Despite still craving chocolate pudding on a daily basis and longing to buy a bag of hot chips and dip them in gravy, I’ve been relishing eating healthier foods. I’m a sucker for a good salad. Not the boring garden variety, I’m talking ones with a bit of grunt, ones that easily stand alone as a meal. I’ve also found the fresher the foods I eat, the less I crave meat. I’m not sure why this is the case, but I’m more inclined to search out the veggie option. I’d rather have one amazing steak from a premium butcher, once every couple of weeks and savour it.
When I eat a big carb laden, fatty meal now (which hasn’t been often) I feel bloated and unsatisfied. So, instead, I’ve been seeking out great salad recipes. I like to eat fresh. Here’s one of my new favourites:
Roast Beetroot, Preserved Lemon Labneh and Green Leaves Salad
Roast a bunch of beetroot (no need to peel, just cut in cubes), drizzled with olive oil, a sprinkling of sea salt, ground pepper and fresh herbs (like marjoram and thyme) in the oven at about 180 degrees for around 40minutes.
Once cooled, add the beetroot to a bowl of rocket or kale or spinach or a mix of all three. Squeeze some lemon on it and add a palm full of labneh (we buy some that’s in a container with preserved lemon oil). Add some of the labneh’s preserving oil as the dressing.
Throw on a small handful of roasted almonds or other nuts. Then mix. There should be enough for a couple of people.
When eating it you must make sounds like mmmmm and aaaaaahhh and oooooohhh yum.
I love this salad. Just don’t be alarmed if your wee goes a shade of pink or your poo looks red. Beetroot is good shit!
Have you got any other great salad recipes for me? I’m on the lookout for some new ones.
bigwords x
Hi, I'm Bianca Wordley, I write about life.
My fave salad is a bit of rehash of the good old Changs Noodle Salad. It goes like this-
Shred some green & red cabbage & some carrot.
Dice up half an avo
Toss it all in a bowl with some fried shallots, a handful of changs noodles & some chia seeds.
Throw on some Changs noodle dressing ( or some soy, chilli sauce/oil & sesame oil if you dont have it) & if you need a protein hit throw in some chicken.
Supe yum!
Another one I threw togther last week was with what I found in my fridge was-
Baby spinach, some grilled zuchini, some grilled haloumi, some diced tomato, avo, moutain bread torn up & thown in a pan until crispy. Splash a bit of balsamic vinegar & olive oil on top & you are good to go!
xx
I’m running a lamb salad quite regularly at the moment: lamb backstrap/fillet bbq’d or pan fried tossed with baby spinach, Danish feta, pepitas, cherry tom’s and a spoonful of hommus. Sometimes to beef it up for the husbro I’ll throw in a packet of that microwave brown rice and quinoa. YUMBO!
The packets of pre-cooked brown rice and whatever you like with them (quinoa, chia etc) are my friend. Great protein base for a salad. Add a leaf, a herb, something coloured and a nut and voila. I also have a brilliant brown rice salad recipe which has kecap manis in the dressing and currants mixed through. Yummy and sweet, its almost like dessert 😉 will try to work out how to post the recipe.
Here you go. Think the 3 secret ingredients are the parsley, currants and kecap manis soy sauce.
Everything else I’ve substituted and changed at various times depending on what I have around.
Tasty Brown Rice Salad
1½ cups Raw Brown Rice – Long Grain
4 Spring Onions Diced ( Green )
3 Tablespoon Chopped Parsley
1 finely diced Red Capsicum
½ cup currants or more
2 – 5 Tablespoons sunflower seeds, toasted
180g unsalted raw cashews – halved or in pieces
Dressing : ¼ cup sunflower oil
4 Tablespoons Ketjap Manis (thick soy sauce)
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper
(optional – chilli powder to taste)
Cook Rice – when cold, add all ingredients apart from the dressing which should be added 1 – 2 hours before serving.
Salad rocks my little world too, Bianca. I’m not happy unless 1/2 my dinner plate is covered with the stuff. I’m with you too … a small serve of good quality meat like sirloin steak, chicken breast, pork fillet or fish is much more my thing than the cheaper, fattier cuts.
One of our fave salads at the mo is …
a bed of baby spinach & rocket
roasted butternut pumpkin (olive oil & a sprinkle of chilli flakes)
shaved parmesan
walnuts
drizzled with macadamia oil and balsamic
Oh-maze-balls.
Also … I discovered a fab chickpea recipe last weekend. I put it up on my blog today. It’s a winner. I reckon you’ll love it … with a salad ;o)x