ECO Lunchbox Three-in-One #35

Tangerine slices, apple wedges, a cup of almond butter (for dipping), and another new salad from Going Solo in the Kitchen, a brown rice-carrot-zucchini salad.

I thought I needed to try to challenge myself to go with something vegan again because it has been a while. This was really delightful--absolutely no deprivation here! I've finally found a rice salad I really like. This one uses a tahini-based dressing that goes very well with the brown rice. It also features raw zucchini, and I had some baby zucchini I'd bought on clearance that was going south quickly, so the timing was good. I wouldn't hesitate to serve this to guests, vegan or not. It's unusual without being weird. As with other recipes in Going Solo in the Kitchen, I think it makes more than I'd eat in one sitting, but not more than two servings, which is nice. Unlike yesterday's salad, I would go out of my way to have this again. And on top of everything else, it's gluten free. It's a good ace in one's sleeve if one's social circle includes a lot of people with dietary concerns.

I added the almond butter just to be sure of having enough protein, but it's nice to dip apples in almond butter anyway. I don't think there was really much danger of not having enough protein between the tahini and the brown rice, but I'm not exactly all that experienced with vegan cooking.