Salads for People who Hate Salad
Learning to love salad
Until my 40s I HATED salad.
Chewing on leaves genuinely made me gag and I thought salads were for other 'blessed' people, without my aversion.
Now I eat salads every day and I want to share how I've changed my relationship my little green nemesis.
This shift has helped me manage my food bills and eliminate food waste, saves me time, plus a boost to my self esteem and improvement in my energy and health.
What exactly is a salad anyway?
There's no set definition - in other regions and cultures fermented vegetables, hot dishes, dips and condiments all qualify as salads.
It's your salad, so make your own rules, but for me it should:
- have a good level of green stuff
- use ingredients as close as possible to the way they grew - veg, fruit, nuts, grains
- protein that hasn't been ultra processed - full fat cheese and good cuts of meat
- use fresh herbs and zests to lift flavour
- go easy on the oily dressing
- not include highly refined white carbs
finding your salad mojo...
01
Find your base
This right here is your basic salad mojo. For me it's rocket all the way - changed my life.
02
Load the Taste
Mix textures, salt & sweet, herbs & zests, protein for fullness and remember to embrace colour.
03
Make in Haste
Know your favourite elements, plan ahead and cook extras to have easily to hand.
Lazy prep...
04
Cut food Waste
Maximise your groceries, adapt elements from family favourites, love your leftovers.
Waste note want not...
Follow @salad_mojo
"what's left in the fridge" salad
I cannot join you for Writing for Fun and Sanity tonight @marianne_power_writer because I'm busy eating salad 💪😂
Especially for @marianne_power_writer - Snazzy Salad (contents of my fridge on a tiny plate!)
#snazzythings #saladlover
More things to do with leftovers. Roasted squash, beetroot, feta, walnuts and an abundance of herbs. No dressing needed (for me anyway!)
It's a hot salad (aka soup) kind of day
Watermelon, feta, almonds, a handful of fresh mint (bought in bulk at the market, cut and kept in a vase in the fridge!) and lots of green leaves
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#saladdays #saladdays #saladdodgers #saladhaters #saladrecipe #salads #guthealth #salad #saladmojo #saladmojomaker
Beetroot, radishes, figs, walnuts, goats cheese, rocket and lots of other lovely leaves
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#saladdays #saladdays #saladdodgers #saladhaters #saladrecipe #salads #guthealth
My salad mojo is finally making a come back (after months of bread!!). Feels good
Hot salad in under 10 mins. Blanche beans. Fry anchovies, capers and tomatoes in garlic butter (I always have a big jar of the stuff made up in the fridge). Stir. Eat. Feel smug knowing you have nice leftovers for lunch #selfcare
Pre Christmas trip to the grocer... the only virtuous seasonal shop. They will also be an obscene amount of root veg bathed in goose fat, obvs!! Merry Christmas xxx
Clashing orange and pink leftovers. Thrown together without much time or thought as I rush into the office. My food is a reflection of my life!!
Rocket and lots of herbs.
Grated carrot in garlic vinaigrette
Beetroot, apple, walnut and yoghurt slaw
Roasted squash and pulled ham hock
The slaw and herbs mean it doesn't need dressing, so it doesn't go slimy in the tuperware. Oh the glamour of it all 🤣
I've found a new table backdrop. Exciting times 🤣
Plus 'leftover salsa' made using all the 'past their prime' herbs and lettuces, in a blender with a tin of anchovies (controversial) and frozen in ice cube trays for use down the line.
Served with spinach, apples, edemame, courgette, beetroot and salmon.
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#nothingwasted #notofoodwaste #saynotofoodwaste #eatsmart #eatsmarter #fortheloveofsalad #selfcare #healthyeating
No dressing, just mint, coriander and the zest of lemons and oranges to add punch. I'm 'all in' with the fridge leftover salad ingredients today - molten figs, garlicy courgettes, salty feta and chilli beetroot.
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#nothingwasted #notofoodwaste #saynotofoodwaste #eatsmart #eatsmarter #fortheloveofsalad #selfcare #healthyeating
Does coleslaw freeze? I guess I'll find out. Faffing about with a mandolin for a single serving's just not worth it, plus white and red cabbage goes a VERY long way!
Things just got real... terrifyingly intense mandolin
Leftovers alert - chicken (marinated in buttermilk, tarragon and lemon), honeyed beetroot, caper herb mayo and some scrag-end rocket
English asparagus, burrata, watercress pesto and shaved fennell on baby kale, rocket and LOTS of herbs
Mmmmmm bank holiday BBQ leftovers 😍
#hellosunshine
Allegedly this is a diet, but it's more accurate to say food is delicious and this food is making me happy
Trying and failing to recreate the @lovelycoconuts.london salad, which is divine (but this is... not so much!!)
'Salads for people who hate Salads'
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#comingsoon #saladhaters #saladdodgers #nooming #lunchesoflockdown
Tom Yum soup with salmon and fennel
Not a salad but too delicious not to post!
Quinoa, feta and spinach patties with mackeral and tomato
Cinnamon pancakes and griddled peaches
My son and I have different tastes and different needs from our food, so generally I make 2 variations of the same meal
Carb on Carb on Salad 🤣
Tuscan Kale with garlic roasted Butternut Squash... a cooked salad?!
Foraged blackberries
Rocket base with courgettes, lamb koftas, feta and Tzatziki
Tom Yum noodle soup with carrots and fennel
Homemade Oreo fudge icecream... featuring a fruit salad 😆
Note to self - stuff lying around - carrot, fennel, feta, grapefruit, broad beans, almonds, mint
#weaningfood
#weaningfood
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If you have a question, suggestion, hint or tip then I'd love to hear from you.
You can DM me on Instagram or send me a message here.
Let's embrace our #saladmojo
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How + why my mojo changed
When I think of early childhood salads they involved iceberg lettuce, cucumber (which makes me burp), flavourless tomatoes and Helman's salad cream, plus sometimes grated cheddar. To put cuisine in context, my parents were part of the 80s ready meal revolution so I ate a lot of boil in the bag (square) cod and Findus Crispy Pancakes.
Then in the 90s food really started getting better, through access to more varied ingredients. But not so much for me and salad. It came in a horrid mixed bag of very bitter leaves and was drenched in vinaigrette (which I hate), but on the upside we discovered avocado.
I've always eaten a balanced diet and I love cooked veg (I also love baking, but that's for another time and place!). But I'd made a strange connection that other people are thin because they like salad, so I couldn't be thin because I don't like salad. That misguided notion took a while to figure out.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic I chose to focus on my health and nutrition, as one of the only things in my locked-down purview at the time. It was a great choice as has increased my energy levels, helped me manage my shifting hormones (again a whole other story!) and generally feel good about taking care of myself.
