Category Archives: Salads

Healthy + Delicious Dressings

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How do you make a healthy salad unhealthy? By pouring on dressings made with inflammatory omega 6 oils like vegetable, corn, and safflower. Ideally the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio should be 1:1, but in our culture, the ratio is more like 20:1 due to processed foods and commercial salad dressings. That high ratio increases our risk of inflammatory chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease, arthritis, dementia, and cancer. Since taking fish oil is useless for preventing heart disease and also increases risk of aggressive prostate cancer, we really need to reduce the amount of omega 6 oils in our diets by switching to better oils like olive, coconut, grapeseed, and avocado and using more nuts instead. One of the easiest ways to do that is to make your own dressings, which also taste so much better!

 

Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Here’s an easy, versatile dressing that harnesses the amazing powers of Apple Cider Vinegar!

  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup RAW apple cider vinegar (such as Bragg’s)
  • 2 tsp raw local honey
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

 

Happy Belly Dressing

Everyone loves this dressing, and your belly will too!

  • ½ cup raw apple cider vinegar (like Bragg’s)
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Dash of freshly ground pepper

Whisk the ingredients together, or blend in a blender.

 

Balsamic Vinaigrette

This version is oil free, which is really the healthiest option of all. Soaked cashews stand in for the oil, which is delicious and stays emulsified even in the fridge. Nuts are a “whole food” and contain fiber, minerals, protein, and other nutrients. This is friendlier for your wasitline and also for your heart.

  • ¼ cup cashew pieces, soaked for 1-2 hours
  • ½ cup water
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp maple syrup
  • ¾ tsp sea salt
  • A dash of freshly ground pepper

If you have a high speed blender like a Vitamix, simply place all ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. Otherwise, first soak the cashews for at least an hour to soften. Then blend cashews and remaining ingredients for a few minutes, using a spatula intermittently to scrape sides down, until completely smooth.

 

Tahini Miso Dressing

This ultra simple dressing is my go-to. It’s delicious, satisfying, and so incredibly healthy! The tahini replaces the oil, and yummy miso offers many health benefits, including probiotics.

  • 1 heaping Tbsp tahini
  • 1 heaping Tbsp white miso
  • Water

Mix the tahini and miso together with about 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl with a fork. Continue to blend until smooth. Add more water until the desired consistency is achieved. I personally like it thick, but pourable.

Image Credit: The Veg Space on flickr.com

The BEST Salad You’ll Ever Make

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Fall Roasted Beet and Fennel Salad

This salad has been described as “the best salad I ever had”! It might seem like a bit of prep for just a salad, but it’s quicker than it seems, so don’t be intimidated. It’s also something you can confidently make for guests. They are guaranteed to love it (or your money back)! This recipe makes 2 larger salads or 4 side salads.

  • 4 medium size beets (ideally 2 golden and 2 red)
  • 2 tsp sea salt, divided
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 bulb of fennel and a few sprigs of fronds (the feathery ends)
  • ½ handful of micro greens
  • 1 Tbsp basil, finely chopped
  • 1 small orange
  • juice of ½ lime

Preheat oven to 400.  Scrub beets and trim the ends.  Place in a deep baking dish filled with ½ inch of water. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

Thinly slice fennel bulb.  Massage fennel with 1 tsp of sea salt and 1 Tbsp of oil.  Spread on small baking sheet and bake at 400 for 10 minutes.

Peel and slice orange into bite sized pieces.

Allow beets to cool slightly and remove skin. Cut into bite sized pieces and place into a small bowl with 1 tsp of sea salt. Add orange pieces and lime juice to the beets. Top with roasted fennel, micro greens, basil and fennel fronds.

To see Charlotte making this salad in her island kitchen, click the picture below!

Got Tomatoes?

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If you or one of your friends are lucky enough to have a vegetable garden, you are most likely inundated with lots of sweet, juicy tomatoes. There is so much you can do with them, but here is the simplest, freshest tomato salad I learned to make from my Italian friend. She never measures anything, and just adjusts amounts based on the number of tomatoes she’s cutting up. If recipes without exact amounts make you nervous, trust me, you cannot mess this one up. It’s always delicious no matter what!

