Hot Salad (With Potatoes, Avocado, Tofu, Zucchini)

maesyn's Note:

A delicious healthy salad that combines a regular cold salad with sizzling hot toppings! The variety of textures and flavors make this a top request from every single one of my friends! The recipe lends itself to throw cooking, as the number of guests has never been consistent for me. When in doubt- if all the toppings don't fit on top, serve the extras on the side - they're all stand-alones.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

SALAD

• fresh greens
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 avocado
• 0.5 (12 ounce) package extra firm tofu
• 2 red potatoes
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• 1 zucchini
• 1 squash

DRESSING

• Italian dressing (any brand)
• honey dijon mustard

Directions:

1. COLD: Begin by filling individual salad bowls with ingredients for normal salad: fresh greens, chopped carrots, diced tomatoes.
2. Peel and slice avocados into chunks.
3. Add to bowls; set aside.
4. OVEN: Dice new potatoes into small cubes, put on cooking sheet and dust with Pam, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (if desired).
5. Bake until crisp.
6. STOVETOP: Slice zucchini and squash into 1/2 cm thick circular wedges.
7. Sauté over medium-high heat, tossing in salt and pepper to taste.
8. Meanwhile, cut tofu into small rectangles, squeeze off extra water, and place them in a non-stick frying pan (with Pam sprayed under and over them).
9. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
10. Sauté until golden brown, or slightly crisp on outside.
11. Once hot ingredients are done, divide them onto the top of each salad (varying each bowl's contents by personal preference).
12. As an extra treat, you can marinate sliced portabello mushrooms in Newman's Own Balsamic vinaigrette, then broil them along with the potatoes.
13. Add them to the top of the salad for a kick!
14. DRESSING: pour pre-made Italian dressing into a shakeable container (or leave it in the bottle if you're using it all), and add"a bunch" of honey-Dijon mustard.
15. Shake thoroughly, and taste it until it has just the *kick* you're looking for!
16. (As you can tell I'm a bit of a throw-cook).