Brown Rice Salad with Mustard Roasted Vegetables & Maple Walnuts

This is just the best way to use up leftover cooked brown rice. Sometimes I purposely make extra brown rice and then roast a medley of vegetables on a Friday night so that I can enjoy this wholesome salad for lunch on Saturday and Sunday!It's such a great dish if extra's turn up unexpectedly. Mume came over for lunch a few weeks ago and I served this very salad with a warm loaf of homemade wholegrain bread and it was the most relaxing Saturday lunch.

You can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. When in season, capsicum and courgette would be perfect. At this time of year, I particularly love beetroot, carrots and red onion. The great thing about this kind of salad is that you can get really creative and a bit a frugal. Use what you have on hand. If you have Haloumi that needs grilling, top the salad with golden Haloumi slices instead of Labneh or feta. Use almonds or pecans rather than walnuts and if you don't have any avocado then simply leave it out. It will still be delicious!

This salad can be eaten on its own or served as a side with chicken, salmon and lamb. If you only have a teeny piece of salmon left, then simply break it up and stir it through the salad. DEEELICIOUS!

1 large beetroot, peeled and cut into small chunks
2 carrots, peeled and cut into similar sized pieces as the beetroot
2 red onions, sliced into wedges
1 Tbspn whole grain mustard
2 Tbspn olive oil
1 Tbspn honey
Iodised salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Two handfuls of baby spinach or chopped kale
Juice of one fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup Kaikoura Cheese Lemon Labneh (feta cheese would work well also), broken into chunks
½ avocado, cut into cubes
½ cup Salted Maple Roasted Walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
Place the vegetables on baking tray lined with baking paper. In a small bowl combine the mustard, olive oil, honey and salt and pepper and whisk together. Pour the mustard mixture over the vegetables and using your hands ensure the vegetables are well coated.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through and golden. Set aside to cool.
Using a fork, break up the cooked and cooled brown rice into a serving bowl. Stir through the spinach and the roasted beetroot, carrot & onion. Ensure both the spinach and roasted vegetables are mixed evenly throughout.
Squeeze over the lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil and stir to combine
Top the salad with the avocado, labneh and walnuts