Spring Salads For Rainy Spuds

Here's a couple of fresh spring salads to cheer myself up. It's pouring down with rain & I've put two whopper sweet potatoes in the oven to bake. 

I oil my spuds with hemp oil to add a nutty taste & rub them with sea salt. 

I don't mind if sweet potatoes over cook and leak sticky juice into the baking tray. If I had a red pepper I would roast this too & add it chopped to the lettuce. 

Salad Leaves

Too easy. Baby spinach & chopped gem lettuce mixed together and dressed with lemons & hemp oil. 

Spiralized Courgette Pesto

With the small noodle blade, spiralise a whole courgette. If you haven't got one, then you can julienne your courgette but it's seconds work to spiralise & rinse the spiraliser so why wouldn't you!?

Add 2 teaspoons of good pesto & gently mix. Now add grated old Gouda (or any hard, strong, sharp cheese), 2 teaspoons of capers, a handful of pumpkin seeds and a handful of cashews. 

Perfect, raw, crunchy & indulgent! 

When the spuds are cooked serve with hummus & chopped chorizo & the salady goodness.

Yum!

Spelty Trout & Courgette Ribbon Salad

Yoo hoo! I'm experimenting this week with new grains. I'm trying out spelt tonight. Pearled Spelt - which has the rough outer jacket bashed off and makes it quicker to cook.

My good friend Aisha introduced me to this lovely nutty grain recently when she blew me away with a spelt, walnut and butternut squash recipe. It was just heavenly with some shaved mature, hard goats cheese. Oh lordy I'm hooked.

So tonight I'm having a go and in true cheffy style I'm using what I've got in my fridge.

Armed with some trout fillets & a couple of courgettes we're off!

Apols re: lack of pics - I'm having problems uploading... bear with... x

Allottment Swoop - visiting from a previous tumblr post...

Our dear friend Kath has got an allotment. Most weekends I imagine our Kath can be found happily digging and pulling and planting and kerfuffling on her little veggie patch - helping mother nature make real food. Over the year we have pinned our expressions to ‘mildly interested’ while listening to tales of muck shippments, allotment politics and the correct way to lay out your onions.