Tag: salad

Roasted Sweet Potato and Kale Salad

Back with another lunch prep recipe! Another one from Budget Bytes (can you tell she’s my favorite?). So Beth classifies this recipe as an “autumn” salad, but I thought it sounded delicious so I pretended it was October. And it was so good! So many different textures and flavors (which is really what makes salad worth eating).

The only true “prep” for this recipe is roasting the sweet potatoes. I actually added a can of (drained and rinsed) chickpeas as well as a diced onion to bulk it up a little (and because I had them hanging around) and the mix of the chickpeas and sweet potatoes was actually so good. Plus the spices: I very rarely use cinnamon in savory settings but I promise it makes a huge difference.

After roasting your veg, you could pre-assemble the salads in containers (with or without the dressing), but I just kept all the ingredients separate since I eat lunch at home. It was a nice little routine to build my salad every afternoon! I also decided to just dress it with balsamic vinegar and olive oil (and salt and pepper) because I didn’t feel like making Beth’s dressing, but you could totally use almost any store bought dressing. Balsamic, Italian, or Honey Mustard would all be good in my opinion.

So if you need some easy, tasty lunch prep for work or school, try this sweet potato and kale salad!

A VERY full bowl of goodness

Roasted Sweet Potato and Kale Salad

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs sweet potatoes
  • 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 large onion
  • 1-2 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 6 cups chopped kale
  • 1-2 medium/large apples (I used gala)
  • 1/4 cup pepitas
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries (I left these out)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, and dice the onion.
  2. Place the sweet potato, onion, and chickpeas on a baking sheet, coat with cooking oil, and toss with spices.
  3. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft and tender, stirring once halfway through.
  4. Chop the apples, and assemble your salad by splitting the kale, apples, and roasted vegetables evenly, and add about 1 tbsp each of pepitas, pecans, and cranberries (you can also store all components separately and assemble each day if you prefer!)
  5. Serve with dressing of choice

Cucumber and Peach Salad

It has been SO hot in Pittsburgh the past few weeks. And my apartment doesn’t have air conditioning so I basically exist in a state of sweat haha. This situation slightly complicates cooking though– turning on the stove or oven is akin to turning on a heater in my already steamy apartment. So in order to avoid cooking I have accidentally become a vegetarian, subsisting off of pasta salads of all kinds. Which, to be fair, is a delicious existence.

Last week I made a salad (very) loosely based off this recipe from Bon Appetit, which I saw and IMMEDIATELY wanted to try. I didn’t quite have everything the recipe called for, so I winged it with what I had (the beauty of cooking!) and also added chickpeas for some protein 🙂

I ended up eating the entire bowl myself for dinner… but it could easily feed two or make an awesome side dish or lunch! And it’s so yummy and summery 🙂 So try out this Cucumber Peach Salad next time the last thing you want to do is turn on the stove!

Cucumber and Peach Salad

Cook time: 10 minutes

Serves: 1-4

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 2 peaches
  • 1/2 can chickpeas
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Basil
  • Asiago cheese

Instructions

  1. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise twice, and then chop into small pieces. Put in a medium bowl with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and basil.
  2. Dice the peaches and add to the cucumber.
  3. Add the chickpeas and season more to taste.
  4. Top with shaved or shredded asiago cheese, and serve!

Tuna and Bean Salad

Some days I get home and I have a sum total of 20 minutes to eat dinner before I have to go off to club meetings or band rehearsals or study sessions. On days like this it’s tempting to just pick up takeout, but that gets expensive quickly and it rarely the healthiest option.

On these days, I have one recipe that’s my go to. It literally takes 5 minutes to make and it’s super healthy and super delicious. It’s my Tuna and Bean Salad. When I first moved into my apartment and was grocery shopping with my mom, she told me that this is something my dad made a lot and it’s great because it’s cheap, quick, and easy. As a busy college kid I was immediately on board, so thanks mom and dad 🙂

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This is another recipe (there’s clearly a theme here) where you really just use what you have. I always have canned tuna in my pantry, which is my starting point. Usually I’ll use Cannelini beans, but the ALDI where I grocery shop didn’t have any, so I bought garbanzo beans instead. What you do past that is up to you! This is delicious with diced bell pepper or cucumber, and sometimes I even mix it with pasta, but this time around I decided to just put the beans and tuna over spinach.

However you decide to make this, it’s a wicked easy, filling, and delicious lunch or dinner that has very quickly become a go to.

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Tuna and Bean Salad

Cook time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2 (perfect to bring for lunch the next day!)

Ingredients

1 can of solid white albacore tuna

1 can of beans, drained (Cannelini or garbanzo are best)

Olive oil

Salt

Garlic powder

Red pepper flakes

Spinach

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, break up the tuna into small chunks with a fork
  2. Add the can of beans (and any other diced vegetables you decide to add)
  3. Drizzle with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, or until moist
  4. Season with plenty of salt and red pepper, and garlic powder (be careful with the garlic powder, it’s super potent so a little goes a long way).
  5. Top spinach (or pasta or rice) with half the tuna mixture and serve
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