raw grated salad with orange dressing

I remember a while ago I had a request to post more salad recipes.  I think now that Spring has sprung in sunny Brisbane, Australia, it feels much more like salad weather and so, I’m finding more salad inspiration again!  I do find that grated salads are a good way to eat a larger amount of vegetables and they are colourful too, which is visually appealing and they say it’s good to ‘eat the rainbow’ to get a variety of vitamins & goodness!

There are many variations to this salad depending on what’s in season/you have in your fridge.  A few toasted pepitas, sunflower seeds and/or chopped nuts would be nice on top too (unless you want the AIP version).

Raw grated salad with orange dressing

1 medium beetroot, peeled
1 large carrot, peeled
1 zucchini
1 apple
1-2 handfuls kale
1-2 handfuls baby spinach leaves
1 ruby grapefruit
1-2 avocados

Dressing
Juice 1/2 orange
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tsp mustard (leave out for AIP)
1 tsp apple cigar vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Grate beetroot, carrot, zucchini and apple.
2. Finely chop or blitz in a food processor, kale and spinach.
3. Mix all vegetables in large bowl.
4. Cut skin off grapefruit and dice, stir through salad mix.
5. Top with diced avocado and dressing.

For dressing:
In a small jar shake together all dressing ingredients, adjust to taste.

Serves 3-4

And if there is any left, eat the leftovers for lunch the next day, that’s what I did:

char grilled pumpkin & pomegrante salad with yoghurt dressing

As most of you know, I’d choose sweet potato over pumpkin, but I was given a huge fresh pumpkin from my parent’s-in-law’s farm on the Easter weekend, so when asked to bring a side dish to a friend’s place for dinner, it seemed like the obvious solution.  The pomegranates add a pop of colour.  I also dolloped a yoghurt dressing over it just before serving (although this does make it non-paleo & AIP).

• 1/4 large pumpkin (about 1 kg)
• seeds of 1 pomegranate
• greens to serve
• olive oil for char grilling

1. Slice the pumpkin into slivers about 5mm thick.  Brush with olive oil.
2. Char grill on hot plate or BBQ until tender but not mushy (actually the first batch I did in the oven and they turned to mush…. then into soup!).
3. Remove and cool on cake airing tray.
4. When cooler layer greens and pumpkin on serving tray and sprinkle with pomegranates.

Can be served warm or cold.

Yoghurt dressing (not AIP or paleo)

• 1 cup greek yoghurt
• 1 clove garlic grated
• juice of a lemon
• salt & pepper

1.  Mix ingredients and dollop over the salad when serving.

Sweet potato and herb salad

Given you all know how much I love sweet potato, here is another way to have it! I made this salad a month or so ago to take to dinner at a friends, place and I make variations of it all the time. I really liked the mixed herbs I used for the dinner party (Thai basil, basil mint & coriander) but sometimes I do it with just English spinach leaves. It’s the kind of salad that’s keeps well and can be eaten hot or cold.

* Adjust quantities depending on how big a salad you’d like
Salad
Sweet potatoes (at least 2)
2 Tbs coconut oil
Mixed herbs eg basil, mint, coriander
English spinach
Shallots (chopped)

Chop sweet potato into desired shapes, toss in coconut oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven at 180C/350F for about 30-40mins. Cool slightly.

Toss with the rest of the salad ingredients.

Dressing – you can use any dressing you like. This is a pretty common one for me:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs caramelised balsamic (omit for AIP)
Good squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove grated
Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a jar, shake well and pour over salad immediately.

pretty peach & greens salad

This just looked so pretty tonight, I couldn’t wait to eat it with my sweet potato hash & chicken sauteed with onion, bacon and chicken stock.

• few handfuls of mixed rocket & english spinach
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup mint
• 1 cup watercress.
• 1 grated carrot
• 1/2 grated beetroot
• 1 peach, chopped.

1. Toss all the ingredients in a bowl.  You can sprinkle toasted coconut flakes on top or nuts if you can eat them.

poached chicken, sauteed mushrooms & herbed salad (AIP)

Looking for an easy dinner?

Here is one of those meals that can easily be whipped up for a mid-week meal, but feels a bit more special.  The challenge I’m finding on the auto-immune protocol (elimination diet) is variety.  When a number of usual go-to ingredients are no longer go-to, it is a bit challenging!  I have to say though, it is forcing me to be a bit more creative, and I am feeling better and even lost a few kg so that’s great.

 For the chicken: 

1. Bring about 500ml of chicken stock (see recipe) to the boil.
2. Place 2 chicken breasts in the stock, reduce temperature & simmer for 4-5mins. (Lid on)
3. Turn stove off and leave the chicken in the stock with the lid on for about 15 mins.
4. Remove and slice or shred the chicken.

For the mushrooms:

1. Pour about 3 Tbsp olive oil in the pan. When hot fry 1 clove of grated garlic.
2. Then add 300g chopped mushrooms (I used portabellos) + 1 tray of mixed gourmet mushrooms. Sautee.  Add more oil and a little bit of chicken stock.
3. Cook until soft.  Season with salt.

For the salad:

• few handfuls of mixed salad leaves
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup mint
• 1 cup watercress.
• 1/2 granny smith apple, chopped.
• 2 sweet potatoes roasted (see my tips here) in olive oil and salt.
• 1 avocado chopped

Toss all the ingredients in a bowl to serve.

Recipe serves 2-3 with enough for salad left-overs.

kale, beet and apple ‘slaw’ with avocado ‘mayo’

Are you looking for something to do with that kale you bought on the weekend? Try this kale-slaw.   I didn’t toss the salad in the dressing as the beetroot makes it all turn purple, but it did taste good one it was all mixed through.  This recipe is auto-immune protocol compliant.  If you’re not following an AIP diet, then it would taste great with some nuts tossed through too and/ore with a ‘normal’ or paleo mayo.  Then it would be a bit like a woldorf salad.

For the recipe….