Crazy Vegetable Salad (vegan)

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center.

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, roasting, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
4-5 yellow squash, cut bite-sized
1 yellow onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
2 C vinegar (white/red wine, rice, apple cider, or even distilled white will do)
2 C water
2 t salt
1 t pepper

1 # crimini mushrooms, cut in half and then sliced thickly
2 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT (about 1 t salt & 1/2 t pepper)

2 bu spinach, trimmed & cut bite-sized
1 bu radishes, trimmed & sliced thinly
3 avocadoes, diced
2 cans of beans, drained & rinsed
1 lemon, juiced
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Marinate the squash and onion: divide the vinegar, water, salt & pepper into two containers and put the squash in one and the onion in another. mix and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms with the 2 T cooking oil, salt & pepper, and transfer to a sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until crispy. Set aside in a large bowl.
4. Remove the squash and onion from the marinade and add them to the mushrooms. Add all of the remaining ingredients. Season to taste and serve.

Another score for vegan goodness! This is less of a salad and more of a celebration of how nicely a variety of veggies and legumes can play together. Flavors and textures are distinctive but harmonize well.