There are salads, and then there are SALAAAAADS.

This time of the year, I’m ll about salads. The vegetables ARE more delicious, the hot weather and sun just makes me want to eat fresh and clean food in general, and I have overall just found a new satisfaction for… salads! There are salads and there are saaaalaaads though. I’m not talking about the salads that consist of lettuce, cucumber and boring tomatoes. No the salads I’m talking about are colorful, satisfying, nutritional, tasteful and vegan. Today I’m not giving you one recipe, I’m giving you three. Because today I want to teach you how you make a simple but yet delicious lunch salad with ingredients your have in your fridge and pantry.

How to assemble a vegan satisfying lunch salad:

• The Carb Source: what carb source do you want to have? Check our pantry and see what you have, because the variations are endless. Bulgur, quinoa, pasta, protein pasta, rice? You decide. Pick this as the base and cook after the instructions on the package.

• The Protein Source: Since we are making vegan salads we don’t use any animalistic products but we have a big variations of different kinds of beans, lentils and chickpeas we can use! Otherwise, there are for instance tempeh, tofu or falafel available too.

• The Fat Source: we will add dressing too but that doesn’t really count as the main fat source. What we really would like to add is avocado, olives, some kind of vegan cheese and/or nuts.

• Vegetables: the vegetables make it a salad. Use different kinds of veggies in different flavors, colors and textures. Take what you have in your fridge.

• The Final Touch: this is the dressing, herbs and seasoning. In some cases you can add vegan cheese too. I personally most often just use herb salt as seasoning (except for the seasoned chickpeas) but often love to use parsley as herbs in my salads. Simply just pick what you like and what suits with the rest of the ingredients!

Now, let me show you the recipe of three I have done lately.

Vegan Clean Salad with Pomegranate, Avocado and Parsley

INGREDIENTS:

1 dl uncooked bulgur

1 tomato
1/2avocado
Approx 10 cm cucumber
1/3 red onion
1,5 dl finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp olive oil 
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt
Black olives

HOW TO MAKE:

• Boil the bulgur according to the instructions on the package.

• Cut the tomato, avocado, cucumber and onion in small pieces.

• Place everything in a bowl and stir together. Ripple over the olive oil, the vinegars and sea salt. 
  If you want to make the salad more satisfying, you can aslo add bulgur.

• Garnish with black olives.

Colorful Bulgur Salad with Feta Cheese and Lemon Chili Dressing

INGREDIENTS:

1 dl bulgur 
110 g (1/2 package) boiled white beans 
1,5 tomatoes
70g (1/2 small can) corn
1/2 red pepper
1/3 red onion
A hand full of fresh baby spinach 

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2-1 tap chili flakes
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Approx 1 tbsp black pepper
Approx 1 tbsp salt

+ Vegan feta cheese (this is optional)

HOW TO MAKE:

• Boil your bulgur according to the instructions on the package.

• Rinse off your boiled beans in cold water. Set on side.

• Chop tomato, red onion and pepper to small pieces/cubes. Place these in a bowl and add corn and finely chopped spinach and the rinsed beans.

• Mix together the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. 

• When the bulgur is done add this to the big bowl and add the dressing. Stir everything together and if you’d like, finish with feta cheese. Serve.

Protein Rich Rice Salad with Curry Roasted Chickpeas and Olives

INGREDIENTS:

1 serving of cooked rice

120 g boiled chickpeas

approx 1 tsp curry

1/2 tsp chili flakes

Salt and black pepper

Green leaves of optional kind (spinach, Romano salad, lettuce etc)

1 tomato

1/3 red pepper

A little bit of finely chopped red onion

approx 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Balsamic vinegar and/or red wine vinegar

5 green olives

HOW TO MAKE:

• Cook your rice/bulgur after the instructions on the packade.

• Rinse of your chickpeas in cold water.

• Heat a frying pan with just a little bit of cooking fat and fry the chickpeas while stirring now and then, with salt, pepper, curry and chili for a few minutes. You can also oven roast the chickpeas: then heat oven to 175 degrees C. Spread out the chickpeas on a lined baking sheet and add the seasoning. Mix all together and roast in the oven until golden brown for approx 30'. This takes a longer time than doing them in a frying pan but they get crispier in the oven.

• Rinse of your green leaves and add to bowl. Cut your tomato and pepper in smaller cubes. Add that and your finely chopped onion to the bowl. Add the rice, chickpeas and ripple over olive oil, optional vinegar (I like a combination of both) and end with a little bit of salt and olives. Dig in!