Listening and Vegetables

Contrary to a few posts that may indicate I haven't been opposed to vegetables lately, let me just tell you: I have been opposed to vegetables over the past month. I just haven't wanted any. At all. Yes, there was the Cobb salad, but let's face it--there are practically no greens in that "salad." And there was a sandwich with sprouts and cucumbers, but the proportion of green vegetables to other ingredients (cheese, bread, mayonnaise) was slim. Beyond these posts, I've been eating only pizza or sandwiches or candy or eggs and bacon. And no vegetables at all.

As payback, I haven't been feeling great lately. Not sick, just meh. Nothing's been sitting in my stomach right, and I've been exhausted. The heat did me in this weekend. We were up to 95 degrees F (102 on some thermometers), and I finally had no other choice than to listen to my body crying (whimpering at this point) for vegetables.

Since I caved, there have been a lot of salads in the past few days, not really special recipe salads, just regular salads: heirloom tomato, mozzarella, tofu & arugula; spring mix, mandarin oranges, tofu, artichoke hearts, avocado, olives; tomato, cucumber, arugula & bleu cheese. They all do the trick.

This was the salad I made for lunch today: Cabbage Peanut Salad from Look! I Made That. I forgot a lot of ingredients as I was making it before work today, I changed it a little, and I'll change it a little more the next time I make it. What follows is what will be the whole recipe the next time:

Peanut Dressing
1/3 c. peanut oil
1/4 c. rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/3 c. peanut butter
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. minced ginger
3 grated garlic clovers
1 finely minced jalapeno

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Salad
1/2 head small green cabbage, thinly sliced (I need to work on my thin slicing)
1/2 head small red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 red or green bell peppers, thinly sliced
6 green onions, sliced
1/2 c. packed cilantro, roughly chopped
Handful of shitake mushrooms, re-hydrated and sliced
3/4 c. chopped extra firm tofu, pan-fried in walnut oil and ginger
1/2 c. roasted peanuts

Toss all of the vegetables and fungi together. Drizzle peanut dressing over the vegetables and toss again. Top with tofu and peanuts.