Sweet Potato and Avocado Salad with Creamy Zucchini Dressing

Hey there :). How was your weekend?

Mine was absolutely fabulous. I spent a lot of quality time with my grandmother (her birthday was last week), which always seems to put me in a good mood. I feel that the older I get, the more we seem to have in common and are able to share with each other. She is both my grandmother and best friend!

Since we decided to hang out together yesterday evening, I did not have my usual time of prepping lunches for the week. Accordingly, I decided to go the simple route. That coupled with the fact that the organic spinach in the fridge was mocking me, I decided to make a salad. It was especially appropriate because I seem to only crave veggies as of late. Go figure.

I looked to my #1 veggie guru, Gena of Choosing Raw. I will admit that just a year ago, I could not even fathom why Gena could eat a meal of just veggies and love it. Oh boy, was I wrong! With my incessant veggie cravings that just seem to get stronger and stronger, I have struggled with how to make a meal that incorporated my cravings while also keeping me nutritionally balanced and feeling full.

Luckily, Gena did a wonderful post on how to create a meal-sized salad a little while back (click here to read it). By the time I finished rereading it, I was almost drooling. I knew I needed to make one pronto.

Enter today's (power)packed lunch.

Truth be told, I hate salad dressing. Or should I say hated---past tense. Slippery, slimy, and soggy salad never sounded good to me. Yuck. But another excuse to use veggies and tie flavors together? Now that is a salad dressing I can stand behind. Slather it on a mix of spinach, slow-roasted sweet potato, and creamy avocado and you have yourself a recipe for success!

Sweet Potato and Avocado Salad with Creamy Zucchini Dressing 
inspired by Gena

Salad Ingredients (serves 1): 

• 1 sweet potato, slow-roasted (see below) 
• 1/4-1/2 avocado
• spinach

Dressing Ingredients (serves 4): 

• 1 small zucchini (about 1 1/4 cup chopped zucchini or 180g) 
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (about the juice from 1 large lemon) 
• 2 TBS nutritional yeast 
• 1/2 - 1 packet stevia 
• 1 1/2 TBS Braggs Liquid Aminos or tamari 
• 1 1/2 TBS ground flax seed 
•  1/4 cup water (plus more to thin) 
• 1/4 tsp coriander 

Directions: 

1. To slow-roast the sweet potato: Preheat the oven to 400*F. Meanwhile, thourghly clean the sweet potato and prick it all over with a fork. Wet a piece of paper towel with water and squeeze out the excess. Wrap the cleaned sweet potato in the damped paper towel. Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove sweet potato from microwave and discard the paper towel. Place the sweet potato in tin foil, crinkling the tin foil around the edges, exposing only a little of the top. Put it in the oven for 1 hour, checking it half-way through cooking to check doneness and rotate the sweet potato in its tin foil blanket. Remove from oven and let cool. 
2. To make the dressing: Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add extra water to thin the dressing, if necessary. 
3. To assemble the salad: Make a large bed of spinach for your salad to sit on. Chop the cooled sweet potato and the avocado into pieces. Place them on top of the spinach. Spoon a generous amount of dressing over the salad. Mix and enjoy!

Notes: 

• Choose your sweet potato wisely! Look for a meal-sized tater rather than a little one. Power to the veggies! 
• If you do not have time to roast a sweet potato, you could steam it or simply microwave it fully. I happen to like the microwave + oven method because it makes the insides extra creamy. Honestly, it is so worth it because it is like eating mashed sweet potatoes straight out of the skin. Yummm...
• Make sure to use a nicely ripe avocado for maximum creaminess. 
• While the dressing recipe makes a lot (about 1 1/4 cup + 2 TBS), I estimate it to be about four servings. It is pretty thick and creamy, so trust me, you will want a lot (I used about 5 TBS worth).

I loved how perfect this salad was to pack for lunch. I simply put the sweet potato and spinach in a container, 

the dressing in an old jar,

and wraped up the avocado in a little press and seal. 

The little red lunch bag just sealed the deal.

Are you a salad lover? What is your favorite combination to make a meal-sized salad? 

Have a lovely day! 

xox,

Mandiee