Pear and black bean salad

Looking back at the last few posts i'm detecting a slight lack of cake and sweetness!

Ok I will stop with the salads soon…I promise…maybe! I am really enjoying salad experiments ( I also have another I want to share but maybe I will need to reign that back for now) and just want to share the best flavour combos and pretty platters with you.

There will definitely be much more cake and Christmas goodies over the next couple of weeks so maybe this little episode of savoury dishes is a subconscious statement to address the balance!

So back to the salad...

In previous years I was never big into salads, I was also never big into combining fruit with savoury dishes (I always struggled to get my head around apple sauce with pork and cranberry saice with turkey when I was a child)…but all that has since changed.

Apples and pears make great salad partners for this time of year, plus salads are a great way to use up some leftovers,  I happened to have a small amount of black beans needing using after making some brownie slices. Red cabbage is also one of my favourite ingredients simply because it so colourful and so quick and easy to add to a salad or stir fry for a great texture. I also find red cabbage stays fresh in the fridge for ages so I end up using it for so many meals.

Simple fresh and colourful lunch or side dish, so pretty and guaranteed to put a smile of your face and a swing in your step (hopefully!) Plus if you like, since you've been so virtuous, you can follow up with a cookie or two...

Recipe: Pear and black bean salad

Ingredients

serves 1

½ cup red cabbage- sliced thinly
1 pear cubed
½ cup cooked sweet corn
½ cup cooked black beans
Scant ¼ cup red onion- sliced thinly

Dressing: 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbs lemon juice, ½ tsp wholegrain mustard.

Salt, pepper, chilli flakes and chia seeds (optional) to serve

Method

Prepare all veggies and toss together in the dressing.  Add a little salt and pepper to taste plus a few chia seeds to serve for an extra boost if desired.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

or tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Apple chutney salad

It seems strange now to not be writing ‘DAY ____’ before each post! Vegan Mofo is now all over…oats are gone forever? No, never!  I have just realised that I didn't put together a monthly round-up for October! My head has been all over the place...forgive me!

Halloween has been and gone and we are already in November with the cold winds and crispy leaves. This is a busy month for me, so many friends and family with birthdays in the lead up to Christmas… I have two 30^th birthday’s to attend this weekend alone!

It’s also a month of some contemplation, planning ahead and looking forward to the New Year that will be with us before we know it…a few changes may be on the horizon.

After yesterday’s Halloween lunch (I ate so much pizza) today wanted to be a lighter day!  I ate my usual apple-oats for breakfast but going lighter on the oats and adding lots more fruit for the topping.

A salad lunch seemed a good option and the sweet apple chutney flavours were a lovely seasonal twist. You could of course use homemade chutney which would be even more delicious, but for speed and because I was having a ‘what do I have in the fridge’ moment I opted for a ready-made version. I appreciate that chutney does have a high sugar content, but for the quantities in this dish and the amount of healthy veggies we have, it was a compromise I was happy to make.  I love the caramelised onions and red cabbage in this salad- my favourite way to eat these veggies.

I am really enjoying salads and would like to experiment with some more seasonal versions…what is your favourite winter salad combination?

Recipe: Apple chutney salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

3-4 handfuls of mixed leaves (I used peashoots, spinach, rocket)

2 leeks chopped into rings

1 cup loosely packed red cabbage

½ cup green beans (I used frozen soy beans)

1/3 cup chunky apple sauce

2 tbs fruit chutney (mine was a mix of apple pear and plum)

2 tbs pumpkin seeds

Method

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the leek and red cabbage for 5 minutes.

Add the soy beans and pumpkin seeds and continue to cook for another 5 mins.

Add all remaining ingredients and cook for a final 1-2 minutes to heat through.

Serve on the bed of salad leaves.

  

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.
For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.