Winter Salad Wednesday

JAN 24 2018

I was always asked and complimented in the lunch room about my salads. Often I heard that people don't bother with salad because it's boring or in the winter they prefer something warmer or more comforting. Ummm, salads are anything but boring nor do they have to be cold. My all time fave meal is a warm salad! I have a few variations of my warm salads and thought it best to share one every week for the next little while, thus WINTER SALAD WEDNESDAY was born! 

The first salad I'd like to introduce you to is my Beet and Sweet Potato Salad. These 2 flavours just compliment one another super well.

For this salad you'll want to use Arugula as your lettuce.

Beets - if you are doing a single serve salad one medium sized beet is fine. For a weeks worth of lunches go with 4 to 5 medium sized beets. 

Sweet Potato - single serve salad 1 small or half of a medium sweet potato. For a weeks worth of lunches one medium sweet potato will do.

Red Onion - play by ear depending on how much onion you prefer in a salad.

Walnuts

Peel your beets and sweet potato. I cut the beets and sweet potato into rounds and roast both in avocado oil at 350F for 15 to 25 minutes. I prefer my sweet potato to be a bit firm still so I guess you could say I undercook it, so I only cook my veggies for 15 mins. 

The red onion is best raw in this salad versus sautéed.

For the dressing I use avocado oil (olive oil is fine too) and balsamic vinegar. Make sure the balsamic you are buying doesn't have the "ingredient" Caramel Colour in it. It's a refined sugar you just don't need if trying to eat salad for health conscious reasons. A dressing of an olive or avocado oil with fresh lemon also works! If I'm using that dressing combo I top the salad with a bit of sea salt to compliment the tartness of the lemon. I guesstimate on the oil and balsamic, always go with less to taste test. You can always add more if needed but you can't remove if you've added to much. Plus no one wants salad soup.

Top salad with walnuts.

Crumbled goats cheese is also a nice added taste for non-vegans.

I also actually tried out a new dressing combo for this salad after taking this picture that worked sooo well! Avocado oil and mustard (literally just squirt the mustard right on the salad and toss it), then I topped the salad with a couple teaspoons of sauerkraut. So yum!

Let me know if you try this salad out and what dressing variation you used!