I don’t crave salads often, but when I do they usually include satiating ingredients like warm grains, toasted nuts, and flavorful homemade dressing. This Forbidden Blood Orange Salad (by “Forbidden” I mean I used the Organic Black Forbidden Rice that Lotus Foods sent me, not that the actual salad is forbidden. It’s encouraged, in fact.) is the perfect mixture of those things and tastes like springtime/love in a bowl.
Sean (my life partner, for those of you that are new here) agreed to be a hand model for my photography in return for a giant bowl of this salad, so, I guess you could say it’s pretty delicious. Disclaimer: there’s a 99.9% chance he still would have helped even if there were no food. The 1% chance of not helping would be if there were other conflicting food opportunities at the same time.
Cooking for the people that I love has always been a love language of mine. Not just for partners, but for family and friends. It’s not some bizarre patriarchal urge or sense of obligation.
For me, utilizing my creative outlet of choice to properly nourish the people that I love is a best-case scenario. I’m included in the list of people that I love, so I’ve made a lot of fantastic solo dinners in my day.
Forbidden Blood Orange Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Ingredients
- 3 c cooked Black Forbidden Rice (I used Lotus Foods)
- 2 c baby spinach
- 1 c sliced strawberries
- 1 c blueberries
- 1/2 c toasted pecans
Dressing
- 3/4 c freshly squeezed blood orange juice (around 3-4 large oranges)
- 1/2 tsp blood orange zest (optional, but it adds so much flavor)
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2–3/4 c olive oil (adjust this to taste)
Instructions
- Wash and prep your berries and greens.
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake, or whisk in a small bowl.
- Mix all salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Add dressing (start small here) and mix the salad well.
Notes
- top with additional blood oranges if you love them as much as I do.
- This salad would be great with Feta added to the mix. I have a recipe for vegan feta cheese coming soon, it’s just not quite ready yet :).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
I hope you all enjoy this simple recipe as much as we did, and I encourage you to play with the ingredients as seasons change. February is the prime of citrus season, hence the blood orange hearts – they’re about as Valentine’s Day themed as I get. Love isn’t meant to be celebrated for one day of the year, it’s realistically the most important thing every day of our lives, whether we realize it or not.
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See you there 😉
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