One of my favorite "no cook" meals is
Tofu Salad. Here's what I put in mine:
Ingredients:
1 block firm tofu, drained and cubed
1 can 8(?) oz. pink salmon, drained
2-3 ripe tomatoes, chopped and drained
1 cucumber (Japanese seedless type if you can find it), sliced thinly into rounds
1/4 round onion, chopped
1 package fresh bean sprouts; or bunch of watercress, chopped
A few stalks of green onion, chopped as a garnish
**Japanese furikake (dried nori, sesame seed mixture) optional
How to prepare salad:
1) Drain and cube tofu into bite sized pieces, sit in colandar to let excess water out
2) Place tofu as bottom layer in a small rectangular cake pan or serving dish
**Sprinkle furikake lightly over tofu (this is optional ingredient)
3) Layer sliced cucumber over tofu
4) Flake salmon over cucumber layer with a fork
5) Sprinkle round onion over salmon
6) Put bean sprouts or watercress (or both) over salmon and onion layer
7) Top with chopped tomatoes and sprinkle green onions as a garnish on top
Dressing:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp salad oil (canola or vegetable, etc.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Place all in salad dressing cruet and shake well. Pour over salad or over single servings sparingly (dressing single servings separately works best). If you prefer, you can brown garlic in oil slightly to tone down the taste. I like mine straight up raw. You can also add toasted sesame seeds if you want.
This salad is light, flavorful and full of protein. You can have this as a side salad or eat it as a meal because it's delicious.
If you can find it in your grocery stores (I know we have it here in Hawaii), "Chop Suey" vegetable mix is great in this salad. It's basically bean sprouts, sliced carrots, shredded cabbage and water cress in one 1/2 pound bag. If not, you can just buy any of the above-mentioned vegetables separately for a healthy, colorful, tasty salad.
As a side note to quick defrosting foods without drying them out in the microwave--has anyone tried those metal thawing plates? I have two of them and I use them to "sandwich" a tray of frozen meats--works way better if you use two at the same time rather than just one.