Enjoy a the full veggie rainbow with this rainbow veggie salad bowl that packs in a delightful balance of complex carbs, protein and healthy fats.
Oh salads. Yes, I’ve proclaimed my love for thee many times on this very blog, and today is far from the last time we’ll talk salad love.
I’m always especially reminded how much I crave the variety of crunchy, crisp, fresh goodness a salad provides when I’ve been traveling. No matter how much you plan, pack and prep it’s never simple finding fresh eats on the road. My goal when I travel is to get at least 1 greens-packed meal in a day and have some kind of veggie protein at each meal.
This past holiday, my family took a road trip down to South Carolina, then Florida for almost 2 weeks to visit our family and friends. That’s 2,800 miles of driving for folks counting at home. Ooph. My butt is sore just thinking about it. Some days my “greens-packed meal” was a green juice from Starbucks and I lived off of Perfect Bars and Siggi’s for lunch while driving.
However, since I started my slow, healthy weight loss journey, I’ve been determined to keep tracking and keep working on making progress, but I won’t lie and tell you it was easy. My biggest pitfall wasn’t so much avoiding treats, but finding things that actually made me feel good after I ate them. Sometimes I’d order the salad at a restaurant and either feel uninspired (aka #sadsaladsyndrom) or “bleh” after eating it.
What I’m really getting at is, nothing beats coming home to a fridge full of fresh veggies and making your own healthy flavorful salad. Nope, not the tiny pile of wilted iceberg lettuce and mealy tomatoes most places call a salad. I’m talking about a bowl of grains, veggies, protein topped with a delicious homemade dressing. The kind of salad that makes you feel like you’re thanking your body not torturing it.
So let’s celebrate starting this fresh new year with a fresh twist on salad.
[Tweet “Forget skittles, this Rainbow Veggie Super Salad Bowl is my kind of edible rainbow”]
- 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa (1/6 dry)
- 2 cups of baby arugula
- 1/3 cup of shredded carrots
- 1/3 cup of chopped red cabbage
- 1/2 red bell pepper sliced
- 1/2 cup of shelled edamame
- 1/4 of an avocado sliced
- 5 slices of roasted eggplant
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of tahini dressing*
- optional: 1 tsp of hemp seeds
- To cook quinoa: Place a teaspoon of olive oil in a saucepan over medium low heat and add 1/6 cup of dry quinoa, stir until dry quinoa is slightly toasted ~1 minute
- Add 1/3 cup of water and bring to a boil(or to make extra quinoa cook 1 cup of dry quinoa in 2 cups of water to yield 3 cups cooked)
- Cook quinoa for 10-15 minutes on low heat
- Then let stand for another 5 minutes with the lid on the saucepan
- To roast eggplant
- Preheat the oven to 400Fº
- Slice eggplant into thin slices (1/4″ thick)
- Roast in oven for 15 minutes – flip over and roast for 10 more minutes
- To assemble salad
- In a medium sized bowl, once quinoa is cooked, toss 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa with the arugula, carrots, cabbage, sliced pepper, edamame, eggplant and avocado – drizzle 1 tablespoon of tahini dressing *recipe link below* and toss until evenly coated
- Enjoy!
Tahini Dressing
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Your Turn:
- What’s your favorite meal to have when you get home after you’ve traveled?
- What’s your favorite go-to salad ingredient?
YUM this looks gorgeous!!! All of the best ingredients! My favorite go-to salad ingredients are some sort of seafood protein (tuna/salmon) and baby carrots. I always have both of those in there! I’m not one for “bleh” salads either, it’s gotta stick with me throughout the afternoon otherwise I get hangry and very unpleasant to be around…
Haha I feel ya – when I get hangry it ain’t pretty. Tuna is a great idea for salads for some reason I always forget about it!
This is so something I would absolutely devour! I’m a huge fan of crazy pile high salads and I love the eggplant/tahini combo.My every day mundane salad has the bell peppers and avocado so this would be like my birthday
Tahini and eggplant is maaa jaaam. Any salad with avocado is a good salad.
That is so gorgeous! Nothing better than eating the rainbow 🙂 And that dressing sounds awesome! I definitely need to get back on the tahini train!
The tahini train is my favorite train of all!
Veggies make my world complete! I cover my plate with as much raw veg as I can fit! Hahaha!
I like your style 😉
I love the eggplant in this salad! Such a good idea!
We were traveling lots over the holidays as well and finding decent salads is always a challenge!
This time of year I’m always craving roasted veggies and the eggplant is one of my favorites.
You have me craving edamame!!! Usually when I get home from traveling I am all about loading up on protein all the veggies and sweet potatoes to make sure I am still getting those healthy carbs. Beautiful salad friend! XOXO
Thanks Katie! Yesss gotta have those veggies and proteins which are always so hard to get when we travel.
This salad is so pretty, and I’m sure even more delicious – pleasing to eye and palate is so important!
Heck yes, who doesn’t love playing with their food?
Im a huge fan of salads with a variety of veggies in them with different textures like this one! Im totally digging the roasted eggplant and the edamame, not something you see everyday in a salad! This bowl is beautiful!
So many colors! This looks delicious, my salads always have to have tomato or sweet bell peppers, or they feel incomplete.
Gotta have the red in the rainbow right?!
Yum, yum, yum! I love edamame in salads and this looks delicious!
One of my favorite veggie proteins for sure!
I was so close to buying edamame at the store last night I may need to make a trip back! I used to make my own dressings all the time but somehow got away from it, I would totally love to get back to it and that dressing sounds amazing!
Most days I’m too lazy and just use olive oil, but I’m a huuuuge tahini fan and it’s super quick and easy (aka a must for me to do anything lol)
people are always shocked when i tell them i love salad bowls. and then they see my salad bowls. and then they’re like, girl, YOU CAN EAT. and i’m like, yes i can. and it’s freaking delicious!