Rainbow Tuna Bowl

Salads can get boring and it takes some motivation to keep up your recommended intake of at least 5 veggies per day. It really goes a long way if you can make your salads visually appealing, since we all "eat" with our eyes first. If our food doesn't look delicious we often expect for it not to taste delicious. Here are a few tips on how to zhuzh up your salad as we're coming into spring/summer:

1. Location location location! as they say in property. Well the same goes for food. As in, what your present or store it in. If you pre-prepare your salad to take with you to work or on the go, make sure you have it in a clear container so that you can see the beautiful colours of the veggies and be reminded of the delicious flavours you have waiting for you at lunch. Studies show that if you store foods in clear containers you are likely to eat more of that particular food.
2. Keep your salad dressing separate until its time to eat. No one likes a soggy salad or an undressed salad. So invest in a good quality no-spil tupperware container and take it with you for when lunctime comes around. 
3. Salad alone won't fill you up. Include protein to your salad to help you combat those 3:30itis munchies. Good options include canned fish, grilled or poached chicken breast, boiled egg, quinoa or any leftover meat from last night's dinner. 
4. Include a variety of different flavours and textures to keep it interesting. For example:
   Creamy - avocado, tahini, fetta
   Crunchy - nuts, seeds, pomegranate seeds
   Sweet - think mango, strawberries or peaches teamed with chicken and mint
5. Experiment! Don't be afraid to try new things. Instead of cooking veggies try to have them raw or cut them in a different way (think raw shredded beetroot or grated raw pumpkin as seen in the recipe below). Caramelise nuts in a bit of honey in a pan and add that for extra crunch. Try different herbs and spices. The sky is the limit. 

Here is one of my favourite ways of having a plain old tuna salad :) 

Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded baby spinach
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1/4 avocado diced
1/2 cup shredded raw pumpkin
1 tomato diced
1/2 small cucumber diced
1 tin chilli tuna in oil drained
lemon juice
hot sauce
salt & pepper

Method:
Prepare ingredients and arrange in a large bowl. Dress with lemon juice, hot sauce, salt & pepper. Enjoy!