Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: Review of A Modern Way to Eat Recipe
Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: Review of A Modern Way to Eat
August 16, 2015 by Laura 8 Comments
Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts is a healthy, crunchy, delicious bowl of textures that can be served as a side salad or even as a light lunch, thanks to the nuts and coconut flakes. I received a copy of A Modern Way to Eat
from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. Affiliate links have been used in this post to link to items I am discussing.
Guys I loved this salad! It was so unexpected–and honestly, based on the description, I am not sure any of us thought we would love it. But we all really did! The kids ate so much that they skipped the main course (which was crazy, but hey at least they loved the super healthy salad). Even Sammy, my coconut hating kid, loved it, although she passed on the toasted coconut flakes (there is also coconut milk in the dressing).
It has been my experience that vegetarian cookbooks are often a great source of creative and exciting recipes. Not always, but often. Which is why I took a chance on Anna Jones’ A Modern Way to Eat: 200+ Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing)
. I did not know much about her or the book, other than she is Jamie Oliver’s London based food stylist and the book is huge, over 200 recipes (yay!). Honestly the clincher in taking a chance on the book was one Amazon reviewer’s comment that the recipes reminded her of Heidi Swanson–I adore Heidi Swanson’s books, so that sealed it.
Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts Closely adapted from Anna Jones. I used more cucumber, and spiralized it on the widest ribbon setting, but you can also seed the cucumber and slice it into half moons. Like any salad, I consider the ingredients to be to taste, although Jones considers the cilantro to be essential and I agree. I think other nuts would work well too, like cashews or macadamia nuts. Author: TheSpicedLife Cuisine: salads Ingredients
3 hothouse cucumbers, spiralized on the widest setting 2 handfuls of roasted and salted peanuts, finely chopped 1 bunch of cilantro, the bottom 1-2 inches chopped off, and the rest roughly chopped, including tender stems 3 large handfuls (I just bought one package and used that) of washed baby spinach 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted For the dressing: juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste 1 T honey 1 t soy sauce--I used a Chinese superior dark 2 T thick coconut milk 1 t avocado oil (you can sub with olive oil) 1-2 t grated fresh ginger, to taste Instructions
First spread the coconut flakes out on a cookie sheet and begin toasting them in a 300 F oven (they will take 10-20 minutes--they are done when fragrant and darkening). After prepping your ingredients (spiralizing the cukes, chopping the peanuts, etc), toss the first 4 ingredients together in a large bowl. While the coconut flakes continue to toast, make the dressing: whisk together all of the dressing ingredients, starting with the juice of only 1 lemon and only 1 teaspoon of ginger. If you wish the dressing had more oomph, add more ginger and lemon juice. Toss the dressing into the salad and then sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top of the salad. 3.4.3177
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