A bunch of garden fresh tomatoes
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
Dried oregano
A few leaves of fresh basil
Optional: cucumber and/or avocado, cubed

Cut the tomatoes into wedges or bite sized pieces. Put the tomatoes in a large bowl. Thinly slice about 1/4 of the onion, and toss on top of the tomatoes. Add the crushed garlic, perhaps starting with 1 clove. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano. Slice the basil leaves and throw them in too. Add any optional cucumber. Stir everything up and taste. Add more seasoning, garlic, or onions to taste, and stir again. If you’re using avocado, fold them gently in now. Enjoy!

Be sure to slurp up the juice at the bottom of your bowl – it just might be the best part.

Multinational Cucumber Salad

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Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp black mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 Tbsp sucanat, honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar*
  • 3 medium cucumbers, peeled and deseeded
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, deseeded and diced
  • ½ cup roasted peanuts (or almonds or walnuts)
  • ⅓ cup dried large-flake coconut, toasted
  • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • scant ½ tsp fine grain sea salt
  • 1 handful fresh cilantro and mint, chopped

Instructions

In a small pan, warm the oil and toast mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds become fragrant, add sucanat (or other sweetener of choice). *If you are using a granulated sugar, add a tablespoon of water so the sugar doesn’t harden. Stir frequently over medium heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Cut the cucumbers into half moons. Add pepper, nuts, coconut, lemon juice, salt, herbs, and the oil and seed mixture. Stir to evenly distribute the ingredients. Enjoy!

 

Super Food Tabouli

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I keep running out of hemp seeds, and the other day wished for a way to buy hemp seeds in bulk. That wish manifested in ONE day – faster than anything else I’ve ever wished for! Doing a grocery store tour at Wegman’s, I saw on a low shelf a rather large 5 lb bag of hemp seeds, and felt as if I just won the jack pot! So now I don’t have to ration them or worry about running out ever again. I can get my protein, omega 3’s, minerals, fiber, etc so easily and with so many different meals, including smoothies. So today, I decided to use my hemp seeds for a super food tabouli. I made this like you’d make any other salad, not measuring anything really, just a handful of this, a sprinkle of that, and it came out perfect. Try it and enjoy!

Remember, everything is approximate.

  • 1 small bunch of fresh parsley, large stems removed, and roughly chopped
  • a few scallions, sliced
  • a handful of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
  • a quarter of an organic, English cucumber, diced
  • about a half cup hemp seeds
  • juice from a half of a lemon
  • a generous drizzle of cold pressed olive oil
  • a couple pinches sea salt
  • a sprinkle of pepper
  • a garlic clove, crushed
  • a sprinkle of oregano
  • a sprinkle of cumin
  • half of an avocado, cubed

Add all ingredients except avocado to bowl, and mix. Add more seasoning, to taste. Fold in the avocado. Enjoy!

 

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Lentil Salad

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This fiber, protein, and nutrient rich salad is so easy to prepare, and totally addictive!

Ingredients

1 cup red lentils, soaked overnight, drained, and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
⅛ cup raw apple cider vinegar (such as Bragg’s, found in health food section)
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt, to taste
1 head romaine lettuce

Instructions

Mix the lentils, onion, tomato, cucumber in a medium bowl. Pour the oil and vinegar over the salad and mix well. Season with sea salt and a squeeze of lemon. Toss again. Let marinate in refrigerator for a few hours. Chop the romaine, and arrange on a plate. Top with the marinated lentil mixture.

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Kale Rejuvenation Slaw

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This is Chef Charlotte’s award winning salad, that everyone who’s ever tried it loves! You will enjoy an amazing energy boost, glowing skin, and satisfaction.

Ingredients

1 large bunch kale
Juice of one lemon
¼ cup fresh parsley
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
½ cauliflower head, broken up into very small florets;
1 red beet, shredded
1 yellow beet, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1 apple, shredded
½ small red onion, finely chopped
1 avocado, diced
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup sunflower seeds

Instructions

Remove stems from the kale. Cut kale leaves into bite-sized pieces. Blend the lemon juice, parsley, oil, and sea salt together until smooth. Pour over the kale and massage it into the leaves until the kale is bright green and tender. Add cauliflower, beets, carrot, apple, and onion to kale and toss. Fold in avocado, and gently toss. Sprinkle with seeds and raisins.

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