Super Vegan Summer Salad
Taste all of the flavors of summer with this simple, delicious, and nutritious Super Vegan Summer Salad!
Servings: 4 salads
Ingredients
- 1/4 c. blanched slivered almonds (30 g)
- one head of butter or Bibb lettuce
- 1-2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp. of seasoned rice wine vinegar (30 ml)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 mint leaves finely chopped (optional)
- a small package of blueberries
- a good handful of strawberries
- 1 ripe avocado
- salt
Instructions
- First, toss your slivered almonds into a small, dry frying pan and begin the toasting process over medium/high heat. Shimmy and stir those almonds around about every 30 seconds or so in order to toast each side. Keep a close eye on them, though, because they toast up pretty quick! Approximately five minutes. The amazing aroma of toasted nuts will let you know when they're just about done. Plus, they'll start to turn a nice golden brown color. Remove immediately from the hot pan.
- Next, pull all of those gorgeous Bibb lettuce leaves free from the head and give them a good rinse. Pat them dry between two long rows of paper towels.
- Once they're mostly dry, tear or chop the leaves horizontally to create 1 1/2 inch wide strips (give or take). Place in a bowl. FYI - This bowl will not be the serving vessel.
- The next step is creating the dressing. In a small bowl, mix together a teaspoon or two of dijon mustard, seasoned rice wine vinegar and about 3 - 5 grinds of freshly ground black pepper. Give that dressing a quick stir with a fork.
- Pour that dressing over your pile of lettuce. If you're choosing to add finely chopped mint, now's the time to sprinkle that in, too...
- Then, give it all a good toss.
- Use your tossing utensils to divide the salad into four small serving bowls, allowing any excess dressing to drip back into the mixing bowl before transferring over.
- Next, add the blueberries, strawberries, avocado, and nuts.
- The last thing you want to add is a light sprinkling of salt to the top of each salad. (I personally love the salt that you can grind in a grinder.) This will really help the ingredients pop, especially the avocado. If you're a fan of black pepper, add a touch of that to each bowl, too.
Notes
- To take the flavors up a notch, I highly recommend adding a bit of chopped mint!
- If you want to make this into a meal, it can easily be down by adding some pre-cooked and chilled quinoa, cannellini beans or any lean protein of your choice.
- For Serving: I personally like serving salads in individual portions rather than have one big bowl for everyone to dish from, because A - It makes people feel special when they get their own little perfectly assembled salad, B - From a health standpoint, it encourages others to eat more salad than they probably would have otherwise and C - You can customize salads for those who have food allergies or aversions. But feel free to keep it all in one big bowl, if you so desire! I won't judge.