Thai Mango Salad with Grilled Tofu

There definitely isn't enough room in my fridge for all the gread produce that creeps into the supermarkets during the summer season! One of my all time favourites is the mango and it somehow seems to be gaining popularity. I grew up sucking on the seeds of the mango over the kitchen sink...boy that was messy. Now I like my mangos in a nice salad. A salad that I've really enjoyed is a Thai Mango and Peanut Salad which I will share with you below. Throw on some grilled tofu and you have a healthy protein filled meal!

Thai Mango and Peanut Salad with Grilled Tofu

The Salad:
2 Firm Mangoes, Sliced

1 Red Bell Peper, Sliced
1 cup Carrots, Grated

4 cups Lettuce

1/2 cup Green Onion, Chopped

2 tbsp Mint, Chopped

2 tbsp Cilantro, Chopped

1/2 cup Peanuts, Chopped and Roasted (you can roast these in a skillet over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes).

The Dressing:

1/4 cup Olive Oil (or veg oil)

1 tsp Lime Rind, Grated

2 tbsp Lime Juice

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Jalapeno, Minced

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

The Tofu:
1 Block of Extra Firm Tofu, Sliced.

Marinade to cover Tofu

Marinate the tofu slices the night before you plan to cook it in either some of the above dressing or any other salad dressing. Balsamic vinegar works well. You can also use BBQ sauce for that sweet and tangy flavour. I like to marinate for a while so the flavours really get in to the tofu. Then just grill the tofu, it's so simple. Throw some of the grilled tofu over the salad and you have a great, healthy meal! A serving of the salad with tofu has about 17 g protein and 25 g carbs.

You can scroll back through for tips on changing the texture of tofu. I like to buy the extra firm tofu. I drain the liquid, cover the tofu in paper towel and put a weight on it to get out a little more of the moisture. Gives the tofu a more dense texture.

Get Creative with Your Salads - Here's a Start

I love a good salad loaded with veggies and nutrients. I won't lie though, every once in a while I could use some help with being more creative with salad choices. One night out I noticed an interesting salad option on the menu containing roasted vegetables. I was intrigued, I don't usually think of roasted vegetables served on a bed of mixed greens or baby spinach. Anywho, I ordered my standby dish but kept the idea in my head so that someday I could venture out and explore roasted vegetable ideas for salads. Another night, my refrigerator was a bit lean but I did have green beans and sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes have long been praised for their dietary fiber and complex carbohydrate content so they seemed like a good choice. Green beans are loaded with nutrients and are a low calorie option. I kind of took it all and rolled with it and came up with a delicious roasted sweet potatoe and green bean salad. What do you think?

Green Bean and Sweet Potato Salad

2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

2 cups cooked green beans

1/4 cup walnuts

Salad greens (I used baby spinach)

Line a cookie sheet with foil, layer sweet potato and red onion. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven at 450 for about 20 minutes (or until tender). Add the walnuts and green beans and roast for another 5 minutes. Remove veggies from oven and serve over greens. This can be warm, room temperature, cold. The roasted veggies last well for a few days.

My favourite dressing option:

My dressing of choice was a tzatziki like dressing using non-fat greek yogurt, garlic and vinegar. Mix together 1 cup of yogurt, 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar. You can use less garlic if you don't like a potent garlic flavour like me! The dressing lasts for a while and can be used as a dip with crudite or even with pita bread, yum!

The whole thing - approximately 10g protein and 47g carbs. A little higher on the carbs, but complex carbs and whole foods are a good thing. Lighten up on carbs at your next meal, this is worth a shot.

A Dinner of Covenience

Once again, Morningstar Farms saved my evening. I rolled in to the apartment so hungry at about 8:45pm. Not the best time to start cooking something elaborate. But it's pretty simple to pop a few veggie burgers in the oven and make a meal out of it! My favourite veggie burger is the Morningstar Farms spicy black bean burger. Heat it up in the oven and top it with a little cheddar and some salsa, it's delicious. And...here's the kicker...if you skip the bun you can double up on the burgers and still have a relatively low calorie meal. This double burger meal with a side salad was so filling, I couldn't finish it. The entire plate contents rang in well under 500 calories (according to my internet calorie sources). Can you believe it???



I like to pair up my high protein burgers with a good side salad. This one had lettuce, sprouts, carrots, red onion, green pepper, cucumber and was topped with a few almond accents. I love a good salad, always very refreshing and it makes your insides feel healthy, you know that feeling, don't you?! But who enjoys chopping up all those veggies, especially if you just want a salad for one. Well, here's my tip. I keep a "salad bar" in my refrigerator. When I get back from the supermarket, I take an extra 20 minutes when putting stuff away to chop! Containers of pre-chopped veggies fill the fridge so that when I'm up for a salad I can just pick what I am in the mood for and be ready to eat in less than 10 minutes. Trust me, it's worth it and you'll be eating more veggies in no time! Once I started keeping everything pre-chopped, I noticed I was throwing out a whole lot less of rotten smelly veggies, yes this was very wasteful I know! I'm getting better. Anyway another delicious and very quick dinner idea I'm happy to share with others. I hope you try it out! And of course, the counts: approximately 32g of protein and 46g of carbs. That's a great ratio!