Gluten-Free Spoon Salad Recipe
Eat your greens!
You have probably heard this all your life. Fresh vegetables — especially dark green leafy vegetables — are ridiculously good for you. They give you strong bones and muscles, reduce your risk of cancer and make you millions of dollars! Okay, maybe not the last one, but the other two most definitely.
Current guidelines suggest you eat two and a half cups of fresh vegetables a day. A DAY!!!! That is a lot of vegetables.
My dear, dear friend Angie sent me a way of preparing fresh vegetables that makes it so easy to get those fresh veggies in and better yet, they are raw veggies which ups the nutrition count considerably. It is called Spoon Salad.
The trick to this Gluten Free Spoon Salad Recipe is to take a variety of fresh veggies (including the dark leafys like kale) and chop them up super small. This makes it easy to consume a good portion at one time.
The salad can be made in big batches and it holds up great for 4 or 5 days which I like because I work once and eat for days! Not only that; it is surprisingly delicious.
At the risk of sounding like a perky food network star (take a guess … the initials are R.R.) this is a method more than a recipe. I chop all the vegetables up in a food processor to tiny bits. I process like with like, meaning I do leafy stuff with leafy stuff and hard things like carrots and beets together. I suppose you could forgo the food processor and chop them all by hand, but seriously! I’m not going to work that hard for a great gluten free dessert let alone salad. But if you are a purist, then by all means knock yourself out.
Just don’t chop off your fingers.
This is my favorite flavor combo but feel free to experiment. I have found certain things don’t work too well. Onions are too strong and overpower it all, mushrooms and tomatoes become soggy. Baby spinach seems to get too watery but the big leaf stuff is okay. I like to add fresh avocado when I eat it. I never mix it into the whole batch. I make this with all-organic whenever possible.
I like to dress salad with a combo of fresh lime juice and flax seed oil or my Lemon Tahini Dressing and garnish with a few crumbles of feta cheese, chopped avocado and some raw pumpkin seeds. YUM! It is a meal in itself.
Gluten-Free Spoon Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch kale
- 1 bunch red or green Swiss chard
- 3 small beets (with the greens if possible)
- ½ head green or red cabbage
- 1 bunch watercress
- 1 small bunch Italian parsley
- 3 carrots
- 3 large zucchinis
Instructions
- Wash and dry the vegetables very well. Remove the ribs from the kale, Swiss chard and beet greens. Process in a food processor in batches, keeping like vegetables with like – i.e. leafy greens and herbs together, carrots and beets together, zucchinis by themselves.
- Put into a huge bowl, stock pot or even your (very clean) sink and mix well.
- Store in the fridge in large plastic storage bags or a big bowl, covered. Keep for 4 to 5 days. Don’t be worried if you see some liquid at the bottom. Really drying the greens especially will cut down on this but some leakage will occur from the beets.
- Dress individual servings with the dressing of your choice at the time of serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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I was curious when I saw: Spoon salad. This is probably the best way for picky eaters to eat their veggies.
I love, love, love salads like this! With everything so finely chopped, you get the perfect bite every time! Looks terrific!
This is my kind of salad! To make once and eat for 4-5 days is terrific! Healthy & efficient! What could be better?
This does look delicious, do you peel your beets? And do you how much do you chop them up before putting them in the food processor?
No, I don’t peel the beets or carrots and I cut them into about 2 inch pieces. This makes them process evenly. The greens I tear into about 2 ” pieces as well.
looks delish!
the gluten free gift basket girl
Absolutely Not Martha
It’s been a while since I’ve had kale. Everytime I do eat it, I feel so much better.
Your hubby is like my brother, despises veggies! But if your husband loved this salad, then it’s gotta be that magic dish that will help my bro cross over!
I’m already loving your lemon tahini dressing. I see it on next weeks salads!
mmm, i gotta try this! i love fresh greens. how you think it would work w/out the cabbage? my tummy can’t really handle it :(
I really like the idea of this – choppiing everything up really small. And it doesn’t get much easier than putting things in a blender! I think I will make something like this for lunch this week and try your lemon tahini dressing too. Thanks for the inspiration!
Oh man! I wish had room to keep a huge bag of salad like this. But sharing with 5 other people means I have to cook my greens down. One can always wish :)
this looks great! :) i know i need to eat more greens!!
looks yummy – and I love the idea that it will last for a while! Definitely going on my list of recipes to try…
Note to self: Do not read simply…gluten free when hungry.
Thanks for that. ;)
These are my favorite kinds of salads. I try to have at least 2 a week for dinner. I don’t actually cut them up THAT small, but I do like cutting everything to the same size (about the size of an almond). I’ll have to add some of these ingredients next time.
This looks so nice and healthy. Try it will bell peppers, sugar snap peas and cucumbers. Yum! I am going to try your Tahini dressing too…..thanks!
This looks great. Maybe my picky husband will like it.
Thank you for the post about my garden. We hope things will turn out ok, we have no top soil, so it’s a challenge. But I’m determined to have my own organic veggies this year! And start some fruit too!
Thanks again, for both the encouragement and the recipes!!
Love this recipe! Especially with fresh tuna.
Thanks
Do I see brown rice in that picture?
No, all veggies cut really, really small (in the food processor) and some seeds.