Winter Warming Salads

January can be hard work. It’s dark and wet and it’s very tempting to sit in doors in front of the telly, eat meaty stews with dumplings and hot pies. But you also want to lose those few pounds you added with gusto at the end of last year and are fed up of juicing and soups.

To help, we’ve picked some of our favourite hearty salads to tick both the warming and healthy box.

Roast Pumpkin, Kale, Feta & Pomegranate Salad

Do you enjoy using unusual ingredients? This recipe uses pomegranate molasses in the dressing, which is a rich pomegranate syrup that makes a bright, tasty salad dressing. If you can’t get any, you can try reducing pomegranate juice or just use a good quality balsamic vinegar instead. Delicious with butternut squash as well…

Pretty easy to throw together and takes as long as it does to roast the squash.

This recipe comes from London-based food and travel blogger Eat Like A Girl.

Hot smoked salmon and potato salad with paprika aioli

Great mid-week meal that all the family can enjoy – what child doesn’t like roast potatoes and mayo! Mix it all up in a large bowl in the middle of the table and everybody can help themselves. We made it a bit more like a salad nicoise and added olives and green beans, but the smoked paprika dressing is a great discovery.

This recipe comes from Well Worn Whisk, a working mum who cooks for the family and shares her tips on family-friendly recipes.

Sesame Chicken Salad with Cucumber Noodles

This recipe uses two whole cucumbers to make the noodles, so is completely grain and gluten free. If you don’t have a spiralizer, then you can use a vegetable or julienne peeler instead and have larger flat pappardelle-style ribbons.

One tip – be careful with the sesame oil and don’t use the toasted sesame variety as this can be really strong and overpower all the other flavours.

This recipe comes from the Hemsley + Hemsley sisters, who share wholesome food, which is free from grains, gluten, high starch and refined sugar.