Halloumi Pomegranate & Mint Salad

The perfect vegetarian salad doesn't exi --. I heard someone in my nutrition class one time say how she's a vegetarian but feels like there are more vegan recipes readily available to her than vegetarian ones. She wants to eat eggs and dairy but doesn't know how to make herself bomb vegetarian meals. Well, guess what? That's what I'm here for. If you ever see this, queen, this for you and for all of my vegetarians out there. This is my delicious and Mediterranean inspired Halloumi Pomegranate & Mint Salad.

It's a great salad to introduce in your diet because I mixed in foods I believe people don't have enough of - almonds, pomegranate, mint, and halloumi. Almonds are a good source of vitamin E and monounsaturated fat, so great for heart health. Pomegranate seeds are a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants. Mint is the natural healer of the Arab world, because it can be great for indigestion. Halloumi is a type of cheese that provides us with 25% of our daily value of calcium! All great components for our health. Did I mention it's also incredibly flavorful? Let's get to the recipe.

Yields: 1

Prep time: 15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian.

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Ingredients:

5 slices of Halloumi cheese

½ cucumber sliced in halves

2 tbsp pomegranate seeds

1/4 cooked cup of tri-colored quinoa (instructions call for 1 cup so you can save the rest for another day)

4 lettuce leaves chopped

Almond slices to garnish

Fresh mint to garnish

Extra virgin olive oil

½ lemon

Salt

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Instructions:

1. First, cook your quinoa for 10 minutes - grab a pot and fill it up with 2 cups of water. Add in the 1 cup of quinoa and salt well. Cook on medium-high heat until the quinoa soaks up all of the water.

2. As you wait for the quinoa, grab a frying pan. On high heat, wait until the pan heats up for 2 minutes or so, and then gently add in your 5 halloumi slices. You want to allow them to cook for 3 minutes or so on each side. You want them to be golden brown.

3. As you wait for your halloumi (and make sure to flip them), have your cucumber slices, pomegranate seeds, lettuce, and mint ready.

4. Let's put it all together: grab a serving bowl and add in the chopped lettuce, the cucumber slices, the pomegranate seeds, and ¼ cup of quinoa. Top with the halloumi slices, and garnish with almonds and mint.

5. For the dressing: mix the juice of ½ lemon and 2 ½ TBSPs of olive oil. Salt well. Mix and pour onto the salad.

6. Mix the salad and enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, so if you do, please leave me a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I always read through my suggestions and comments, so please let me know your thoughts. If you have any questions you can feel free to DM me here or through Instagram. Speaking of Instagram - please tag me in all of your creations! I love seeing how the recipes come out and seeing how talented you all are. Sending my love.

xoxo,

Jasmin D the RD