This salad is fresh and zingy and full of contrasting textures – everything I like in a salad. And it’s basically fresh and zingy salad time now as the weekends have really been turning it on lately. Spring is here, like really here. Well for today anyway, if I get too excited about all this sun Melbourne will go and take it away again.
These are my 3 hacks (+3 delicious quick and easy recipes) for making sure lunch is always brilliant and you don’t get bored or stuck in a lunch rut. They are aimed at those who aren’t going to do a huge amount of lunch prep on the weekend and want something that can be thrown together in 15 minutes or less.
I could not think of a name for this to save myself. It has roasted pumpkin, crispy kale, caramelised pecans, salty feta, massaged kale and wild rice all in a lemony dressing. It’s ridiculous, addictively good stuff. And it’s a salad, how many salads are addictive? Salads with crunchy, salty and sweet notes definitely are. Everything in this salad is so good and different and balanced it makes you want to keep going back for more.
I’m a little potato obsessed. I love all kinds and I also love that different potatoes have favourite ways of being cooked, it gives them their own little personality. Dutch creams love a good mashing, Russets make the best roasties and fries and kipflers, well those litlle nuggets of joy are perfect eaten with their skin on boiled or roasted. In this recipe I boil them then roast them and chuck them in a mayonnaise free roast potato salad of sorts. It’s served warm but would be fine the next day straight from the fridge too. The asian flavours make a nice break from my usual potato salad and lend the kipflers a welcome freshness. The texture of the soft coriander, crunchy nuts and the crispy potatoes is also great. Plus potatoes love salt and the dressing is all about that.
If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram for a while now you may have noticed that I quite like slaw. And by quite like I mean I like it a lot. I like that it’s so easy to do and adds crunch and vibrancy to any meal. It’s also super versatile and can be Asian inspired or lean towards Mexican or even italian. This slaw is fresh and crunchy and uses ingredients that are in season in Melbourne at the moment. Fresh crunchy salads aren’t only for summer they can add a lightness and crunch to delicious winter comfort food. This slaw uses snow peas, kohlrabi and cabbage and is dressed very simply. You could use an avocado dressing if you’re more into mayonnaise with your slaw (but ti’s not actually mayo!).
I have to thank my mum for this little creation, a few weeks ago she asked me to make a green salad for a Sunday feast we were having (these are a weekly event, Dad cooks entree and mains and Mum comes in with a spectacular dessert – it’s a wonder I’m not obese!), and I decided to take her very literally haha. Everything I put in the salad was green (cos lettuce, cucumber, finely sliced celery, parsley, pumpkin seeds etc) and to up the greenness I wanted to make a bright green dressing. And voila, this happened. It is super tasty, full of nutrients and oh so creamy.
At the moment I’m all about lunch. I have a couple of go to favourite lunches. No. 1 is last night’s dinner (I am a lazy girl at heart!) and No. 2 is a rainbow salad bowl (which often involves last nights dinner ha). They’re such a great way to get loads of high nutrient unprocessed foods into your diet and are ridiculously tasty. Also, you never get bored of them because they can be varied endlessly. This post gives you a set of guidelines of what to include to be sure of a delicious and nutrient packed lunch, but remember they are guidelines, not rules, so take the reigns and make your salad bowl your own. The key is to get the balance right.
This is my go to slaw. It makes it into my rainbow lunch bowls, chicken burgers and is the base of my favourite chicken salad. I also love serving it with a roast chicken! I even mix around some of the ingredients in the dressing and take it more towards Mexican and add it to tacos. It’s full of flavour, texture and colour. What more could you want?
Yesterday felt like a summer’s day, I was craving a summery salad and simple pasta for dinner. I love this salad as a side at a barbecue (such as with the Middle Eastern inspired bbq chicken), or with pizza or pasta. It’s light and has a great balance of flavour, texture and nutrients – and that’s pretty much what my approach to eating is all about. And just check out those colours…
I clearly had no idea what to call these. They are sweet and tangy and crispy and fresh. And spicy. Well as spicy as you want them I guess! It’s also sort of a salad. Or a nibble. Or a side dish. Or even a bar snack, along with popcorn cauliflower florets of course! The crisps themselves are baked rather than fried and placed on a mixture of sauces (green thai curry, molasses, black vinegar). They are then topped with a light and fragrant salad of fresh herbs and spices. It’s all a bit magical and crazy really, thus the trouble with the name.
