "From an old Cooking Light magazine." Here it is, in case you want to try it.

Tofu Carrot Ginger Miso Dressing
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup silken tofu
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons yellow miso
2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove, crushed

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor; process until smooth.

It is really good and low fat. I drained and sauteed the sea vegetables for a few minutes after they had softened. The salad is greens and carrots with the sea veggies. I've been adding a sprinkle of toasted sesame oil to these salads. Last night I was lazy and had not cooked up brown rice yet. Today, I have brown rice to mix with my lunch salad. At the restaurant the dressing is ginger miso (not tofu) and they serve wood grilled tofu and brown rice with the salad.

This dressing is addicting, it reminds me of the orange carrot ginger dressing you get on salads at a Japanese restaurant, except creamier.

Also during the holiday, I had to use up the fresh currants I purchased at the farm while strawberry picking. I found a currant scone recipe while flipping through Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. (This cookbook was a clearance find at a local bookstore a few months ago.) The recipe wasn't vegan, but did have directions to veganize. They were kind of funny actually. It called for yogurt or whey, but said to substitute water and lemon juice for a vegan scone. I just used soy yogurt. The scones look pretty and I love the way the pastry tastes, but I am not a fan of the currants. The fresh currants are very tart, almost like cranberries. I probably should have added more sugar to the recipe. Most of the scones are in the freezer, don't worry I will eventually devour all of them.

Lastly, yesterday I cut up my mojito soap. The soap is made with olive oil, palm oil, and coconut oil. Then I "super fatted" it with mango butter for some extra moisturizing. It is scented with spearmint, bay rum, peru balsam, and lime essential oils. It smells very fresh and I'm looking forward to when it is usable. In the picture, you can see I dipped the cut bars in dried spearmint leaves. This needs to cure for at least 4 weeks while the saponification reaction continues.