Sweet Potato Salad

After a classic Greek Salad, this is one of my family's favourite salads to make. We make it for family get togethers and everyone loves it! It's also a good way to dress up sweet potatoes for someone who doesn't love them plain as chips. 

Ingredients:

3 Sweet potatoes

olive oil

1/2 pack low-fat feta cheese

1 package of spinach

3 tbsp pumpkin seeds (roasted)

1 lime

1/2 cup of sweet chilli sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame seeds (roasted)

The recipe is not my own, I got it from Sarah Percy, a daughter of someone my mom worked for, and she published it in the Guardian. The only thing my family does differently is add less feta, she uses an entire package, whereas we only use half to reduce some of the sodium.  

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F and on a baking sheet, place peeled, sweet potatoes cut into discs

2. Drizzle with olive oil and cook for about 30 minutes or until soft

3. In a non-stick frying pan, roast the sesame seeds until they start to brown and then roast the pumpkin seeds until they brown and start to pop

4. In a small bowl, mix lime juice, sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce. Mix in the roasted sesame seeds

5. The salad assembly is in layers. First, layer the bottom of the bowl with spinach, then place a few sweet potato slices on top, and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds and feta. On top of this layer, drizzle some dressing. Make another layer and drizzle again, until you have used up all of the ingredients.

Enjoy!

-A

Feature Friday: Gluten Free Quinoa Salad

This is our first ever feature Friday post! Our friend Heidi loves to eat healthy and experiment in the kitchen too, and she shared this awesome quinoa salad recipe with us. It looks delicious! Thanks Heidi! 

^^ look at all these fresh veggies ^^ 

Here's Heidi's recipe: 

Salad: 

- 2 cups cooked quinoa

- 1 can of chickpeas 

- 1 bunch of cilantro 

- 1 large green pepper 

- 1/2 of a red and 1/2 of a yellow pepper 

- 3 celery stalks

Dressing: 

- 2 part lemon juice, 1 part olive oil

- 2 tablespoons of honey- heat in the microwave for 10 seconds so it's easier to mix 

- 1 tablespoon of mustard

- chilli flakes or fresh chilies to taste

Directions: 

Cook 2 cups of quinoa in 4 cups of water over low heat. Chop veggies to desired size. Allow quinoa to cool and mix together!! It makes a ton of salad but it is really tasty! 

The recipe is gluten free, packed with protein, and is great as a side or a meal on it's own! 

Enjoy!

Heidi :) 

The Green and Beige Salad

This is probably one of the ugliest salads since there is a serious lack of colour as it is completely only beige and green, but do not discount it based on that; it is very healthy and easy to make on days you are in a rush. I love eating this salad as a complete meal for dinner when I am rushing home from school and off to work and it makes great use of any leftover chicken you may have. I used to make this recipe with couscous and to be honest it tasted a lot better with that but to increase the nutritional value I substituted it with quinoa and only use that in the recipe now.

Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce (around 6 pieces off the stalk or if you have a premix you can use about half of the package)

1/2 of a leftover chicken breast (or if I'm making fresh chicken I like to season it with Jerk Seasoning)
~10 Croutons
Half of a large cucumber slices
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 tbsp olive oil
Lemon Herb Seasoning-I like to use brands with no added salt

Toss this all into a large bowl and eat! Quick, simple and healthy!

-A

Taco Salad

This is a recipe Mel and I made when we lived together at her parent’s house and we were trying to encourage her parents to enjoy eating healthy. It went over pretty well, they enjoyed the taste (especially the added chip part), but, at the end, they asked if “this was it” for dinner. I don’t think they were used to eating just a salad for a full meal so we might have to work a little harder to convince them! Mel and I found it filling and a great alternative to the typical taco salad recipes you see, which most of the time include sour cream or salsa. When I went back home, I made it for my family and they complained as I was making it that it didn’t have all of the good things like sour cream in it, but once they tasted it they loved it, and now we have it as a frequent meal.Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce
One can of Chick Peas
One Jalapeno
2 large Tomatoes (or a dozen grape tomatoes)
One large Cucumber
Olive Oil
One lime
A quarter of an onion
1/2 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Chopped Cilantro
Tortilla Chips

Step 1: Cut up leftover chicken breasts into cubes, or if starting from scratch, fry or bake chicken breasts with some chili powder and cumin, and allow to cool

Step 2: Wash and spin the romaine lettuce, and break it up into bits into a large bowl. Rinse off the chick peas and spin dry as well, adding to the bowl.

Step 3: Cut up the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeno and add it to the bowl. The taste of the salad is much better if you cut up 2 large tomatoes and let their juices disperse throughout the salad, but, if you are concerned about sogginess and want leftovers the next day, you can use a dozen grape tomatoes and leave them uncut.

Step 4: Add the red chili flakes and top with the lime juice and about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil

Step 5: After tossing the salad, serve. Have each person take about 5-6 tortilla chips (even better if they are the lime coated chips) and crunch up into their bowl

-A