Having little bits of this a that in the refrigerator and pantry can bring together a tasty meal or side under the most creative circumstances. For this salad, anything goes... or went into it. The only thing I bought were the tomatoes; other than that everything else was leftover or on hand. Sometimes, salads do not have to be about the leafy greens.
First I made the dressing... in a dressing shaker, I mixed together avocado oil with lime zest, lime juice, grainy mustard, honey, summer savoury herb and pepper.
I had some leftover chickpeas, lentils, and sliced mushrooms which were tossed in oil and seasoned and roasted in a 425ºF oven until browned. As those roasted I chopped and sliced the green pepper, red pepper, and cucumber. They were placed into a large bowl. I then added a handful of cherry tomatoes, almonds and dried cranberries. I found a few slices of multigrain seed bread so I cubed the bread and once the chickpeas, lentils, and mushrooms were finished roasting and placed in a separate bowl to cool, I toasted the cubed bread in the oven, under the same temperature 425ºF, for a few minutes. Creating croutons.
I then added the cooled roasted mixture to the large bowl of fresh veggies and drizzled the avocado lime dressing over everything. Gave it a really good toss then added the croutons and tossed again. What is not pictured here is the nice golden brown slices of pan-fried halloumi cheese I placed on top.
Notes: All ingredients made a fairly large salad which there were leftovers; and the next day the croutons softened a bit however very flavourful, crisp and still delicious!