Earlier this summer, I visited the One Planet Abingdon Climate Emergency Centre to run a chop and chat session for their work experience students; Toby, Reuben and Elliot. One Planet Abingdon is an inspirational community hub, mainly run by volunteers, for the benefit of people and planet. They host a range of events and activities related to ‘One Planet Living‘ for all ages and interests.
Together we created a selection of easy summer salads using fresh, frozen and store cupboard ingredients. Perfect if unexpected guests arrive or if you are looking for a quick side dish to accompany a barbeque.
I started by making a vegan mayonnaise with just 4 ingredients. At the same time, the students and two willing regular customers got chopping cabbage and red onion and grating carrot for a creamy coleslaw.
Vegan mayonnaise
Based on a Jessicainthekitchen.com recipe; this costs less than £1 compared to £2-3 for the same size shop bought vegan mayo. The great thing about making your own is you can adapt the flavour and thickness – we left the mustard out for one participant.
Ingredients
- 250ml rapeseed or other neutral oil
- 125ml soya milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice, sea salt to taste
- 1 tsp dijion or wholegrain mustard (optional)
All ingredients need to be at room temperature. Stir the lemon juice and mustard into the milk. Use an immersion blender to mix and slowly pour in the oil whilst blending; the mixture will thicken up. Add salt to taste. We used the lot in our mammoth bowl of coleslaw, but any leftover can be stored in a sealed jar in the fridge and keeps for 2 weeks.
To make the coleslaw, simply stir the mayonnaise into the vegetables and season.
Courgette, pea and feta salad
This vivid green salad was inspired by a recipe from vegansparkles.com. I threw in some vegan ‘fake feta’ – the salty tang goes really well with the mint. Real feta would be great too and boost the protein content.
Ingredients
- 2 courgettes sliced into ribbons
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- 200g feta or vegan alternative
- 2 tbsp olive oil and 4 tbsp lemon juice
Combine the courgette ribbons with the oil and lemon juice until coated. We cooked the peas to make this a warm salad and soften the feta. Add the peas, feta and torn up mint leaves and stir together. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve immediately.
Lentil and tomato salad
We followed this super speedy recipe from thegardengrazer.com, but switched out chives for spring onions and used lemon juice instead of vinegar.
Ingredients
- 400g green lentils
- 400g cherry tomatoes
- 3-4 spring onions
- squeeze of lemon or lime juice
Drain the lentils and combine with halved cherry tomatoes and chopped spring onions.
We served the salads with crusty sourdough rye bread for a delicious, fresh and healthy lunch. There was plenty to go around, including second helpings for those that wanted them.
Often when we think of salads, we imagine lettuce, a bit of grated carrot and the odd tomato, but there are so many more enticing options.
If you are missing an ingredient, don’t be afraid to substitute it. This blog from thestonesoup.com has some handy tips.
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Replenish 