Crunchy Salad Sprinkles
Crunchy Salad Sprinkles
You know what we've been craving this last week? Lean salads with crunchy, high protein, salad sprinkles! After moving away from the deep snow and cold winds of North Central Oregon, the weather here in Medford, OR is mild and clear with afternoon temperatures in the mid fifties. After the snow up north this feels positively balmy!
We really feel like eating lighter with this warmer weather and my husband loves the hearty crunchiness of these sprinkles topping off a big green salad so I decided it was time to stock up some great greens and shake up a big jar of vinaigrette dressing.
I change up the ingredients occasionally using wheat berries or soy nuts depending on what I find in the bulk foods section at the market. Today I used the toasted soy nuts I found so the rest of the ingredients that I usually keep on hand in my freezer needed to be toasted. I mixed up equal parts raw sunflower seeds, raw sliced almonds and raw pumpkin seeds and spread them on a baking sheet while I preheated the oven to 300 degrees.
I like to use a sheet of parchment paper because its' so easy to pick them up and pour them into a container for storage after toasting. It also leaves my baking sheet perfectly clean, which is also a plus, but it's not really necessary.
I toast the crunchies for 12 minutes then stir them up to make sure they brown evenly and then continue to toast them for another 12 minutes until they are golden brown and fragrant.
After toasting the other ingredients, I added the already toasted soy nuts and just a sprinkle of fine sea salt. Wait until they have cooled, then store them in an airtight container for up to two weeks. That is, if they last that long.
Since we've been moving I haven't been able to make many of the things like this that we were enjoying regularly, so making up a batch of these salad crunchies was really satisfying!
Try adding these tasty crunchies to a sandwich instead of potato chips or to top a lovely slice of avocado or peanut butter toast! They also make a great snack by themselves or with cocktails.
Cheers!
~Melisa
Ingredients
(equal parts)
toasted soy nuts
raw sunflower seeds
raw sliced almonds
raw pumpkin seeds
toasted wheat berries (optional)
fine sea salt
Method
Place ingredients on a baking sheet. I line mine with parchment paper but it's not necessary.
Bake in an oven preheated to 300 degrees for 12 minutes. Stir them around a bit for even browning then continue toasting for another 12 minutes until they turn golden and smell fragrant.
