Unlike our Lionhead bunnies, I’m not a fan of eating carrots. I’m also not that fond of sauerkraut. But I know that these foods are packed with health benefits. I incorporated my partner’s love of peanuts to a sweet and tangy dressing and voila! Now, this fibre- and protein-packed salad is a household favourite and it is super simple to make.
Try it and let me know how it goes. Don’t forget to check out the Green Tips at the end of this post.
Makes 6-8 servings. Time required 15 minutes (+15 minutes of cooling time for the quinoa)
For the salad:
1 cup of organic quinoa
5 large organic carrots, cut into 1.5 inch chunks, remove ends
375 ml jar of raw, unpasteurized sauerkraut
114 g of organic alfalfa sprouts
1 cup of organic parsley, cut stems and cut finely
3-4 cups of toasted peanuts
For the dressing:
½ cup of organic apple cider vinegar
4 (very full) tbsp. of agave syrup
1 pinch of sea salt
Steps:
- Boil 1.5 cups of water in a small pot. Add the quinoa. Put the lid on, lower the heat to about medium, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove lid and fluff quinoa with a fork. Set aside to cool.
- To make the dressing, in a small bowl blend the honey with the apple cider with a fork until smooth. Add a pinch of sea salt. Set aside.
- In a large food processor, put the carrots in. When carrots have been coarsely shredded, add the sauerkraut and shred until the contents resemble a slaw texture.
- Pour the contents from the food processor into a large bowl. Add the alfalfa sprouts. Mix well. Add the quinoa. Mix well. Add the parsley. Mix well. Add the dressing. Mix well.
- Place toasted peanuts on top of the salad. Garnish with a few sprigs of parsley. Serve.
Notes:
- Add the peanuts only just before serving so that they stay crunchy. When I pack this for lunch, I bring the peanuts in a separate container. I have ½ cup of peanuts to every 1.5-2 cups of the salad, which provides me with 19g of protein (from the peanuts alone).
Green Tips:
- In our household, we try to buy organic and local (Ontario or Canadian) whenever possible. I’d like to voluntarily share some of the local brands we like to support that were used in this recipe:
- Filsinger’s Organic Sweet Apple Cider (Ontario)
- Karthein’s Organic Raw Unpasteurized Sauerkraut (Quebec)
- Pfenning’s Organic for the carrots and parsley (Ontario)
- Kind Organics Alfalfa Sprouts (Ontario)
- Even though the peanuts and the quinoa weren’t local, I bought them in bulk, using Lionheads medium-sized bulk bagsJ I try to avoid packaging, especially plastics, whenever possible. If packaging is unavoidable, we always try to buy products that have plastic-free packaging, like glass containers. Instead of using plastic produce bags, I use reusable produce bags.
- Last but not least, we like to support our neighbourhood food co-op, Karma Food Co-op. I bought all of the ingredients for this recipe from Karma.
Lionheads 