Nutty Vegan Salad

It's such a myth that a vegan diet is low in fat, iron and protein. This simple salad shows how you can get all you need without eating animals.

When my wife was pregnant and went for her blood tests the nurse rolled her eyes when she realised Linda followed a vegan diet, but sure enough her bloods were spot on.

The kale in this salad contains more iron than beef per calorie, more calcium than milk and just 1 cup of kale contains 10% of the RDA for omega-3 fatty acid.

My nutty vegan salad works as a perfect packed lunch for work as well as a post training meal. The quinoa, soy beans, nuts and seeds are for the protein and fat with sweet potato to replenish carbohydrate stores. The kale fills all the other gaps. 

This recipe is designed to serve 4 people but eat as much as you need to feel full and satisfied.

Ingredients 

1 cup of quinoa 

400g / 1 large sweet potato, chopped into cubes keeping the skin on

200g of curly kale, remove the stalks 

150g of Edamame soya beans

2 handfuls of peacan nuts

2 handfuls of cashew nuts

2 handfuls of sunflower seeds

Juice of 1 lime

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil  

Rock salt to taste  

Method

Add 2 cups of water to the 1 cup of quinoa into a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for around 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave to stand for 20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad. The quinoa should be fluffy and dry.

Boil the chopped sweet potato for around 10 minutes or until its just soft when stuck with a fork.

Heat a wok with a little olive oil and fry the curly kale for just a few minutes to bring out the colour and flavor. I prefer to keep it crunchy. While it's frying I add a large pinch of rock salt to bring out more of the flavor.

Add the sweet potato, soy beans, nuts, seeds and lime to the pan of quinoa and mix together. 

Serve the quinoa mix on a bed of kale with your favorite dressing such as apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar.