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Choosing Raw Foods + SUPERgreen Salad Recipe share

Choosing raw foods is a great way to improve your health. Whether you've made a resolution to eat healthier lunches, find more wholesome baked goods, or if you want to experiment with green juices, raw foods should be a foundation of your new healthy habits. Almost everyone can benefit from getting more raw, green energy into their diet!

If you are not sure exactly what it is, a raw foods diet focuses on eating exclusively (or mostly) raw foods and foods in their most natural state: fresh vegetables and fruits, sea vegetables, sprouted grains, nuts and seeds, fresh juices and more. Most food is consumed totally raw but other times it is cooked using a dehydrator, blended using a processor or blender, or fermented to bring out new, natural flavors. Cooking is not part of a raw food lifestyle. Most raw foodists do not warm food beyond 104º or 118º, because they believe that heating food destroys vital enzymes found in foods. But don't think choosing a raw foods lifestyle dooms you to a lifetime of boring salads! You can enjoy a wide variety of foods like:

Sprouts! Grains, beans, seeds and nuts become more nutritious and digestible and more interesting. You can make raw crackers, raw breads even raw wraps for your snacks.
Fermented foods like miso, kefir, kombucha and sauerkraut have been ‘cooked’ using natural enzymatic processes and add variety and depth of nutrition to your diet.
Fresh smoothies and juices made from fresh, frozen and dried ingredients
Gourmet raw foods like lasagna, raw chocolate hazelnut cakes and energy bars.

Whether you choose to eat raw foods exclusively or occasionally, raw foods can help our bodies dramatically by increasing our intake of fiber. Fiber is often overlooked in our diets, but increasing your fiber is one of the healthiest things you can do for your body. A healthy digestive system with properly functioning bowels not only feel better, it is incredibly important for overall health. Fiber binds to toxins, cholesterol and hormones and literally flushes the bad stuff out of our bodies, acting like a little broom sweeping our body clean. When the bowels are not moving quickly, waste can stagnate inside our intestines. This can create discomfort, gas and bloating; long-term constipation can lead to damaged intestines and is frequently cited as a main cause of colon cancer. Research shows that a higher intake of fiber leads to lowered risk of many types of cancer3, heart disease, and diabetes. According to nutritionist Marion Nestle, most Americans get only HALF the amount of fiber that is needed daily (wondering how much do you need? Women need about 25 grams, for men about 38 grams daily).

And guess what? Fiber is found ONLY in plant foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and more, and it benefits the body in multiple ways. Adding in raw foods to your diet will immediately increase your fiber intake, leading to better digestive energy and more frequent bowel movements.

So even though you can eat more than salad on a raw foods diet, here is one SUPER salad that will have you craving more greens everyday. It features a variety of leafy greens and a bunch of other veggies to add fiber, high-quality plant protein and lots of superfoods into your day. Each ingredient is functionally nutritious and delicious.

SUPERgreen Salad with Acai Dressing

Acai Dressing
1 (100 gram) packet unsweetened acai, a room temperature
¼ cup coconut oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
Salad
2 cups thinly sliced kale
2 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced dandelion greens
1 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
½ cup thinly sliced basil
½ cup shredded beets
½ cup shredded carrots
½ cup toasted pumpkin seeds
Sunflower sprouts

To make the Acai Berry Dressing: Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Place kale in to a large bowl. Drizzle a few Tablespoons onto kale and massage to coat. Add all other vegetables into bowl and drizzle with extra dressing as you like. Sprinkle on pumpkin seeds and sprouts and toss to combine. Enjoy the nutrition!

Posted: | Categories: fiber, Food+Drink, plant-based diet, raw foods, recipe, salad

Aug

Superfood Twins: Quinoa & Greens Salad share

This salad pretty much qualifies as my signature dish- it's one of my staple meals for pot-lucks, and one that I've served at quite a few dinner parties too. For anyone that's asked for a recipe for this salad, here you have it!

This is a great simple meal-sized salad, one that works as a great introduction to 'healthy foods-' it's easy, beautiful, and damn tasty. Quinoa and kale are the superfood twins of the foodie world, what with all that plant-based protein, iron, fiber, vitamins and minerals. With quinoa and kale as the base, you can run wild with any type of vegetable or fruit mix-ins, and toss it with any type of dressing that you have on hand: vinaigrettes, tahini, or something bottled. But you can also whip up the amazing Toasted Coconut and Miso Dressing that pairs magnificently with greens, grains and anything. Heck, it would make an old shoe taste delicious! A final note: in the photo above the salad includes black quinoa for an even prettier bowl, but use whichever color of quinoa might be on sale in your local health food store.

