I just love the freshness of salads and more times than many I will choose to eat them over many meals. The lovely variety of lettuce leaves will always be the base and whatever is in season, will always find its way into my salad bowl. Now for the dressing… The standard ratio for a Vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to one part vinegar. However we can add more vinegar for a sharper taste and this is what I’ve I done here. We can get a bit fancier by adding fresh herbs like basil leaves, and a clove of minced garlic to the dressing. It is important to me, to keep my salad as healthy as possible without compromising on taste. So let’s not overload the dressing (on your salad 😉 ) in that way we can keep the calorie count down and nutritious value up. This salad is rich in protein, fibre and antioxidants.
Preparation: 15mins
Serves: 4
90g speciality lettuce or any lettuce of your choice
English cucumber julienned or cut into chunky bits
1 ½ cups boiled red beans (boiled until soft) or 1 can red beans
1 cup sprouts
200g cocktail tomatoes
2-3 disks feta cheese
- note you can add more or less of any of the above ingredients
Salad dressing
120ml good extra virgin olive oil
60ml balsamic vinegar
1 tsp (5ml) honey or brown sugar
Few grinds of black pepper
- Combine all dressing ingredients – give it a good whisk
Let’s dress this Salad 🙂
Wash and cut lettuce and cucumber – add to salad bowl
Rinse tomatoes – add to bowl
Throw in beans and sprouts
Roughly break up feat disks and sprinkle over salad
Spoon over required amounts of dressing
- Note when I used feta cheese I choose not add salt to my salad however if you prefer you can add according to your preference.
- Refrigerate balance of dressing – holds good for up to a 2 weeks or more