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Watermelon Wedge Salad (vegan/gf recipe) | seasonal plant-based recipes via The Sweet Miscellany Blog

Wedges of juicy summer watermelon are topped with a tangle of sprouts, pistachios, and mint dressed in a simple lime dressing. This vegan and gluten free no-cook salad is perfect for the summer season!

First things first, happy summer solstice! Today is officially the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. It’s a time for celebrating life and embracing not only the sun that gives us warmth but the one that lights our souls. We often forget what fuels us and gives us inspiration. It is often easy to stray from your dreams and become lazy and sedentary in the day to day. I’ve been trying to hold on to that fire lately and rediscover what my passions in life are. What better day to do this than today?

I decided to post a solstice inspired salad today full of summer vibes. Like many of the things I post, this beauty has been swimming around in my head for a couple of weeks. I wanted to create a watermelon wedge salad with a tangle of sprouts on top. Throughout this week various other salad add-ins popped into my head. The result is what you’ll find below. It always amazes me how my posts come together. You would think I’ve always got food on the brain. And actually, you would be right 😉

I’m really digging this salad. It is one of the best I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve eaten tons of salads! Due to the fragility of the sprouts, I would wait to dress the salad until right before you serve it. The acid in the lime juice tends to wilt the sprouts rather quickly. I used buckwheat sprouts because it is what I had on hand, but feel free to experiment. I added a bit of fresh mint to the salad because I love it with watermelon and I have a giant pot of it growing outside. If you can’t get your hands on any, basil, tarragon, or lemon balm would be absolutely delicious.

Watermelon Wedge Salad

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 8 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

8 small/medium wedges of watermelon
zest of 1 small lime
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
1/4 tsp pure maple syrup (or honey or agave)
1/4 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1 tbsp hulled hemp seeds
1 tbsp julienned fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
2 cups sprouts/microgreens of your choosing
smoked sea salt or other flaky sea salt to serve

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Instructions

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the lime zest, juice, olive oil, and maple syrup. Add in the pistachios, coconut, hemp seeds, and mint and toss to coat in the dressing. Add the sprouts last, carefully tossing to combine everything. Serve a tangle of the sprout salad on top of each watermelon wedge. Garnish with a pinch of flaky sea salt and a bit of mint.

Makes 8 side servings/wedges.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Category: salad

I sometimes find myself feeling a sort of guilt when buying things at the store I know are ridiculously easy to make at home. Usually I will stand and stare at something, say for instance almond milk, for ages while having an internal debate in my head. I’ll tell myself I don’t need to buy it because I can make it easily at home. But then I will ask myself if I will find the time and energy to do it. And then the debate will go back and forth usually ending up with me giving in and buying the item in question. This happens at least once per grocery trip if not multiple times.

Do you ever feel this way? It has kept me from buying things like hummus, crackers, and cookies in the past because I know I can make my own versions at home that are much more to my liking. Not to mention they will be fresher, healthier, and usually cost less money. It seems like a win-win situation, right? The only catch is finding the time in your schedule to do it.

A couple of weeks ago, after being consistently sick of the odd taste and list of added stabilizers/preservatives in store-bought nut milks, I gave in and decided to make my own for two weeks in a row. I made sure to put it on my calendar so I wouldn’t forget to soak the nuts ahead of time. I’ve made almond milk in the past but this time I was inspired to change it up by this beautiful post by Lindsey. She made a really creamy version with the addition of macadamias which got me thinking. The first version I made was a combination of almonds and cashews because it is what I had on hand and I knew cashews would lend their creaminess to the mix. It was great and admittedly the first time I have willingly drank nut milk on its own. The next batch was an attempt to get the creamiest, smoothest nut milk with the combination of cashews and macadamias. It worked beautifully and it is what I’m sharing with you here.

I know it might seem silly to share such a simple recipe/method but I figured you deserved to have this nut milk in your life. I would highly recommend adding a dash of cinnamon and cardamom if you want to drink it on its own or add it to coffee/tea. It is so tasty and deliciously creamy that I almost wanted to put a big straw in the carafe and drink it straightaway after straining. Since macadamias are a little harder to find (and more expensive!) you can always use blanched almonds in their place and it will still be a killer nut milk. Let me know in the comments if you have any other favorite combos!
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