Moroccan Lamb Salad & Dietary Changes

Fresh fragrant leftover roast lamb salad…juicy, minty, crunchy, creamy…a feast for all the senses!

I felt it was my duty to kick of the New Year with a salad…but in contrast to years gone by I don’t feel like I over indulged at all this Christmas. I ate wonderful food, sweet and savoury, but just didn’t over do it. That said I think I’ve been periodically over doing it coming up to Christmas and I was all almost fed up eating rich heavy food, especially desserts!

I do always use unrefined sugar, they’re paleo, but at the same time it doesn’t mean you can eat these “treats” all the time. Which I guess is what I’ve been doing. It’s had no affect on my appearance, weight, skin or otherwise, nor can I say its had any impact on my energy levels, but I feel I’ve been sacrificing potential gains for the sake of satisfying my sweet tooth.

Increased energy levels, muscle building opportunities, improved sleep perhaps…and these are the reasons I’m choosing to make a few dietary changes. Many people will jump on the detox bandwagon, set goals for weight loss and aim to overhaul their diet drastically. I just need a few tweaks here and there, if not for my physical well being but also to test and challenge my relationship with food.

So where am I going with this?! Aside of course from an awesome super satisfying Moroccan Lamb Salad…

It was this time last year I went from being full on vegan to paleo within a matter of weeks. I done the drastic change. I just want to reduce my sugar intake and eliminate any remaining processed foods and chemical imposters. Realistically I know it’s not possible to do this 100% of the time so I’m going to aim for 90%. I’m looking in the direction of Whole 30…and I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. The key things I need to focus on are:

• More savoury snacks
• Eating within 1 hour of training
• Minimising my consumption of stevia (I’ve definitely been overdoing it!)
• Recreating junk foods…; I be creating the occasional treat for my blog readers and family’s sake but I’ll be reducing the amount for January…

It’s the initial plan but I’m not going to be overly strict about the whole thing, Whole 30 just gives me something to strive for overall.

Which brings me back to salad…with or without the honey, the latter being the Whole 30 friendly option! I made use of leftover lamb roast (lamb shoulder, more enticing than a bar of chocolate any day!)

Raw veggies, plenty of good fats, homemade mayo with a cilantro twist, avocado, olives, pistachios and Clementine for a hit of freshness. DIVINE!!! Sweet, savoury, fresh, fragrant, lipsmackingly good. From juicing, to cutting out meat, to going all out raw…I’d rather just focus on eating real whole food that I know will satisfy and fuel my body and mind. Truly nourishing meals that leave me with as a long as lasting smile on my face as in my tummy!

Are you making any dietary changes this January? If so what are they and what’s your reasoning behind them?

Moroccan Leftover Lamb Roast Salad

by Michelle Hunt

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: raw blender salad entree gluten-free grain free low-carb low-sodium paleo soy-free clementine avocado lamb

Ingredients (Serves 1)

Cilantro Mayo

• 2 tbsp (30g) paleo mayo1 heaped tbsp fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 tsp honey (optional)
• Pinch of Pink Himilayan Rock Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Salad

• 200g (7oz) leftover roast lamb shoulder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 2 tbsp toasted roughly chopped pistachios
• Small handful of fresh mint roughly torn or chopped
• 1 large handful of baby organic spinach roughly chopped
• 1 small clementine peeled
• Small handful kalamata olives
• 1 small spring onion finely chopped
• 1 cup coarse cauliflower rice
• 1/2 a ripe avocado diced

Instructions

Blend together all dressing ingredients.

Mix together all salad ingredients, reserving the lamb for topping and some pistachios to garnish.

Dress salad base with dressing, stirring well to combine and coat all ingredients well.

Top with lamb; reheat so it’s warm if you like, it’s a beautiful contrast and allows the natural fat from the lamb shoulder to ooze!

Sprinkle with reserved pistachios to serve.