Spinach Salad with Nib Vinaigrette & Soft Pretzels

My camera picked an unfortunate time to have a dead battery and even worse half (yes, only half) of my charger is missing. It was a shame too because I whipped up two easy and delicious vegan recipes to mark the beginning of VeganMoFo. Both were quite delicious so thankfully, I am sure they will be making an appearance again and next time I will be sure to snap a photo. The first was a lovely spinach salad with roasted pears (I left the skin on for extra fiber), dried goji berries, and slivered almonds tossed with the star of the dish, a Cacao Nib Vinaigrette. It was inspired by a recipe in The Essence of Chocolate. I know what you are thinking, chocolate in a salad!?! But I have to say, it was delicious. Because the dressing only used nibs, no melted chocolate or cocoa powder, the flavor was not overwhelming and just provided a nice, earthly chocolately hit every once and awhile. It complimented the flavors of the sweet pears and tart goji berries perfectly.
My second recipe was a vegan version of Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels. I made them to bring along to a party a friend had for the vice presidential debates last night. She continued with my theme of red & blue state foods so I brought these pretzels to represent Pennsylvania. My friend was born and raised there so she appreciated the nod to her home state and immediately got the association. I liked that this recipe was very easy to veganize, a definite plus since I am new to vegan baking. The recipe called for a dough of water, sugar, salt, yeast, flour, and melted butter, which I traded with Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks. After the dough was prepared and given time to rise I shaped it into 8 pretzels that were dunked in a boiling pot of water and baking powder before being topped with melted Earth Balance (I used this in place of an egg wash) and coarse salt and baked off. The result was amazing as these were a huge hit with the party. I served them with an Apricot-Mustard Dipping Sauce (equal parts brown mustard and apricot preserves) and they were devoured. They had a lovely chewy exterior and a velvety soft interior. I cannot wait to make these again and am already thinking about variations like whole wheat, cinnamon sugar, and perhaps even a filled pretzel. Sorry for the lack of pictures but I promise there will be some as VeganMoFo progresses. Have a great weekend.