French Rice Salad Recipe

Salade de riz aux légumes is my attempt to serve my family healthy food that doesn't sacrifice flavor. As you may have noticed, I have a tendency to make food that is a bit rich. We're all trying to workout more and get into good shape, and while I won't ever give up butter and cream, I've learned that I don't have to put it in every dish.

The rice salad is made with a blend of both brown and white rice for a balanced texture. I also added a mix of vegetables that are available this time of the season (the zucchini and squash are from our garden). I used fresh steamed corn, roasted bell peppers, diced tomatoes, grilled eggplant, edamame and tofurkey.

Since there is no cheese involved, I was afraid the rice salad would lack flavor, so I made spicy vinaigrette. Since I still need "real" protein besides the edamame beans and tofurkey, I added smoked turkey in a separate batch. Everyone enjoyed it, myself included!

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Turkey Sausage

Pasta and sausage is a combination that is probably not new to most people. The challenge is that I need to make the dish accommodate both the vegetarians and meat eaters in my house.

To this end, I separately grilled tofurkey (mock turkey made of tofu) and apple turkey sausages and mixed them into two batches of homemade sun-dried tomato pesto sauce.