Riced Cauliflower Salad with Veggies, Kiwi & Sunflower Seed Butter Dressing

Happy almost weekend guys!  I am sharing with you today my second cauliflower recipe of the week from my Sunday meal prep.  The cauliflower oatmeal was pretty amazing, but this one definitely makes the cut, as well.  I try to make most of my recipes wholesome and full of great ingredients.  This one more than fits the bill.  Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, nut-free--don't worry, because it definitely still has plenty of flavor!

We have had some slightly warmer days here lately, so I felt like it was a good week to bring back in a mostly raw salad as a good foil for the warm potato soup I also made this week.  I try to get a good mix of raw vegetables as well as cooked when I can.  Winter is definitely tougher to want to eat a cold salad, so I do sometimes let my salad sit out of the refrigerator before I eat it for an hour so it's not quite so cold.  Raw salads are also really easy to put together since all you have to do is a little chopping, so they are great from a meal prep perspective!

I love my tahini, but I ventured out and got some sunflower seed butter this week to switch things up.  I forgot how much I like it!  Since I don't use oils in my cooking, nut or seed butter is a fantastic option for a creamy dressing.  Eating a little bit of good quality fat with your meal can also help with the absorption of vitamins like A, D, E & K (all fat-soluble vitamins).  For anyone with nut allergies, the seed butters can be a good substitute in recipes.

 Cauliflower Salad

• 5 cups "riced" cauliflower (use food processor or you can get pre-chopped)
• 1 bell pepper, seeded & chopped
• 1 large English cucumber, chopped
• 2 ripe kiwi, peeled & chopped
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1 lime, zest & juice
• 2 teaspoons minced ginger
• leafy greens for serving
• optional sunflower seeds & mint for topping

Sunflower Seed Butter Dressing

• 1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
• 1 tablespoon white miso dissolved in 3 tablespoons warm water
• 3 tablespoons key lime white balsamic (or use 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or white balsamic & 1 tablespoon additional lime juice)

Chop up all of your vegetables and mix together in a large bowl with the lime juice, zest and minced ginger.

Whisk together all of your dressing ingredients.  Taste and adjust to your liking.  Use more water if you would like a thinner dressing.

Place a big handful or two of leafy greens in a bowl, top with a few scoops of the salad and drizzle with the dressing.  Sprinkle on a tablespoon of sunflower seeds and some chopped fresh or dried mint if you have some on hand!

I don't know how to #make-it-healthy any better than this, don't you think @woman-onthe-wing? ;)