Chop Rainbow Salad
We’ve all been told that we should eat the rainbow when selecting vegetables to put on our plates, but why? Because eating a variety of colourful plants ensures we are getting a vast variety of nutrients for our bodies. What I love most about this salad is when you mix this beautiful rainbowl together it turns into the messiest bowl of deliciousness!
The key to this recipe is having good knife skills. The finer the better and the easier to eat. There’s nothing more embarrassing than sitting across from your colleague trying to fit the entire length of a spinach leaf in your mouth…
INGREDIENTS
SERVES 2 COOKING TIME 20 mins
2 cups baby spinach (packed)
200g cherry tomatoes
1 cup cooked beetroot (see notes)
2 carrots
1 yellow capsicum
1 cup canned organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed (see notes)
1 cup microwavable brown rice & quinoa (see notes)
AVO DRESSING
1 ripe avocado
2 heaped tbsp Greek yoghurt
1 handful spinach leaves
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1/2 a juicy lemon)
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. sea salt
METHOD
This salad is all about the knife skills. Finely chop spinach; quarter the tomatoes, cut carrots into match sticks before finely chopping and finely chop the capsicum and beetroot (see image).
You can either toss the vegetables together with the chickpeas, brown rice and quinoa or assemble them like I have like a rainbow between 2 bowls.
To make the avo dressing combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth, scraping the edges down in between. The dressing will be thick and light.
Serve salads with 2 big dollops of avo dressing.
GEORGIE’S NOTES
Add shredded chicken, smoked salmon, tuna or boiled eggs for extra protein.
Swap for seasonal substitutes depending on the time of year. You can use corn instead of yellow capsicum, red capscium instead of tomato, purple cabbage instead of beetroot.
You can buy cryovaced beetroot that has been freshly cooked and sealed with no preservatives in the fresh food section of supermarkets. This product is great because cooking fresh beetroot takes time and can be very messy!
I use organic chickpeas because there is a significant difference in quality, taste and texture and only a 30 cents or so difference.
You can use any type of grain in this salad and any combination from brown rice, quinoa, millet, cous cous, farro etc.
