Vegan Cobb Salad with Lemon Dressing

I am on a lemon kick.

This is one of our favorite salads. It is super filling and very delicious. Also, if I deconstruct it, my kids love it too. Lettuce is pretty hard for babies and my 4.5 year old is still learning to like "leaves". He will eat them in smoothies, no problem. He knows they are in there. He now likes spinach (insert Napoleon Dynamite fist pump), but we are still working on lettuce. I don't blame him. They are hard to eat and honestly, lettuce tastes like dirt to me. I hated salad until I was in my 20's.

Here are my kid's plates. One of the left is for the 4 year old. One on the right is the 19 month old. They both ate it all except the babe didn't like the "coconut bacon" but the 4 year old did. So that is a win.

There were a couple changes I made today. I made lemon honey chickpeas. When I was making them it smelled like the tea I drink every morning: hot water, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (sometimes both), honey, ginger, and turmeric. That is exactly what I put on the chickpeas, minus the apple cider vinegar. It smelled so tasty and relaxing to me. Unfortunately for me, I stuck them in my air fryer and went outside to draw with chalk with my son and forgot to come back in and stir the chickpeas and then turn them off. So some of them got a wee bit crispier than I wanted. But they were still good.

This was my first time making up a dressing recipe and it worked. My husband was so happy. (He misses creamy things). I had a bunch of perfectly ripe avocados and I wondered if I could use one for a dressing base. The answer is yes. Yes I can. Yes I did. And it is so good. Unfortunately, my food processor broke and it wasn't a large enough batch to use my blender...what to do? Luckily I have an immersion blender, so crisis averted. (Insert me wiping my brow.)

Anyway, I've got a house full of screaming kids. (Playdates are the only time I can get anything done. Ya feel me?) So I will cut to the chase and give you the deets of this meal. I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients Salad 1 head romaine lettuce, shredded 2 large carrots, shredded 1 cucumber, diced 1 yellow bell pepper, diced 1 avocado, sliced 1 can chickpeas Lemon juice Honey Salt Turmeric Fresh ginger Unsweetened, shredded coconut 1 T liquid smoke 1 T maple syrup 1 T soy sauce Dressing 1/2 avocado 2 T lemon juice 1 T honey 1 T capers 1 T brine from capers 1/2 c water

Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine coconut, liquid smoke, syrup, and soy sauce. Bake 15 minutes, stir every 5 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, coat chickpeas in lemon juice, honey, salt (omit if canned), turmeric, fresh ginger, and garlic powder to taste. Roast until crispy (15-20 minutes) or 8-10 in air fryer. 3. Prep rest of salad ingredients. 4. Combine dressing ingredients in blender until smooth.

5. Combine everything and enjoy.