Fresh Vegetable, Barley, and Chickpea Salad with Peanut Dressing

I LOVE SALAD. 

I didn't use to love salad quite so much as I do now. I became a convert into the can't-live-without-salad-it's-like-my-favourite-food world when I figured out the formula to make a REALLY LEGIT salad every time. And I'm going to share it with you! Here are the guidelines to the perfect salad:

1. Don't be lazy. If you want a good salad, things may need to be grated or blended, and you will just have to deal with that. It's worth it.

2. You can never have enough veggies. Don't shy away from mixing carrots with snap peas, broccoli, beets, anything! Let's face it, an all cucumber salad never got anyone excited.

3. Protein. I'm talking lentils, chickpeas, black beans, tofu, you name it! Never shy away from the protein, love the protein.

4. A starch. We've addressed the strange aversion that women have developed toward carbohydrates before on this blog (thanks, Atkins) and I will tell you once again that it is RIDICULOUS. I'm not telling you to eat a white baguette alongside your salad, I'm saying have 1/4-1/2 of a cup of cooked barley, whole grain rice, quinoa, bulgur, or maybe some home-made croutons (cube some whole wheat bread and pop it in the oven at 350 for 20-ish minutes). It's delicious, it will kick-start your metabolism, and it will fill you up. Deal.

5. Dressing doesn't have to be fat. Sometimes when I have a super-loaded salad and just throw some basalmic vinegar on it, and sometimes I add a fat like nuts or a plant-based oil. Making your own dressing is the best way to keep it healthy, because you control exactly what goes into it. 

Those are some of the basic guidelines I follow when creating my masterpieces, and now here is a creation I whipped up a few weeks ago, a veggie, barley, and chickpea salad with improvised peanut dressing.

What I put in:

-2 handfuls baby spinach

-1/4 cup barley

-1/2 cup chickpeas

-1/3 cup chopped carrots (note: all veggie amounts are kind of approximate, you really can't screw this up don't worry)

-1/3 cup chopped snap peas

-1/3 cup chopped red pepper

And the peanut dressing (1 serving)

-1 tbsp all-natural peanut butter, heated in the microwave until melted

-1 tbsp soy sauce

-A pinch of brown sugar (to taste)

-A drizzle of sunflower oil

-1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (the amount you add depends on the sourness level you prefer)

More awesome salads to come!