Vegan Caesar Salad

Years ago, a friend recommended the book Thug Kitchen, and I discovered a handful of favorite recipes in it. Amusingly, it took me nearly the whole book to realize that it was all vegan recipes. It's possible that I was distracted by all of their foul language in the book, but I think it was just that there were SO many great gems in there. One of the recipes that I copied but hadn't tried (until today) was their Almond Caesar Salad, and now I really wish I'd tried it years ago because it's fantastic!

Vegan Caesar Dressing

1/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds

1/3 cup hot water

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. capers

(Optional, but delicious - 1 Tbs. nutritional yeast to toss with salad)

Put the almonds in a glass with the hot water and let them soak for 15 mins. Chop the garlic. When the almonds are done soaking, put them in a blender or food processor with the garlic, olive oil, lemon, mustard, and vinegar. Blend it up until it's creamy and the almonds are blended. Add the capers then blend again to combine. 

I used 5 Tbs. of dressing on about 3/4 head of red leaf lettuce, and tossed 1 Tbs. nutritional yeast and a handful of croutons. I added chicken to my lunch salad too, making it not vegan, but this might be my new favorite Caesar...