salad Archives | Page 19 of 22

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

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

Cooked sorghum is tossed with cherry tomatoes, olives, arugula, oregano, and basil for a Mediterranean inspired grain salad. Fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic lend flavor to this gluten free and vegan salad.

When I started this blog four (!!!) years ago, it was to be a creative space where I could share what was going on in my kitchen and in the world of Sweet Miscellany baked goods and product testing. Over these past four years, the posts have ebbed and flowed along with my interests but the blog has always remained my own personal corner of the internet where I can share and create. When life seemed unhappy, I would get in the kitchen and come up with a new post to nourish both my tummy and my soul. These posts have seen me through a lot and will hopefully continue to do so for a very long time.

In the past couple of months, my presence here dwindled to a frightening new low. I was vastly unhappy in my “new” job and the toxic effects of this started to seep into every part of my life. My mental and physical health were suffering and I started feeling trapped. I barely had the energy to go to work and yoga let alone cook for myself or photograph blog posts. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until one day recently when my mom told me I just didn’t look like myself. She said I seemed so defeated and exhausted. So, I decided to fix the problem. In a little over a week, I’ll be “retiring” from Whole Foods. I’m going to take the time to focus on my dreams and the health coaching program I’m in. I don’t want to waste anymore time in jobs that make me unhappy and don’t align with my dreams and goals.

My brother sent me a quote recently in which an author is describing her career. It couldn’t have been more appropriate: “I do think that you know it when you’re not living the life you were meant to live. You have to find the people you are meant to find and do the things you are meant to do and do them as well as you can. This is what you owe the world; you owe the world your best self.”

Isn’t that amazing?! You owe the world your BEST self. My intention and mantra for now is going to be just that. I owe the world my best self. My best self is going to start using this creative space again to share recipes and other miscellany that will hopefully inspire others in a positive way. And, we’ll start with this Mediterranean-inspired sorghum salad!

Mediterranean Sorghum Salad

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 cup sorghum, rinsed
2 cups filtered water
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large garlic clove, finely minced
juice and zest of 1 large lemon
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup pitted olives, roughly chopped
1/3 cup soaked & rinsed sunflower seeds
1 packed tbsp chopped fresh oregano
packed 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
4–5 packed cups baby arugula
sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

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Instructions

Combine the water and sorghum in a pot. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce it to a simmer, stir the sorghum, and cover the pot. Cook the sorghum for 45 to 55 minutes until it is soft but with a bit of chew. Drain any excess water.

While the sorghum is cooking, prepare all of your other ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice/zest, and sea salt and black pepper to taste. Whisk well to combine. In a separate medium-sized bowl, combine the tomatoes, olives, sunflower seeds, oregano, basil, and arugula. Add the cooked sorghum to the large bowl with the dressing, then toss to combine. Allow the sorghum to cool to room temperature until moving on with the remaining steps. To speed this process up, you can place the bowl in the fridge or freezer.

Add the remaining ingredients to the sorghum and toss to combine. Taste the salad then adjust with more salt and pepper as needed. Can be served chilled or at room temperature.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Notes

I soaked my sunflower seeds for an hour to soften them up a bit and make them easier on my digestive system, but if you are short on time, feel free to omit this step!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Category: salad