i'm back from what was, once again, the highlight weekend of my summer. it's taken a few days to come back down to earth and regroup, catch up on sleep & get the dirt out from under my nails {am i alone in being unable to avoid this every time i go camping???}, but now i can sit back and reflect on it all. and it's been magical catching sneaks of other folks' photos as they share them on facebook -- especially because i. forgot. my. camera. at home. but luckily my rad brother had his along for the ride so once i get my hands on some of those shots you will likely see another little flashback post.
one of other other things i forgot over the course of the weekend {pregnancy brain strikes again!} was to eat the beautiful watermelon i brought along and instead it sat in the car the entire time. oh well, more for me now that i'm home.
i remember a few years ago hearing a lot about watermelon & feta cheese salads being all the rage. obviously being vegan, i have never tried one myself, but i decided to make a go of it: sweet, juicy bursts of watermelon along with pungent, briney tofu feta cheese & aromatic fresh basil? sign me up!
i used the recipe for herbed feta found in the may/june vegnews magazine and it's awesome -- fooled me some omni's with it too when i made it last month -- i highly recommend trying it out. and if you don't yet subscribe to vegnews, what are you waiting for?! the recipe hasn't been published online but if you live in sudbury, i'd be happy to lend you my copy {or any back issue really, as i keep them all} for a few days - just ask!
but on to the salad:
watermelon & tofu feta salad
serves 4-6
4 cups watermelon, cubed
1 cup herbed tofu feta (vegnews may/june 2012 page 59)
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn or chiffonaded
toss all ingredients together and serve. if not eating immediately, reserve the basil, refrigerate and toss in before enjoying with friends. if you like you can add a drizzle of olive oil or a splash of balsamic vinegar but i found it didn't need a thing. the perfect compliment to a backyard bbq!
the verdict: if you love savoury salads with fruit you will love this. i've always been a bit of a bit of a "get that fruit out of my salad!" kind of girl, but i still thought this was good even {though i found myself eating all the watermelon first and then going for the feta}. m thought it was just plain weird and said "get that fruit out of my salad!".
were we meant to be, or what?
submitted to ricki`s wellness weekend
Ha, I agree - I have always been a "get that fruit out of my salad" girl, too (except for dried fruits, they seem to be a-ok)! Same with grains. But I tried a similar salad this weekend, and I must admit watermelon does seem to pass the test! Thanks for sharing your take. I think my next plan of action is to hunt down some fresh apricots!
ReplyDeletemmmm, stone fruit....
DeleteI must buy VegNews now...that tofu feta sounds amazingly genius!
ReplyDeleteit is! so tangy and delicious :)
DeleteSounds like a winning combo. And I'm with Cara above, I am going to have to pick up that copy of VegNews....mmmm tofu feta.
ReplyDeletewow, you fooled non-veg peeps with tofu feta?! that's amazing! the salad looks beautiful, too ;)
ReplyDeletei'm tellin' you, the likeness to feta is uncanny!
Deletethat looks so delicious! i love the flavor combo! yum!
ReplyDeleteSuch a gorgeous salad! I've never tried the watermelon feta combo either, but this looks so light and refreshing! Tofu feta is also on my list of things to try- I'm going to have to track down that vegnews issue! :-)
ReplyDeletei saw that feta and has bookmarked it and as it usually happens. forgot about it. thanks for this gorgeous reminder! watermelon and feta go so well together. I passed on One lovely blog award to ya. Hope you are doing good!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh this is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely not a combination I would have thought of but it sounds like it would be uber good! I need to find some watermelon.
ReplyDelete