I am refusing to admit that summer is over and that it is freezing cold today. Instead we are going to sit down and enjoy a summer salad with a glass of pinot gris. My husband may freeze outside for a little while in order to BBQ our salad accompaniments, but we will not give in!
I seem to have a bit of a kumara (sweet potato) theme going on at the moment. They are so versatile, filling, sweet and really pretty! Add spinach for a good dose of iron (and who doesn’t feel healthy when they eat spinach), a scrumptious orange juice dressing, and you have a super simple salad that is full of colour.

To make the salad you will need
1.5 Tablespoons olive oil
4-5 medium sized unpeeled orange kumara cut into cubes approx 1cm thick
1 small orange
2-3 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Directions
Heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius
Coat cubed kumara in olive oil and roast for 30 mins
Transfer kumara to salad bowl
Peel orange removing all the pith (I love that word !)
Cut the orange into segments and add to the bowl of kumara
Toss in the baby spinach leaves

To make the dressing

1.5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoon orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 crushed garlic clove
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Pour over salad just before serving.

Making Healthy Simple – one delicious kumara salad

Cheers
Ali

Question: So far we have had a kumara and lentil curry post, and now a kumara salad – do you have other kumara recipes you enjoy?

                                                            Lou’s Four Bean Salad

We have been (get it, been/bean)really lucky over here in New Zealand and had a public holiday today, meaning a lovely long weekend. We packed up the kids on Friday night and raced off for a quick break with family, about a four hour drive away to Napier. The weekend and time out was fantastic, but it meant we got home late tonight, still with homework, unpacking and ironing to do ready for the week. In the midst of the general chaos of lost homework sheets, and discovering our dog had wet my daughter’s bed!!!!!, a quick dinner was needed. Now be warned – this involves canned veges, but this blog is after all about making vegan simple.

This protein packed power salad includes Red Kidney Beans, Green Lima beans, Butter beans and Chickpeas so is super colourful. Add mint and avocado, and you have a picture worthy salad.

To whip up this culinary delight you will need:
3 Cans of mixed beans
1 Can of chickpeas
1 Red Onion
1 Avocado
Salt and Pepper to taste
A few handfuls of chopped mint

Dressing
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp ground cumin

Directions

• Finely chop red onion
• Chop avocado into small cubes
• Rinse, drain and add the beans to a bowl containing the avocado and onion
• Sprinkle though chopped mint ( I like mine roughly chopped)
• Add Salt and Pepper to taste
• Combine the juice of a lemon with the cumin, and mix through the salad.

We served ours cold, over brown rice.

Question: Do you ever use canned vegetables?