Fresh from the Cupboard Salad

This is my new favourite quick salad for bringing leftovers to work or a picnic (when we’re back in picnic season, that is). Everything you need can be found in the cupboard (if you stocked up ahead of time) except the spinach, which you can easily do without. Plus it is healthy and so tasty.

It’s really as easy as adding  a vinaigrette to cans of veggies and adding some greens. If you leave the spinach out it keeps great for leftovers, and you can just add the greens when you eat it.

I found the recipe in a terrific cookbook that has a lot of great information about which vegetables to eat for different needs, like improved energy, stronger bones, stress relief, cardiovascular care, and so much more. The recipe is called ‘Veggie Yard Dash Salad’ in the cookbook; I’m not sure my title is any better, but I wanted to call it something that would let people know that it didn’t have a lot of ingredients that you might not have on hand. The book is The Nutrition Twins’ Veggie Cure by Tammy Lakatos Shames and Lyssie Lakatos. The only thing I did differently from the original recipe, aside from adding the spinach as I served it instead of mixing it in, was to use home-roasted red peppers instead of jarred. I think they taste way better, and I make them ahead of time and keep them in the freezer. But jarred work well too!

Feel free to use more or less of whatever you like; I made my recipe a lot bigger so I’d have more leftovers, and I love red peppers and artichokes, so I used more of them. This recipe serves four people, more or less.

What you need:

• 1/4 cup jarred or homemade roasted red pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained
• 1 cup peaches and cream (or whatever kind you like) canned corn
• 1 – 227mL can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1/4 cup canned sliced artichokes, drained
• 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup vinaigrette of your choice (herbed vinaigrette recipe below)
• a bunch of baby spinach

What you do:

1. Pour the canned goods into a bowl, chopping the artichokes up a bit if they aren’t already. I used the juice from the canned corn, but the original recipe says to drain it – up to you!
2. Add the sunflower seeds.
3. Add the vinaigrette and combine all the ingredients.
4. Chop up some spinach and add it to the portion you will be serving, or add a whole bunch of you think you’ll eat the whole thing in one go.

Enjoy!

Here’s the vinaigrette recipe:

• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
• a bit of chopped fresh or frozen basil (recipe say dried but I think this is 100x better!)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

What you do:

1. Crush the garlic and let it sit for 5 minutes, which is supposed to release more health-promoting properties.
2. Combine the ingredients.

Voila, done!