The Super Salad is Here

I grew up on plain jane salads. I bet you did too. Iceberg lettuce with tomatoes and (maybe) a little cucumber. Mine always came with Thousand Island dressing. Salad didn’t have a great reputation as a food.  Then the lowly salad experienced an image update, it became a desirable ‘diet’ food, functional in terms of filling up the dieter without adding calories but it was yet to be considered…..delicious.

Now salads are hearty, drool-worthy delights.

When my daughter is home she always says, “Mom…can you please make one of your salads”.

While I’m happy to comply I always laugh.

I use a recipe for absolutely everything except my salads and those are the most requested items in my repertoire. Go figure!

My crispers are always loaded with veggies and I put whatever I’ve got in the salad.  I think the thing that makes salads interesting and yummy is not just the variety of flavors but the textures found in the bowl.  I use peelers, graters, mandolin slicers and spiralizers to prep my ingredients.

The Super Salad Bowl is a modern salad and a favorite in my house, the protein content rivals any meat entrée. It’s an “Oh WOW”  for those wanting to incorporate more plant based eating into their diets and all the fresh ingredients give a beautiful, radiant glow to the skin.

The Super Salad Bowl

The Base

Use chopped romaine (shown) or any greens blend or ½ cup cooked quinoa or 1/2 cup brown rice (per serving).

 The Veggies

For this one I used  – sliced avocado, spiralized beets, julieened carrots, chick pea salad, hummus, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber

You could also use any combination of the following – black beans, celery, peppers, red cabbage, fennel, shelled edamame beans, fresh corn, sweet onion, red onions, hard boiled eggs, turnip, roasted diced or sliced yams, green peas, radish, daikon, zucchini, green beans, steamed or roasted asparagus, sprouts, capers, boiled new potatoes or micro greens.

The Top

I love crunch so I often use roasted pepitas but this time I sprinkled the Super Salad with a raw and crunchy hemp, chia, golden flax, brown flax, buckwheat blend I buy in the natural isle of the grocery store.

The Dressing

The dressing is adapted from OH She Glows one of my favorite cook books and contains raw (soaked) cashews which bumps up the protein content.  The recipe is enough for 2-4 servings I always double it so I have lots left over.

½ cup water

¼ cup raw cashews – soak for at least 2 hours or overnight

3-4 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp *nutritional yeast

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small garlic clove

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp onion powder

Put cashews in a bowl, cover with water and leave overnight. Drain. Blend cashews with 1/2 cup water. Add all ingredients and process until smooth.

*“What’s nutritional yeast??”   I use it a lot. You’ll find it in the natural food section at grocery store and it has a nutty, cheesy taste.

 The Chick Pea Salad

(Try this on bread or toast as an alternative to tuna salad)

1 can chick peas drained

2 stalks celery diced

¼ c dill pickle diced

2- 3 tbsp mayonnaise or vegannaise

1 clove garlic minced

2 tsp lemon juice

Sea salt to taste

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Mix all together.

You can also use this as an alternative to tuna salad.

If you want to try it as a sandwich filling (its really good!) mash chick peas with a potato masher.

The Super Salad Bowl will bring new meaning to salad.

Try it. I’d love to know what you think.