Last week at work I attended a retirement lunch. The lunch was held at White Spot. TRAUMA. The invite email had a link to their menu and I discovered they had some interesting salads, so I thought maybe this won’t be too bad.
IT WAS BAD. REAL BAD. The cauliflower on the salad tasted like they didn’t know how to defrost frozen vegetables.
However, the traumatizing experience of eating White Spot salad inspired me to get creative with salads at home (mostly just to burn the flavour of white spot food out of my mouth forever).
I made a cauliflower, quinoa salad with leafy greens, and it was lovely. My cauliflower was well cooked and did not send shivers down the person ingesting its spine (I’m looking at you White Spot). Usually, when I have had quinoa salad the ratio of quinoa to vegetables has been equal, but in this salad the quinoa is more of a top garnish which is actually a really nice way to use it!
Salad
- 1/3 cup quinoa
- 1/2 cup edamame (I used frozen)
- 1 pack leafy greens
- 2 TB chopped almonds
- 1 cup chopped cauliflower
- 1/4 tsp tumeric, paprika and salt
Dressing
- 1/4 balsamic vinegar
- 2 TB honey mustard
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Steam the heads of cauliflower for around 5 minutes, you don’t want it to become to mushy.
- Fry the cauliflower in 1/2 TB coconut oil with the tumeric, paprika and salt. Add your chopped almonds, and cook until nicely toasted. Set aside to cool.
- Bring 1/3 cup of quinoa with 2/3 cups of water to a boil, and then let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Cook your edamame according to package.
- Mix all the ingredients of the dressing together and adjust flavours to please your taste buds
- In a salad bowl prepare the greens, then add the quinoa, edamame, and cauliflower mix. Add the dressing to taste.
VeganFoodventures 