Beet, Grape & Cream Cheese Salad with Herby Yogurt Dressing (vegan)

This beet, grape and cream cheese salad is a big tasty salad for one. It's all singing and dancing. It has salad leaves and cucumber as the base and it given a ping with some tasty pickled baby beets, which have the tang of vinegar and a slight sweetness. There is sweetness from the grapes, salty crunch from the pistachios and a hit of fresh herbs and garlic in the creamy yogurt dressing.

Oh yes my friends this is a winner.

And it's all mine. 

Well actually it was all Graham's. I told him I'd make him a tasty lunch on Valentine's Day to enjoy after his dog walk (I shall not tell you I made him do housework and iron on his day off which just happened to be Valentine's Day, let's focus on the good stuff!).  I had already eaten a salad wrap, but I did taste all the ingredients as I was assembling the salad. I mean what's a girl to do?

Do you do anything special for Valentine's Day?

We don't. I gave a card to my wee boy this morning, which I got a lovely big smile for and a big squeezy hug, but Graham and I don't really bother. For instance today, I told Graham this was his Valentine salad and told me he was doing some Valentine ironing for me. So we do still make each other laugh, but we really can't be bothered with the day.

Don't get me wrong, when we were younger we made a big fuss. There were cards, flowers, chocolates, presents and dinners or trips out.

We've had our share of romance. Shall I let you into a secret? We've been together 27 years now (I know I seem way too young for that, I'm sure you are thinking, well I'm telling myself you're thinking that anyway)

Since we had our boy, he has become our focus and we've let Valentine's Day slide and do you know what, I'm not upset about that in the least. We're still best friends and love each other. You can't get better than that.

Salad Nutritional Information

This salad is much lower calorie for lunch than a sandwich. It's a substantial, filling salad that's only 183 calories with a good drizzle of the dressing.

It provides 20% of your daily recommended intake of potassium (a mineral that helps lower the negative effects of salt and helps lower blood pressure),  15% of your recommended intake of calcium (and no dairy in sight!) and 14% of Iron. So it's a pretty darn healthy lunch as well as tasty.

It's perfect if you are watching your weight or doing the 5:2 diet.

Yield: Serves 1Author: Jacqueline Meldrum

Beet, Grape & Cream Cheese Salad with Herby Yogurt Dressing

A colourful beet salad with lots of flavour and texture, served with a yogurt, fresh herb and garlic dressing. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

prep time: 10 MINScook time: total time: 10 mins

ingredients

Salad

• 50g salad leaves
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced
• 6 pickled baby beets (you could use fresh but the sweet pickled ones add more flavour), halved
• 6 red grapes, halves
• 6 tsp cream cheese (dairy or vegan, we like Violife)
• a handful of pistachio nuts, shelled and roughly chopped

Salad Dressing

• 50g plain yogurt (dairy or vegan)
• 1/2 small clove garlic, crushed (less if you like)
• a small handful of fresh herbs (I used mint and parsley), chopped
• a good grinding of salt and pepper

instructions

1. First make your salad dressing by mixing up the yogurt, garlic and herbs in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Layer your salad in a bowl. Salad leaves, cucumber, beetroot and grapes, Spoon on dollops of cream cheese, scatter over the nuts and then add a drizzle of the dressing.
3. Enjoy!

calories
183

fat (grams)
3.3

sat. fat (grams)
0.4

carbs (grams)
33.2

protein (grams)
8.8

sugar (grams)
18.5

Created using The Recipes Generator

If you like this salad you may like to try my creamy vegan potato salad.

Happy Valentine's Day!