The Beauty Of A Simple Plant Based Salad.

Feeling grateful.

Yesterday we were talking about gratitude and how most of us forget to be grateful for the things we have. There is always that extra bit we seem to want to have in order to finally be happy. Or we complain to our family about the stuff that isn't perfect instead of being grateful for the things they have already done for us.

So, you might ask what brings me to a mere salad? Well, as you know I have been embracing parts of Suzy Homemaker and try to make a tasty and satisfying lunch for Bob to take to work. Honestly, I love thinking of ideas and often the middle of the night the best ones appear. Two criteria are unshakable...it has to have enough nutrition and energy for Bob, who is now only a mild diabetic, and adhere to our new plant based way of eating.

Leftovers are a great invention and with a few spots of colour from vegetables a most delicious salad can be made. Two or three times a week I cook a batch of beans ( chickpeas, kidney or lentil ) to store in our fridge. Once the mere thought of soaking them for 12 hours before cooking was daunting but now that I am used to it, it seems extremely easy to do. One sachet of 500g dried beans cooks up to an amount that will give us at least 5-6 meals. At an average of 2 euros per sachet, it is an extremely cheap source of protein and energy, not to mention healthy to boot.

That we have discovered this way of eating and that we usually have a broad array of vegan foods in our larder makes me feel very grateful. Not everyone has enough food to get three meals a day, so we shouldn't take it for granted.

Some of Bob's lunch: Leftover pasta, rice, chickpeas, corn, onions, garlic and some rocket...even at seven this morning I got a kick out of seeing this colour combo and thought I'd share it with you...

Biggi