Easy Transitional Vegan Recipes - Lemon & Herb Chicken Quinoa Salad

I always get questions about my favorite meat substitutes and what brands are the best. I actually prefer to get my protein from more natural whole food sources but it’s super fun to try meat replacements and see how far we’ve come in the vegan world. Veganism and plant-based diets are becoming more and more popular and many people need something a little more realistic to help transition instead of buffalo cauliflower wings (don’t knock em till you try em though).

I have tried my fair share of meat replacements and I can honestly say this brand hit the nail on the head with the consistency, flavor and texture of chicken. It almost is TOO real lol. Fun fact: chicken was the hardest thing for me to give up at the beginning stages of my plant-based transition. I am telling ya, if I had this brand during that stage I would’ve had no problem giving up chicken. Although sometimes I get a little freaked when meat replacements look and taste so real, it seriously is amazing that brands can pull this off and show people how easy the transition can be with the help of their products!

I LOVE Daring because it’s made of minimal, whole-food ingredients. Listed below are the ingredients for its Lemon & Herb frozen chicken pieces:

• Water

• Soy protein-concentrate

• sunflower oil

• seasoning (lemon peel, oregano, thyme, garlic, lemongrass, rosemary, onion, cardamom, pepper, dextrose) & natural flavoring (note: sometimes “natural flavoring” isn’t vegan but this brand is 100% vegan!)

LEMON AND HERB CHICKEN QUINOA SALAD

WHAT YOU NEED //

• kale (or your favorite green)

• zucchini squash

• Tri-color quinoa

• Daring Lemon & Herb Chicken (sold at Sprouts, Wegmans and online)

• avocado oil

• optional spices for zucchini squash: salt, pepper and cumin

TAHINI LEMON DRESSING //

• 1/3 cup tahini

• 1 garlic clove minced

• a medium lemon (juice from)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• salt and pepper to taste

METHOD //

Start by cooking your quinoa as directed on the packaging. Usually, you’ll do 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of quinoa. Cover it and let simmer on medium-low heat until all water is absorbed.

For the chicken, start by heating a saucepan with avocado oil (this oil is better than olive oil for higher heat frying purposes). Lay your chicken on medium heat and begin frying - it should be ready to flip within 5 minutes but keep an eye on it. No need to add seasonings, Daring does that for you.

In a separate pan begin sauteeing your zucchini and any other veggies you’d like and add optional spices. When your zucchini is about done sauteeing, throw a few handfuls of kale in that same pan. There should be a little bit of oil left from sauteeing and this will make your kale nice and soft and easy to digest. Once your kale cooks down, assemble everything into a large salad bowl.

For the Tahini Lemon Dressing -

Mix up all the ingredients and whisk until smooth - if it is too thick, add water intermittently until it becomes a smoother dressing consistency.