Healthy lunchtime salad

As part of the healthier lifestyle that I am trying to lead, I decided to invest more time & effort into my salads. Honestly my salads before consisted of mainly lettuce, cucumber and a bit of tomato with a drizzle of bog standard salad dressing. End result = Boring as hell!

So I began experimenting with some other ingredients and came up with this healthy lunchtime salad. 

What you need:

Spinach

Spring onion

approx. 1 tbsp Cannellini beans

Mixed cherry tomatoes (5 or 6)

Dried tomatoes (2 should be enough)

1 tbsp Toasted sesame seeds

Salt & Pepper (as desired)

Dressing:

1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp Balsamic vinegar

What to do:

• Use as much spinach as you deem necessary. I find that a layer that is a little smaller than the plate should suffice. 
• Add the cannellini beans, slice the cherry tomatoes and spread them to make it nice & colourful.
• Roughly cut the dried tomatoes and add (I use the ones jarred in sunflower oil)
• Finely slice the spring onion and sprinkle it over the salad. A whole spring onion may be a bit much for some. If this is the case then use half or swap it out for something else. I add it for an extra bit of tang and because I absolutely love onions.
• Shower the entire salad with the toasted sesame seeds (hmm so good!)
• Dress it with the extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar* and add salt & pepper as desired.

*Tip - If you taking this somewhere to eat later, I recommend you put the dressing in a separate container and add it when you are going to eat it. Otherwise the salad can get a bit mushy.

So there you have it... a quick & easy refreshing salad that is perfect for a work lunch or maybe as a side salad with a main meal.

As I work in an office and I am sat a lot throughout the day, then I don't want something that will sit too heavily with me. I find that this gives me enough energy and doesn't make me feel bloated like bread does. Anyway, everyone is different but I find this perfect to take for my lunch.