I'm going to start off by saying that this is not really a recipe, but instead more of a guideline that I work to.
I know I'm not a pro with food (and if you have any nutritional concerns, please always seek the advice of a professional), however, this is how I like to make up my salads for my lunch.
It's a pretty simple guideline that I learnt from 'Be Well By Kelly' and I have stuck with it since.
PROTEIN. FAT. FIBRE. GREENS. SUPERFOODS.
Yes, it's that simple. So, below is an example of a salad that I like to make, however you can switch the ingredients to whatever suit you the best. Just make sure you incorporate those five things...
PROTEIN
This can be anything you like. I personally like to have some kind of pulses (such as chickpeas or lentils), quinoa, falafels, maybe fish or prawns if I'm in the mood and always some nuts or seeds too.
FAT
I always use extra virgin olive oil... ALWAYS! It's so so good for your health and so I try and get around 1-2 tbsps in my salad as a dressing where possible.
Then I tend to add some avocado for extra 'fatty' goodness and then of course my nuts and seeds fall under this bracket too.
FIBRE
I like to have a grain such as quinoa or buckwheat, some good veggies, maybe some roasted sweet potato in olive oil. I mean I have croutons in there sometimes but they have about as much fibre in as my fork ha ha!
GREENS
Well, this is pretty self explanatory but always have some kind of greens in there. Spinach, mixed salad leaves, beans, kale etc.
SUPERFOOD
You can add some extra goodness to dressings to give your meal a booster too.
Here are some of my regular ones...
- Manuka honey
- Chia seeds
- Turmeric Powder
- Nutritional Yeast
- Apple Cider Vinegar
DRESSING
So once you have created your big salad, have a play with making different dressings. This is one of my all time favourites...
Mix together...
- 1 tbsp hummus
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp manuka honey
- 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
- 1 or 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
- Freshly ground black pepper
Or you could just use EVOO and ACV together with some pepper and dress your salad with that.
Another tip is if you buy your protein already 'dressed' then you can use this as part of the dressing. Marks and Spencer does some delicious marinaded prawns with lots of dressing so sometimes I use this as the bast for my dressing too.
I hope this helps and gives you some inspiration for your salads.
Thank you so much for reading,
Emmaline x