super-savory salad

I’ve said it before – I’m not what you’d call a ‘salad person’. I hate boring food. I hate not feeling satiated. I hate feeling hungry after I’ve eaten. And I hate the ol’ lettuce and tomatoes gig so don’t really order salads when I go out. That said, I love experimenting. I know I need to love eating more greens. I love having easy lunches to throw together for work. I love arugula and baby spinach and gourmet salad ingredients. So I really should love salads, right?

All of this (and feeling totally lazy), lead me to embark on a new salad adventure. I pulled out every salad-worthy item I had  in the kitchen and proceeded to throw things in a bowl and actually love what I came up with. It’s rich and tasty and filling, so much so that I felt satisfied eating it on a rainy day… and I usually hate salads on rainy days :)

As a side note, I came home from work yesterday thinking I’d made the best salad ever. Then I saw on FB that Eva from Uncooking 101 also though they had made the best salad ever so there may be a bit of a tussle for the title of best salad. Well not really, as I think the more best salads there are in the world the better and Eva may well feel the same way. I probably also lose brownie points for using balsamic vinegar (albeit it high-quality organic stuff with no added sugars) which is definitely not raw but totally ok for those people who are more happy to actually be enjoying a salad (me) than enjoying beating themselves up for their their less-than-100%-rawness (also me, sometimes).

Ingredients*:

• Baby spinach and arugula
• Raw olives in water and sea salt, quartered
• Real Pickles Beets, chopped finely
• Sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped finely
• Red onion, finely diced
• Cucumber, finely diced
• Raw vegan macadamia fetta (or similar), or diced avocado** – I like using either but using ‘cheese’ makes it a little more like a traditional Greek salad. My philosophy? Do what you want! It’s salad, these are guidelines, get creative :)
• Cold-pressed EVOO
• Thick, sticky balsamic vinegar with no added sugars (regular consistency would probable work too, I’m just a bit of a sucker for the tar-like stuff)

Instructions:

Place required amount of greens in bowl(s). Sprinkle other ingredients on top (I used almost equal parts except for the onion which I went a bit lighter on) and drizzle with EVOO and balsamic – easy!

xx

* Please note that all ingredients I used are organic, which I always recommend if you can get them.

** Don’t flinch at these ingredients or exclude them because they’re commonly known as ‘fats’ – I’m sick of people criticizing raw foodies for eating an avocado a day when they are scoffing down some disgusting concoction from the Golden Arches!! Avocados and nuts do have comparatively more calories from ‘fats’ than a lot of vegan food but they are good fats, i.e. ones that are required to keep our skin soft, deliver fat-soluble vitamins, and provide energizing fuels, as opposed to bad fats found in animal products that clog arteries and elevate blood sugars which results in obesity, heart disease, caner and diabetes (to say the least!)

You probably don’t want to over-induldge if you’re trying to lose weight but probably want to eat more if you exercise a lot. Just be careful though, if you don’t get enough calories as a raw vegan, you can get tired and run down so keep an eye on the mix of food you eat… lettuce and watermelon alone won’t cut it!