Salads

Let me introduce you to my life.

*walks into restaurant, gets seated, tells the wait staff that I don't eat meat and that I'm gluten free, asks what is on the menu that I can safely eat* Waiter/ress "oh.... *look of confusion* well, we have salad" me *SLOW BLINK* I'm a vegetarian/pescatarian, not a rabbit, the "garden salad" which consists of several bunches of lettuce, the one grated carrot, some sweetcorn and a small tomato, isn't exactly what I'd call a meal. I don't eat meat, I do however enjoy eating food. Actual food. No offence to the lettuce, but there is more to salad than some bush.

I found a recipe online, and of course I had to throw a bunch of other things in it. I honestly don't remember where I saw the recipe, only that it didn't have anything I wanted but chick peas.

Salads are so versatile, you can throw anything together and make it as hearty as you like with any combination of flavours. You could make a taco salad, crumble some nachos on top of black beans, corn and anything else you put on your tacos, and there are a million dressings to compliment different salads.

I had a can (15 oz) of chick peas and a can(15 oz) of red beans, so that was the base. I steamed some string beans that I peeled and cut up and tossed that into the drained and washed canned beans, sweetcorn, lettuce (cut into really really small ribbons, I believe the fancy word for what I did, is "chiffonade") some minced red onion, whatever herbs you want, I used coriander, thinly sliced flavour peppers (pimento peppers), sliced Kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese for salt and good measure. My love for feta is borderline stalker and celebrity, but we don't really talk about that.

Next there was 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons of honey (go with two and check the taste), salt and black pepper to taste. Whisk that bad boy, pour some or all over the salad, sans the feta, give it a good old mix then crumble feta on top and Robert is your mother's brother (Bob's your uncle, work with me folks)

I fried some little jack fish, it might be spat... they were small fish, let's let it be. Seasoned cornmeal crust and fried in coconut oil. The salad is filling enough on it's own, i just thought it made for a pretty picture.