Gut Love Salad

This salad is packed with a variety of plant foods, which are great sources of a numerous vitamins, minerals, fibre, and nutrients that support healthy and happy gut microbes! You can modify the ingredients to include whatever veggies you currently have on hand.

You'll Need:

1 cup mixed salad greens (baby spinach or ruccola are also great!)

½ cup kumara (sweet potato) or pumpkin, cubed

2 tablespoons fermented sauerkraut

½ cup green beans (frozen or fresh)

1 cup cooked butterbeans/cannellini beans (canned is fine)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

a pinch of salt

Optional: a handful of olives (I've used kalamata olives), dukkah

Dressing options:

1 tablespoon plain greek yoghurt + 1 teaspoon lemon juice + ½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + 1 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Method:

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Wash and cut kumara or pumpkin into cubes and arrange on a baking tray.

Drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for around 20 minutes, until soft and starting to brown.

Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Combine beans, olive oil, cumin and salt in a bowl. Arrange on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, until beans have absorbed most of the oil.

Add green beans to the tray for the last 10 minutes to bake, but do not coat in the seasoning mix.

Remove beans from the oven and leave to cool.

Wash and prepare other vegetables, then arrange in a bowl: salad greens first, then top with kumara, beans and sauerkraut.

Sprinkle dukkah and a few olives on the top, if using.

Mix together ingredients for your choice of dressing, then drizzle over the salad before serving.

Makes 1 Serve