Roasted Baby Carrots, Asparagus and Rainbow Chard Quinoa Sprouted Salad

Serves 2

Gosh that description is a bit of a mouthful.…and what a delicious mouthful it was! Providing a filling 462 calories, 17g of plant-based protein and 50% of my fibre for the day, this salad is anything but boring — the combination of roasted rainbow baby carrots & asparagus, rainbow chard, radishes and salad onions provide nearly 500% and 50% of my Vitamin A & C requirements respectively! Not to mention 54% of my Iron, which is great news for all you vegans out there. The wonder grain that is quinoa provides a whole host of micronutrients, complex carbs and protein; a sprinkling of pistachios for healthy fats and some organic sprouts to really up the nutritional profile!

INGREDIENTS

· 8 Spears Asparagus
· 150g Cooked Quinoa (Merchant Gourmet do handy pre-cooked pouches if short on time)
· 6 Radishes
· 100g Rainbow Chard
· 200g Baby Rainbow Carrots (normal carrots work just fine if you can’t find these)
· 40g Pistachios
· 4 Salad Onions
· 2 tbsp Organic Sprout mix (I used alfalfa, bean and broccoli sprouts)
· ½ tbsp Olive Oil
· Himalayan Salt, pepper & herbs of your choice

METHOD

· Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.
· Lightly coat the carrots in some oil and season with Himalayan salt, pepper and any herbs/spices you fancy (I used the trusted combo of smoked paprika and turmeric).
· Roast for 20–30 mins until starting to brown slightly.
· Add the asparagus to the roasting tray for the last 10 minutes so that they too get some colour.
· While they are roasting, finely slice the salad onions and the radishes.
· After the carrots and asparagus have cooled slightly, assemble the salad and enjoy!

Best served with Balsamic Mustard Vinaigrette (recipe coming soon!)

Nutritional Information

Calories — 462
Fat — 14g
Carbohydrates — 72g
Protein — 17g
Fibre — 12g
Vitamin A — 478%
Vitamin C — 44%
Calcium — 13%
Iron — 54%