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You are here: Home / Coconut (flaked) / Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: Review of A Modern Way to Eat

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: Review of A Modern Way to Eat

August 16, 2015 By Laura 8 Comments

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Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts is a healthy, crunchy, delicious bowl of textures that can be served as a side salad or even as a light lunch, thanks to the nuts and coconut flakes. I received a copy of A Modern Way to Eat from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. Affiliate links have been used in this post to link to items I am discussing.

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: This unusual, healthy salad is surpirizingly delicious--refreshing, crunchy and rich with nutrients!

Guys I loved this salad! It was so unexpected–and honestly, based on the description, I am not sure any of us thought we would love it. But we all really did! The kids ate so much that they skipped the main course (which was crazy, but hey at least they loved the super healthy salad). Even Sammy, my coconut hating kid, loved it, although she passed on the toasted coconut flakes (there is also coconut milk in the dressing).

It has been my experience that vegetarian cookbooks are often a great source of creative and exciting recipes. Not always, but often. Which is why I took a chance on Anna Jones’ A Modern Way to Eat: 200+ Satisfying Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing). I did not know much about her or the book, other than she is Jamie Oliver’s London based food stylist and the book is huge, over 200 recipes (yay!). Honestly the clincher in taking a chance on the book was one Amazon reviewer’s comment that the recipes reminded her of Heidi Swanson–I adore Heidi Swanson’s books, so that sealed it.

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: This unusual, healthy salad is surpirizingly delicious--refreshing, crunchy and rich with nutrients!

So the verdict on the book? I am super excited by it! I have the entire breakfast chapter bookmarked. I love her blueprint for how she comes up with dishes–I imagine it would be super useful for new cooks, but I also think more experienced cooks can be inspired by it. The ideas are not just fresh and original, but also healthy. You know a cookbook is a good purchase when you skip all of the recipes you have bookmarked and instead grab one you have the ingredients for, and it turns out amazing. That is exactly what happened here. Some bookmarked recipes include Dosa-Spiced Potato Cakes with Quick Cucumber Pickles; Turkish Fried Eggs; Overnight Oats with Peaches; Chickpea and Preserved Lemon Stew; Walnut Miso Broth with Udon Noodles; Cardamom and Carrot Cakes with Maple Icing; Pistachio and Elderflower Cordial Cake; Asparagus and Toasted Cashew Stir Fry… this list goes on. I recommend the book for vegetarians, anyone inspired by vegetarian cooking and willing to go meatless occasionally, and people interested in creative cooking that is globally inspired.

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: This unusual, healthy salad is surpirizingly delicious--refreshing, crunchy and rich with nutrients!

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: This unusual, healthy salad is surpirizingly delicious--refreshing, crunchy and rich with nutrients!
Print
Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts
Prep Time
25 mins
Total Time
25 mins
 
Closely adapted from Anna Jones. I used more cucumber, and spiralized it on the widest ribbon setting, but you can also seed the cucumber and slice it into half moons. Like any salad, I consider the ingredients to be to taste, although Jones considers the cilantro to be essential and I agree. I think other nuts would work well too, like cashews or macadamia nuts.
Course: Salad
Cuisine: salads
Author: TheSpicedLife
Ingredients
For the salad:
  • 3 hothouse cucumbers, spiralized on the widest setting
  • 2 handfuls roasted and salted peanuts, finely chopped
  • 1 bunch bunch cilantro, the bottom 1-2 inches chopped off, and the rest roughly chopped, including tender stems
  • 3 large handfuls washed baby spinach (I just bought one package and used that)
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted
For the dressing:
  • juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste
  • 1 T honey
  • 1 t soy sauce, I used a Chinese superior dark
  • 2 T thick coconut milk (just scoop out the separated coconut cream from the water in an UNshaken can)
  • 1 t avocado oil (you can sub with olive oil)
  • 1-2 t grated fresh ginger, to taste
Instructions
  1. First spread the coconut flakes out on a cookie sheet and begin toasting them in a 300 F oven (they will take 10-20 minutes--they are done when fragrant and darkening).
  2. After prepping your ingredients (spiralizing the cukes, chopping the peanuts, etc), toss the first 4 ingredients together in a large bowl.
  3. While the coconut flakes continue to toast, make the dressing: whisk together all of the dressing ingredients, starting with the juice of only 1 lemon and only 1 teaspoon of ginger. If you wish the dressing had more oomph, add more ginger and lemon juice.
  4. Toss the dressing into the salad and then sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top of the salad.

If you like fun Pinterest collages, here is one for you!

Cucumber Baby Spinach Salad with Coconut and Peanuts: This unusual, healthy salad is surpirizingly delicious--refreshing, crunchy and rich with nutrients!

 

Filed Under: Coconut (flaked), coconut milk, cookbooks, cucumbers, peanuts, reviews, Salad Dressing, salads, spinach, Spiralized, vegetarian Tagged With: cilantro, coconut, coconut flakes, coconut milk, cookbooks, cucumber, nuts, peanuts, salad, spinach, spiralizer, vegetarian

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Comments

  1. Sara says

    August 17, 2015 at 1:06 am

    This is a super pretty salad and I love that you added coconut, what a unique idea!

    Reply
  2. Rachel Cooks says

    August 17, 2015 at 6:40 am

    What a unique salad with the peanuts and coconut! I’m obsessed with coconut so I need to try this – and it sounds like I need to check out the book too!

    Reply
  3. Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says

    August 17, 2015 at 7:22 am

    Yum! This looks great and you can never go wrong with coconut and peanut! Two standout flavors!

    Reply
  4. Joanne says

    August 17, 2015 at 7:37 am

    Well you’ve definitely convinced me that I NEED this book! And this salad! Good thing I have most of the ingredients on hand!

    Reply
  5. Christie says

    August 17, 2015 at 8:02 am

    I love the sound of this salad, especially the dressing. I’ll be interested to see if my daughter will eat it. She loves cucumbers but hates leafy greens. I am hoping this will win her overn.

    Reply
  6. Alisa Fleming says

    August 17, 2015 at 10:52 am

    That cookbook sounds so inspired! I’ll have to look into it. And this recipe, yum! Pinned!

    Reply
  7. Kristina says

    August 17, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    this sounds great, so unique! I could eat this and skip the entree too…

    Reply
  8. Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls says

    August 18, 2015 at 7:56 am

    I am not a vegetarian either, but I turn to vegetarians and vegans for inspiration often! They are so creative. This salad sounds divine. I’ve pinned it!

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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