I’ve never been that much of a salad fan, always feeling that by opting for a salad I would be missing out. But I’ve had a few great salads recently and have found them really filling and simply delicious. Here’s my version of one of those salads ….
This salad is really easy to make although will take about 45 mins to put together as some of the ingredients need to be cooked. You can mix and match your ingredients based on your taste and what you provisions you have available.
The below ingredients list is enough for 3 adults to have a good portion. Increase or decrease the ingredients accordingly.
- 1/2 medium sized butternut squash diced into 1cm chunks
- 2 large chicken breasts diced into 2cm chunks
- 100g dried quinoa
- 1 small red onion finely sliced
- 5 cherry sized tomatoes, halved
- 20 courgette ribbons (use a vegetable peeler)
- 1 Little Gem lettuce (each leaf sliced lengthways, then each half cut into 1cm strips)
- A couple of springs of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- Olive oil or coconut oil
- Salt and pepper
- Salad dressing
Prepare the butternut squash by cutting it half lengthways and scrapping out the seeds. I always used to peel the skin off of butternut squash before roasting but I now just leave it on. Cut the squash to slices to then dice into approx. 1cm chunks. Place the chunks on a baking tray or oven dish and drizzle with olive oil or melted coconut oil, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast at 200c degrees for around 30 mins. Keep an eye on the squash and move around on the tray a couple of times during cooking. Once cooked place aside to cool.
Whilst the squash is roasting, slice the chicken breast into 2cm chunks. Fry in olive oil or coconut oil until lightly browned.
To cook the quinoa, bring a small pan of water to the boil and add the quinoa once boiled, cook for 12-15 mins. Once cooked, drain with a sieve and set aside to cool.
In the meantime, slice the red onion, lettuce, tomatoes, courgette and flat leaf parsley and add to a large bowl.
Add some of your salad dressing to the bowl and using your hands massage the salad dressing into the ingredients. Once cooled, add the quinoa and mix into the other ingredients. Add a little more dressing if you think that the salad needs it.
When the squash and chicken are ready, add them to the salad bowl and gently mix together and serve.
Rather than chicken you could add lots of alternative meat options or fish. Or perhaps not include meat or fish at all. Avocado is an obvious choice to add this this salad if you have a nice ripe one available.
I hope that you enjoy!
Clean Living Clare 