When you call something a “salad”, most people think about leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots drizzled with some yummy dressing. Everyone reading this blog has certainly eaten a salad! However, for many people, grain salads may still be unfamiliar.
To me, a grain salad uses any grain base (such as rice, buckwheat, quinoa, millet, etc), and adds in some combination of vegetables, nuts, seeds, and/or dried fruit and then tosses it together with a delicious dressing. Grain salads are both filling and filled with fiber and nutrients! You can eat them cold in the summer (think pasta salad) or warm in the cooler months.
This Sweet & Savory Toasted Buckwheat Salad is one of our favorites. If you like it, drop us a note because we have many more grain salad recipes we’d be happy to share 🙂
Sweet & Savory Toasted Buckwheat Salad
by Debbie Steinbock
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked kasha (toasted buckwheat)
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup dried cranberries
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup olive oil
1/8 cup honey or agave
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp nutmeg
Method:
- In a large bowl, mix the cooked kasha, walnuts, cranberries, sliced celery, and sunflower seeds.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the olive oil, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon, cumin, and nutmeg.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and mix gently.
- Serve warm or chilled.