Rachel MacDonald

Warning: bragging ahead!

Seriously, this is one of the best salads I’ve ever made. Hands down. No contest. I thought it was a bit of a random concoction at the time of making it, but all the ingredients worked perfectly together and I could have gone back for seconds thirds (which, thankfully, wouldn’t be frowned upon for once).

I encourage you to give this one a go sometime – and for the vego’s out there, you can easily change up the chicken for spiced roast sweet potato or some seasoned tofu.

The key ingredients

1 organic/ free range chicken breast fillet
1 purple carrot (Fast fact: did you know purple carrots are a superfood and can help with weight loss and lowering cancer risk?)
5 prunes, cut in halves
Paprika
Cumin
Cayenne pepper
1 lemon
1/2 avocado, diced (I used the most amazingly creamy Reed avocado that I bought from the organic markets)
Rocket
Chia seeds
Natural yoghurt
Mint

Pulling it all together

1. Cut up chicken. In a bowl, mix cumin, paprika, small dash of cayenne pepper and juice from half a lemon and add chicken to bowl; coat chicken with spices.
2. Thread chicken onto skewers, place on metal cooking rack with tray and broil (grill) for about 6 minutes, then turn and grill for 6 minutes on other side.
3. Grate purple carrot (I bought mine at Coles – if you can’t find one, use raw beetroot instead) then add rocket, prunes and diced avo to plate.
4. Add chicken to top and sprinkle with chia seeds and a dash of paprika.
5. Dress lightly with a mix of lemon, celtic sea salt, pepper, olive oil and grated lemon rind.
6. On the side, have a small bowl of yoghurt/ mint/ lemon juice dressing (not shown) to add to the salad while eating.

+ I’d love to know what you think of the salads so far and if you plan on making any. Are these recipes useful for you as a reference?

The key ingredients

Kale scraps (from green juice)
Mixed romaine lettuce leaves
Parmesan
1/2 cup of chickpeas (I used a can this time round)
Pepitas and sunflower seeds
Tamari
Kent pumpkin
Coconut oil
Curry powder
Turmeric
Coriander
Celtic sea salt
Olive oil/ lemon

Pulling it all together

1. Preheat oven. Chop pumpkin in medium sized chunks, dress with coconut oil and a loose sprinkling of curry powder and turmeric; roast for 30 minutes on 180 degrees.
2. In a frying pan, toast pepitas and sunflower seeds with tamari until lightly browned (they should taste crunchy).
3. Lay out lettuce leaves on bottom of plate. I like to find a use for the leftover kale/ spinach/ apple scraps from my green juices so I add these to the plate as well (this is optional of course).
4. Layer the rest of the ingredients and dress with a mix of olive oil/ lemon juice and a small amount of grated lemon rind. Yum!

After mentioning that we’ve been upping the ante on the salad front, lovely Jess from Ela Hawke Vintage asked if I would be doing a ‘salad inspiration’ blog post and I thought, why not do five of them?

Every day this week I’ll be featuring one our salad creations to inspire you to incorporate more green goodness into your life without getting bored with the same old, same old.

So without any further ado, here’s the first cab off the rank – Rocket, Brown Rice & Mint Salad!

The key ingredients

Rocket
Watercress
Mint
Sweet chilli (or red capsicum)
Cherry tomatoes
1 cup of brown rice
Handful of chia seeds

Cooking brown rice in 5 easy steps

1. Bring 4 cups of water to the boil in a large pot.
2. Rinse 1 cup of rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds.
3. Add rice to pot and turn heat to medium; boil for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, pour rice into a strainer over the sink.  Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat.
5. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes.

Pulling it all together

1. Season brown rice with celtic sea salt and a small amount of olive oil. Add this to plate first.
2. Pile up other ingredients on top and dress with a lemon/ olive oil/ balsamic vinegar dressing and a sprinkle of celtic sea salt. Devour.

ADDITIONAL EXTRAS: Salt & Vinegar Kale Chips

I’ve made kale chips (with celtic/ Himalayan sea salt) on numerous occasions but for some reason had never thought to add to vinegar element until I saw this post from Kelly at Design Crush.

Hello deliciousness! You could add these to the salad above for a real flavour explosion… or just scoff them on their own for a super healthy snack.

* Kelly used balsamic vinegar but I love the ‘tang’ of white vinegar, so I used that instead.

+ Finally, if – like me – living healthily, mindfully and with insane amounts of energy is on your mind, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy of Jess Ainscough’s wildly popular e-book ‘Make Peace With Your Plate’ (just click the image to the right of the screen). So inspiring!