Citrus Avocado Winter Bowl

This week’s Salad of the Week is a bright, refreshing winter bowl built around citrus, creamy avocado, hearty farro, and crisp greens — all tied together with a simple oil-free lemon-tahini dressing.

Each Salad of the Week uses the same core idea: start with leafy greens, layer in a few key components, and finish with a simple oil-free dressing that brings everything together. The ingredients shift with the season, but the framework stays the same — which makes it easy to build nourishing salads without overthinking meals.

This bowl is lighter and brighter than last week’s Winter Harvest Bowl, but still grounding and satisfying — perfect for winter days when you want something fresh without feeling cold.

As always, feel free to swap ingredients in or out based on what you have, what you grow, or what you enjoy.

Here’s how this week’s bowl comes together:

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What Makes This Salad Special

• Bright citrus paired with creamy avocado

• Chewy farro for hearty staying power

• Crisp winter crunch from shaved Brussels sprouts, red cabbage, or broccoli slaw

• Black beans for plant-based protein

• A lemon-tahini dressing that’s creamy, simple, and versatile

It’s fresh, colorful, and full of contrast — juicy, creamy, crisp, and grounding all in one bowl.

This Week’s Bowl: Citrus Avocado Winter Bowl

Leafy Lettuce

Use a mix of tender leafy greens you enjoy — romaine, leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, or spring mix all work beautifully here.

(Optional additions: baby spinach, arugula, or tender kale.)

Cruciferous Greens & Veggies

• Thin-sliced or shaved Brussels sprouts

• OR shredded red cabbage

• OR broccoli slaw

Alliums (Onion Family)

• Thinly sliced scallions

or

• Very thinly sliced red onion

Plant-Based Protein & Staying Power

• Cooked farro

• Black beans

Amp Up the Volume

• Orange or mandarin segments

• Avocado chunks

• Shredded carrots

• Cucumber slices

• Fresh parsley or mint

• Sunflower seeds

Lemon-Tahini Dressing (Oil-Free)

• ¼ cup tahini

• ⅓ cup water (plus more to thin)

• 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 1 small clove garlic (or ¼ tsp garlic powder)

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1–2 soft dates (or 1–2 tsp maple syrup)

• ¼ tsp turmeric or cumin (optional)

• Black pepper, to taste

• Salt optional, to taste

Blend until smooth and creamy. Add water as needed for desired consistency.

Dressing note: I use raw tahini, which has a stronger, slightly more bitter flavor than tahini made from roasted seeds. Because of that, I usually use two dates to balance the lemon.

If you’re using roasted tahini, you may only need one date. I recommend starting with less, blending, and adjusting to taste.

On its own, this dressing tastes very bright and bold — but once it’s on the full salad with citrus, avocado, farro, and beans, it mellows beautifully and brings everything together.

How I Build the Bowl

1. Fill a large bowl with chopped greens.
2. Add Brussels sprouts (or cabbage/broccoli slaw) and scallions.
3. Layer in farro and black beans.
4. Add citrus, avocado, carrots, cucumber, herbs, and seeds.
5. Drizzle with dressing and toss gently to bring everything together.

Prep Ahead Tip

For this bowl, I like to prep a few key components ahead of time — cooking a pot of farro, draining and rinsing the beans, chopping the vegetables, sectioning the citrus, and portioning out the seeds — and placing everything into jars so it’s ready to use.

When those pieces are ready, building a bright, satisfying salad like this takes about a minute. It’s one of the simplest ways I’ve found to make daily salads feel easy and realistic.

Notes & Variations

Easy swaps

• Quinoa instead of farro

• Chickpeas instead of black beans

• Grapefruit instead of oranges

• Pumpkin seeds instead of sunflower seeds

Easy add-ins

• Radish slices

• Sprouts

• Dried cranberries or raisins

• Cherry or grape tomatoes

Prep notes

Farro:

Farro is a hearty whole grain with a slightly chewy texture. I like to cook it like pasta — in a big pot of boiling water — until tender but still pleasantly chewy.

I usually simmer it for about 20–25 minutes, then drain and let it cool before storing it in the fridge.

Avocado:

I usually buy avocados when they’re still firm and let them ripen on the counter for a few days. If ripe avocados aren’t available, frozen avocado chunks can also work well in salads like this.

Serve With (Optional)

This week’s bowl is paired with a simple Hearty Vegetable Soup with Zucchini & Sweet Potato, a vegetable-forward soup that simmers into a warm, balanced base alongside the fresh, citrusy salad.

It’s an easy way to round out the meal without adding complexity — something you can keep on hand and pair with your salad throughout the week.

The vegetables soften as they cook, and the greens added at the end bring a gentle finish that complements the brightness of the bowl.

Bonus Recipe: Hearty Vegetable Soup with Zucchini & Sweet Potato

A simple, vegetable-forward soup that simmers into a warm, balanced base — easy to make ahead and pair with your salad throughout the week.

Serves: 4–6

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, sliced

2 celery stalks, sliced

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

1–2 zucchini, chopped

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup chopped green beans (optional but recommended)

1 (14–15 oz) can diced tomatoes

1–2 Tbsp tomato paste

6 cups vegetable broth (or water + bouillon)

1 bay leaf

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp smoked paprika (optional)

Black pepper, to taste

Salt optional, to taste

2–3 cups chopped leafy greens (kale, spinach, or chard)

Instructions

1. Sauté

Add onion, garlic, carrots, and celery to a soup pot with a splash of broth.

Cook for 5–7 minutes, until softened and fragrant.

2. Build flavor

Add tomato paste, thyme, coriander, and paprika.

Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring, to bloom the flavors.

3. Simmer

Add:

vegetable broth

diced tomatoes

sweet potato

zucchini

cauliflower

green beans

bay leaf

Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

4. Add greens

Stir in leafy greens.

Cook until just tender:

For spinach: 1–2 minutes

For kale or chard: a few minutes longer

5. Finish

Remove bay leaf.

Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Optional: Add a squeeze of fresh lemon just before serving to brighten the flavors.

Final Thoughts

This Citrus Avocado Winter Bowl has been such a refreshing way to enjoy winter produce — bright, creamy, and full of texture without being complicated.

If you build your own version, I’d love to hear what you added.

And if you’d like to learn the simple framework I use to build salads like this every day, you can download my Tower-to-Table Recipe Guide, which includes the Daily Salad Formula I use to build nourishing bowls like this one.

Here’s to simple, nourishing meals — one bowl at a time 🌱

Karen

Vertical Hydroponic Garden