No-greens salad: who needs leaves?

I fall in and out of love with the standard as-we-know-it salad.  There are days that all I crave is the predictable hard crunch of romaine or the intricate bitter depth of arugula, and then there are days when I want to say "bump you romaine and arugula, oh and totally forget you spinach, I'd rather pop an iron supplement than chew you for even a minute."  Seriously. I'm so up and down with how I feel about salads.  Sometimes, I know it's pure boredom.  I'm the only one to blame for that.  Instead of opening one of my many cookbooks filled with exciting salad recipes (or hopping on my all time favorite recipe-finder: google.com), I retreat to the same old, used, and tired salad recipes I've been eating for the last few vegan years of my life.  It's not only the boredom, but it's this boredom coupled with my stubbornness and laziness.  Here's how I know:  the second I have the option of ordering a Carribean Jerk Kale Salad from Native Foods complete with coconut shavings, mango, avocado, and grilled tempeh, suddenly I don't despise salads so much. As soon as this precious was sitting in front of me, I loved salads all over again.

Last time I mentally (and potentially verbally) declared, "aghhh get away from me you slimy healthful leafy greens," I coped with it in a new way.  I became obsessed with making no-greens salads. Inspired by a recipe from the Vegan Stoner, I started slow, and later worked my way to making my own creations.  Over the next few days I'll share with you my no-greens salads.  To get started, here is the first recipe that I snagged from that aforementioned blog.  You should totally check out the Vegan Stoner, if not for the Apple Tahini Salad, then for the adorable by-hand-sketches each recipe includes and the simple ingredient, straightforward cooking it encourages. No frills, no measurements, so good!

Apple Tahini Salad

Ingredients

Green apple

Red bell pepper (above, I used an orange bell pepper)

Can of chickpeas

1 tbsp (original recipe says "spoonful") of tahini

1 tbsp agave

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

juice of one lemon

1.  Dice green apple and bell pepper in to similar-sized chunks.  Combine with chickpeas in a large bowl.

2.  To make dressing, mix together the agave and tahini, add the balsamic vinegar and the lemon juice and mix in as well.

3.  Pour dressing over the apple, bell pepper, and chickpeas.  Mix in to evenly distribute.

4.  In Vegan Stoner spirit: munch!

Keep an eye out for more no-greens salad recipes this week!