Super green salad with creamy cashew dressing

March and April were pretty lovely around here. My parents, sister and nephew visited with us here in Zurich for the last week of March and first week of April, then my sister and nephew hung around for another week before we headed off to Wales with our husbands for the Easter holidays. It was so nice to spend so much quality time with everyone – since moving away from Canada, the only times I usually see so many of my family members all together is back home over the summer or winter holidays. This time was particularly special, because we got to watch how 10-month-old baby Arthur changed and progressed over the course of four weeks – I hear he’s continuing at a fast rate and is climbing up stairs now. Incredible!

Being the only vegetarian and gluten free gal in the family, I’m really fortunate that my family is so open-minded when it comes to food. This meant that during the last four weeks, we did lots of great vegetarian cooking, and meat was reserved for packed sandwiches for hiking, cheeseboards or out at the restaurant (which is the way we normally do it with my omnivore husband). It’s always nice to cook with different people. Like with anything in life, bringing people with different experiences and points of view together really brings a lot to the (dinner) table. New flavours, ideas, and perspectives. This salad came together one afternoon on a whim after a busy day out exploring. We had chickpeas, pepitas, some beautiful lettuce and carrots in the house. I had bought some cashew butter earlier in the week for smoothies, and thought it would make for a nice creamy dressing in place of tahini.

Needless to say it went down well! This is a great salad to make when you’re in a bit of a rush or don’t know what to make for dinner. It’s got lots of plant-based protein thanks to the chickpeas, pepitas and cashew butter, vitamin B12 from the nutritional yeast and lots of plant power from the lettuce and carrot. Add a few rice cakes topped with smashed avocado or some black pepper tofu and call it a meal! I hope you enjoy the salad as much as we do – let me know in the comments if you try it out!

-xo KA

Supergreen salad with creamy cashew dressing

This has been one of my favourite salads lately. It’s substantial enough with lots of plant-based protein to make a full meal, so it’s a great quick weeknight dinner option. The nutritional yeast is optional, but strongly recommended. Besides adding vitamin B12, it also adds a nice vegan cheesy flavour to the dressing.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cashew butter

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 4 tbsp water

• 1 large lemon, juice

• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, plus more to serve (optional)

• 1 good pinch smoked sea salt (or any salt you like)

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 head lettuce of choice (I used butter head lettuce), torn into bite-sized pieces

• 1 carrots, grated

• 1 14 oz/400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

• 1/4 cup | 35g pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Method:

Start with the dressing. Add the cashew butter, olive oil, water, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, smoked sea salt and ground pepper to a small jar or bowl. Shake or whisk until completely combined. Taste the dressing and adjust by adding more salt or lemon juice if required, and set aside.

Add the lettuce, carrots, chickpeas and pepitas to a large salad bowl, and toss with salad spoons to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad and give it a good mix. Serve immediately, dusted with extra nutritional yeast and black pepper if desired.

Serves 2 as a main meal, or 4-6 as part of a larger spread.