Salad bowls – a “recipe”

I’ve recently become aware of the salad bowl. As a meal. Not as an item of kitchenware.

Yeah, I know. Where have I been all these years? Eating my salad on a plate is where! 

Inspired by all the divine looking salad bowl lunch photos by Lyndal, a physician who founded the Facebook group Lean, Green and Healthy, (she also blogs, tweets and has a Facebook page), and other members of this group, today I made my first salad bowl for lunch. I can safely say it won’t be the last!

Also, if you are on Facebook and looking for a supportive group that talks about healthy food, this one is the best one I’ve ever been part of. No judging, no stupid questions from lazy people who don’t know how to use Google, no meanies. Just lots of support and great ideas about healthy food to eat.

This one included baby spinach leaves, pepita seeds, tomato, red pepper, carrot, leftover roast sweet potato, leftover BBQ chicken from last night’s dinner, mint, avocado, marinated fetta and a little cultured beetroot. It took all of five minutes to prepare, and every mouthful was a flavour sensation.

Super easy.

The trick to a good salad bowl (or just a good salad) is to have a mix of:

• textures – nuts and seeds are great for crunch, a mix of raw and cooked veggies
• veggies and herbs – include lots of colours and flavours, mine had green, red, purple and orange
• some protein – I had chicken and the fetta, you could use any meat, fish, tofu, egg, cheese, legumes
• good fats – avocado, good oils such as olive or macadamia, nuts and seeds
• carbohydrates – I used sweet potato, you could use pasta, couscous, rice, quinoa, potato, bread – carbs are not evil people!
• a few cultured veggies for gut health – my new favourite food, the cultured beetroot I used was bought, but it’s easy to make too (stay tuned for a blog post on this later this week)
• a salad dressing – I’m not really into salad dressing, preferring just to drizzle a bit of olive oil, but simple oil and vinegar or yogurt dressings are easy to make.

If you have a good supply of ingredients in the fridge, these are quick and easy to whip up. Think about roasting a tray or two of veggies (sweet potato, pumpkin, red pepper, tomato, leek, fennel, beetroot, onions), having a couple of containers of chopped raw veggies, cooking some extra meat or fish, having some hard boiled eggs ready to go.

You are really only limited by your imagination!

What’s your favourite mix in a salad bowl?