Having been out of school for about a year now, I’ve really had to take the time to take a look at my finances. After a bit of research, I realized it was time to set up a BUDGET. Believe me I cringe every time I hear that six letter word, because budgeting takes alot of work to feel like you aren’t on one. When it came to deciding how to go about cutting expenses, I figured the easiest thing to do was to cut my food expenses. This wasn’t easy at first since I’ve grown accustom to eating out for lunch and having multiple Starbucks runs throughout the week. So I slowly started bringing my coffee to work and finally decided to take a stab at meal planning. Meal Planning sounded like it would be a cake walk, since I run a food blog and everything but boy was it hard. After a lot of research and planning, I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.
Below is a salad recipe that I been making for my lunches and sometimes dinner for the past few weeks, and I can’t get enough of it. This salad is tasty, nutritious and inexpensive and vegan friendly if you hold the cheese and vinaigrette. Pair this salad with a glass of homemade ice tea and some fruit and you have a healthy lunch that will cost way less than 10 dollars a serving. This recipe actually makes about 5-6 servings , so it lasts me for the whole work week. So it pretty much take out the guess work for me. Check out the recipes below:
Roasted Sweet Potato and Apple Kale Salad
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 4 small apples or 2 large apples
- Olive oil
- Braggs Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning
- pinch of salt
- 2 bags of Organic Kale
- Dried cranberries
- Raw sunflower seeds
- Feta cheese crumbles
- Shaved Parmesan
- Trader Joe’s Low Fat Champagne Pear Vinaigrette
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes and apples into small cubes.
- Coat the potatoes and apples with olive oil and Braggs Sea Kelp Delight Seasoning .
- Line parchment paper on a sheet pan and spread the apples and potatoes evenly.
- Roast in the oven for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.
- In a large mixing bowl toss your rinsed kale and the Champagne Vinaigrette until everything is evenly coated.
- Toss in the potatoes and apples and then the cranberries and sunflower seeds.
- Lastly sprinkle the Feta cheese and Parmesan to your liking.
I didn’t give any measurement for any of the topping mainly because I like my salad on the overly dressed side while some people might not. Trust me, this recipe is so easy you don’t need any measurements.
P.S.: If you’re planning on taking this to work for the whole week. Skip tossing the kale in the vinaigrette, simply layer the kale on the bottom of your tupper-ware and pour the dressing on top. This way the kale will still stay crunchy and the toppings will be moist.
Happy Cooking!
