All tagged eat the rainbow
A perfect warm salad for when it gets colder and you need some warmth. The addition of pomegranate seeds also makes it more wintery in my eyes. Squash contains beta-carotenes which our body converts to vitamin A to help support our immune system.
Buckwheat is a gluten free seed and is very useful in a gluten-free diet as it gives a grain-like texture. It’s slightly nutty in taste and cooks in les time than quinoa or rice. For the health benefits see tip below. This salad is also a good way to top up your calcium levels. You’ll find calcium in the buckwheat, tahini, sunflower seeds and feta cheese.
For anyone that grows their own or has family that grows their own vegetables you will be very familiar with how quickly you can suddenly have far too many courgettes (or zucchini as it's known in the States and Australia) to deal with! A couple of years ago I planted for too many courgette plants and I was making everything with courgettes in from cakes to hummus to curries and salads. Well you'll be pleased to know that lots of our recipes contain courgette and here we've compiled them all in one place just for you. The only thing that's missing from the recipes below is a courgette cake - but don't worry we're working on one!!
We love black rice. It is higher in fibre than the other rices. It also contains some protein and so this salad will fill you up and keep you satisfied all day long. This is perfect on its own for lunch or you could serve in the evening alongside some grilled salmon, chicken or a BBQ.
This was inspired by a jar of Brindisa Monjardin organic lentils. The lentils looked so pretty that I wanted them to be the star of the salad. Do use whatever lentils are your favourite - although if you do find the Brindisa brand then I urge you to give them a go. This salad takes minutes to make and can be enjoyed on its own or alongside some grilled salmon or chicken.
We love salads at The Health Boost and nearly every day will have one for lunch and in the summer for supper too. However there's no limp lettuce and starving ourselves with our salads. The key to a good salad is to get the right balance of protein, healthy fats and some slow release healthy carbohydrates so that you aren't hungry again by 3pm. We include lots and lots of vegetables in our salads as we love them and recognise their health benefits. We hope this selection of salads will provide you with some inspiration. We change our salads weekly, depending on what's seasonal and what delights our vegetable box brings. Have fun experimenting with your salads! If you want to learn how to create the perfect salad we have a separate article How to create the perfect salad
Falafels are one of my favourite “street foods”. I first discovered them when was quite young travelling with my family in Israel. They are also a staple of Lebanese cuisine that I love so much. I have tried many ways to make them and recently read about making them using dry chickpeas rather than tinned and so I thought I’d share. Falafels are versatile, nourishing, and full of plant based protein goodness. Perfect for your vegetarian friends! The tahini dressing is simple, creamy and tasty.
North African classic flavours and spices have always been some of my favourites as I grew up with them. Harissa, cumin, sumac mixed with the sweet and sour of lemon and honey easily elevate a very simple, fresh and quick to rustle up salad that brings summer to your table. Give it a try. Also works really well if you add some grated beetroot.
This is a lovely hearty salad with lots of protein so great if you need to refuel after a bout of exercise. Quinoa is a great vegetarian protein source as it contains all the amino acids needed by the body.
We always talk about eating the rainbow - incorporating lots of different colour foods, especially vegetables, in your diet. The benefits of each colour is to provide your body with different phytonutrients. This pepper stew includes red, yellow and green peppers. So many people just reach for their favourite pepper each week so we decided to celebrate all the colours with this stew. We also added both a red and yellow chilli to again increase diversity.
During the winter months we need warming comfort food and a risotto is perfect. This is lighter than a traditional risotto and uses buckwheat groats rather than a risotto rice. Buckwheat is a seed that is related to rhubarb and is naturally gluten free. See the tip below for the health benefits of buckwheat. This risotto is made with mushrooms. In the photo I have used chestnut, but use any kind you can find - a packet of mixed wild mushrooms if you can find would be perfect.
Soups are your best friend when it comes to adding more vegetables to your family’s diet. Packed with autumn’s best high fibre vegetables and warming spices, this soup can be stored in the fridge or even frozen, ready to be warmed up and enjoyed with a slice of toasted sourdough.
This might not be a salad in the traditional sense since it’s warm - but as the months turn cooler, adding warm elements to your salad makes sense. This is how I prefer to eat my salads in the autumn and winter. Sometimes I add just one warm element - or in the instance of this salad I have added a couple - including a spicy kick that’s guaranteed to warm you through.
Soups are a fantastic way to add more vegetables to your or your families diet. Carrots are naturally sweet and with the addition of oranges this is perfect for kids of all ages! It goes down a treat with our families.
After my recent trip to California, where I had lots of salads, I was inspired to make my own Californian salad. I have used ingredients that were used in many of the salads I tried - kale, quinoa, feta, avocado and almonds. It seemed typical of many of the salads to contain fruit. I am not a fan of fruit in my salad so instead chose to add lemon to a dressing and include some fruit that way!
I love the lebanese salad tabbouleh and it works brilliantly with buckwheat rather than bulgar wheat. Buckwheat is a gluten free grain despite the name so this salad is a fabulous gluten free alternative to tabbouleh. This might seem a lot of parsley - but tabbouleh is traditionally a parsley salad with a small amount of bulgar wheat. Parsley is packed with vitamin C and antioxidants and so very good for us.
Deliciously spiced, easy to make and very green these falafel are sure to be a hit. Falafel are traditionally deep fried, but we have baked them with just a brush of olive oil to make them healthier. We have spiced them using a Zhoug paste from Belazu that is seasoned with coriander and jalapeño. It’s easily available from supermarkets.
This dish uses camargue red rice, which has some great health benefits and is even more nutritious than brown rice (see tip below). We have added choirzo to this dish as it goes so well, however to make this dish vegetarian simply leave it out - it will still be delicious. Look out for nitrate/nitrite free chorizo in your supermarket. This is a great dish for using up a glut of tomatoes or turning large and sometimes rather tasteless supermarket tomatoes into something delicious.
I love a salad. In the spring and summer I make sure I have one at least one a day and in the winter I just warm up a few of the ingredients to make a warm salad. To stop myself getting bored I am always changing the ingredients. My salads are never boring with just lettuce and cucumber - I make sure I pack them with lots of delicious vegetables. They are always colourful and contain at least four different vegetables or herbs.
