Raw Bento

I have this bad habit of not eating when I’m very busy or forgetting to tote along raw snacks so I would somehow feel, mentally, the next day an insatiable hunger. I’m usually satisfied with a huge raw salad that typically has a whole avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, romaine, some fruit (apple or pear or orange), and sprouts, but I wanted something more hefty and I thought why not add some cooked quinoa? (It was bloody cold, too).

I was inspired by Gena’s quinoa salad and sweet and salty avocado dressing — it looked like salad porn and I had to try it.

In my salad were chopped spinach leaves, baby tomatoes, cucumber slices, dried cherries, raisins and a large scoop of cooked quinoa that was cooled to room temperature. On top was this gorgeous, creamy dressing:

Recipe:
1/2 avocado
Juice of a small orange
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
A pinch of sea salt

On hindsight, I should have put more vinegar for more acid in the salad but I ran out of apple cider vinegar and lemons so I made do with 1 tbs but I would recommend 2 tbs or even 3.

This amazing salad lasted me for slightly over five hours and that’s long for a salad. Usually I’m itching to eat something after 3-4 hours.

I have yet to try adding sweet potato or pumpkin to my salads which are veggie staples, aren’t they? I tend to OD on them quickly — I would have a few slices and my body would declare it’s enough. I think it’s because of my Asian food background that doesn’t find these root vegetables natural to my taste buds but I’m slowly easing them into my diet to give more nutrition and variety.

What foods did you only start eating when you became a veggie lover?