WARM PURPLE ONION & HALLOUMI SALAD 

An utterly delicious warm salad, made in minutes using lots of purple and green vegetables full of goodness.

This salad boosts up the phytonutrients in your day and helps your body to do its job of keeping you vital and well. Phytonutrients have anti inflammatory effects in the body - this is especially important in perimenopause and menopause when the body looses the anti inflammatory benefits of oestrogen.
Plus phytonutrients are also loved by your beneficial gut microbiota, meaning they are also nourished from these foods.

There are so many good things in this salad!
The purple and green colours in the greens and onions contain many different polyphenols (phytonutrients) such as quercetin and anthocyanins – great protection against the everyday damaging effects from free radicals, that is damage potentially caused to your cells and its DNA.
Onions have sulfur-containing nutrients which boost up the work of detoxification in your body, especially the liver.
The beans/legumes, borlotti beans in this salad, are full of fibre to support your beneficial gut microbiota too, as well as your bowels.
Many of these ingredients also contain calcium, a really important mineral for bone strength.

And don’t forget the squeeze of lemon or lime juice at the end, this helps your body to digest the meal.

Have a look at the video of me making this dish on my YouTube channel here. 

2 tablespoons almonds, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large red/purple onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 really large handfuls green leaves, chopped (I like rainbow chard, kale, cavalo nero) 100g  halloumi, cubed
1 handful chopped cherry tomatoes approx. ½ cup cooked borlotti beans
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (optional, or any other fresh/dried herb)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste  

On medium heat, in a large fry pan, pop in the almonds to toast for about 1 minute. Shake the almonds around so they don’t burn on one side.
Pour the extra virgin olive oil into the warm pan.
Add the onions and gently cook until just beginning to soften, for about 4-5 minutes.
Throw in the greens, tomatoes, thyme and halloumi and cook a bit until the greens just wilt and the halloumi is soft.
Squeeze over the lemon or lime juice.
Add some salt and pepper.
Then tip out into two serving bowls.

Have a look at this recipe video here on Youtube