Shout out to Starbucks for inspiring this salad. The first time I got it was before a flight from San Diego to JFK because I needed something real to avoid buying the disgusting hummus like product they sell on domestic flights. NO SHADE.

I was so pleased with this salad that I actually got it for dinner the following day while in NY which meant forgoing dinner at Balthazar. BFD. When I got home I recreated the recipe and now here I am to pass it to you.

NOTE: In order to save time and prep, and because I don’t really know what cooking beets entails, I bought my beets pre-cooked. You could also use raw beets instead.

You will need:

• 1 beet (or 2 of these little guys)
• 1/4 cup broccoli florets – either raw or blanched
• 1/8 cup or 1 leaf purple cabbage
• 1/4 cup cubed squash – I buy mine frozen and microwave it. Not ideal but give me a break.
• 2 tbsp as (same as above)
•   Roasted cherry tomatoes – slice and bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until they ooze. You can skip this step and add them raw too. Hehe.
• 1/4 cup quinoa or riceor sub 1/4 cup chickpeas if you don’t have either
• Mixed greens of choice – I always use the 50/50 blend of baby spinach and ‘other’ baby greens, respectively.       

DRESSING

Honestly the dressing they use is super good but at 700mg of sodium I decide whether or not I want to feel like a balloon and USUALLY skip it. I’m human so this doesn’t always work but in general I try to avoid external sources of sodium and get mine through vegetables like celery and greens. If you do want to add salt to a salad or dressing I recommend pink Himalayan salt as it is unprocessed and contains other trace minerals.

Instead I use a tahini lemon dressing that is less flavorful but leaves me without the bloat. For the basic version of this you will need:

• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp agave
• ¼ tsp tumeric

SECOND NOTE:

I subbed a few ingredients in this photo. If you don't have exactly what the recipe calls for, a good base for a veggie bowl is: greens, quinoa, add whatever veggies you love.