Quinoa & Kale Salad

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups water or vegetable broth
1 bunch kale (my favorite is lacinato, but choose your favorite)
1-2 cups fresh vegetable mix-ins (mixed greens, shredded carrots, chopped beets, sprouts, etc.)
Coconut and Miso dressing
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon miso
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup toasted, shredded coconut

Add quinoa and water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Let stand until cool.
Tear kale from the stems, rinse well, and tear or slice into bite-sized pieces. Add all kale to a colander, and massage until wilted. Simply squeeze the kale in your hands until green juice leaks out and kale starts to get very green and look cooked. Shake off any excess water. Add to a large bowl with other veggies.
In a small jar, mix coconut oil, lemon juice, miso, vinegar, and soy sauce. Shake until miso has dissolved and dressing is creamy. Add in toasted coconut.
Toss quinoa with half the dressing and stir to combine. Toss quinoa over kale and veggies, drizzle with remaining dressing if needed and serve immediately! (Or, make a little mound of quinoa on top of the salad to present your salad beautifully, as in the top photo!)
Note: If you are taking this to a potluck or event, keep the dressing separate to keep your salad looking its best!

Yield: 4-6 servings

Posted: | Categories: Food+Drink, salad, vegan recipes, whole-grain

Jul

How and Why You Should add Greens into Your Life Now! share

We all know we're supposed to eat lots of green leafy things, but many people are confused about how to choose, prep and cook these plants. There are so many greens to choose from, and today we'll cover some of my favorite reasons to eat greens and share five easy ways to incorporate them into your life. Which you should do immediately!

But let's begin with the basics– when I write about greens, I am referring mostly to plants that fall into the botanical family Brassica. This huge family includes kale, cabbage, arugula, collards, mustard greens, among other edible non-so-leafy things like broccoli, turnips, kohlrabi, wasabi and radishes. Other greens like lettuce, spinach, dandelion and seaweeds are also important components for our diets, but they don't always pack the nutritional punch of the Brassica family. Kale, collards, watercress and mustard greens alone score 1000 on the ANDI scale, which rates foods on a nutrient-density/calorie ratio. These green leafies contain a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals (including calcium and iron), protein and dozens of micronutrients and antioxidants; the sulfurous compounds in these plants are correlated with cancer prevention.

And if the health information isn't enough to sway your towards greens, know that they taste amazing too! Greens like collards and kale have a bit of a nasty reputation as being bitter or tough, which is sometimes true. But these hearty leaves are quickly softened with a massage, some acids, or heat to create a delicate and wholesome component to your meal. And preparing greens is super easy too. Here's a helpful tip I often share with my cooking class students: prepare your greens ahead of time. Coming home to a fridge full of prepared greens (and other veggies too!) can help make meal prep much easier and so much less stressful! When you get home from the market or the store, give all your greens a cool-water bath in the sink. Then stick them into a bowl or jar and cover the stem ends with water (just like you would for cut flowers). This allows the greens to cool down, absorb some of the water they might have lost since the field, and ensures a much longer life in your fridge. To prepare, tear all the stems off your kale and collards. You can then slice the leaves thinly and store in airtight containers for up to a week. Cabbage and other greens can also be sliced ahead of time. While there might be minimal nutrition lost due to oxidation, the majority will still be there when you get to them later in the week– and if it encourages you to eat more greens, then I say go for it! As an aside, most greens are super easy to grow at home throughout the year! So if you have a garden, get thee to the seed store!

How to Add Greens into your Everyday Meals

Greens & Pasta

If you enjoy pasta or pasta salads, adding greens is super easy and can boost the nutrition of your meal. Simply add some de-stemmed, chopped greens (you prepared it ahead of time, right?) to the pasta water just before draining. The residual heat will wilt the greens very quickly, so you don't need more than a minute in the water. Drain pasta as usual, then mix with your favorite sauce. Done! Add at least one heaping cup of greens per person, which will wilt to about half that size. On those just-can't-bring-myself-to-cook kinda nights, I do this with Annie's macaroni and cheese and feel totally justified in my choice of comfort food!

Greens Stir-Fry

Perhaps you don't do pasta, and instead cook up mixtures of veggies to serve with rice or other grains. Try adding some leafies into your regular vegetable mixture right at the end of cooking. These greens need less than a minute to cook, so don't add them too early or they will lose much of their nutritional value. These add a colorful component to your meals and pair well with any type of sauce you might be using.

Green Smoothies

Green smoothies are, like, so totally popular right now. And for good reason! Because of the aforementioned nasty reputation of greens, sometimes it's easier to get kids (those big and small!) to get their greens blended with fruits and flavorful liquids. Green smoothies can be made with kale, spinach, chard and even lettuce. There are many good tutorials for creating delicious green smoothies, including Glue and Glitter's 40 Days of Green Smoothies, Choosing Raw's perfect green smoothie formula, and Kathy Palsky's many recipes for green smoothies.

Greens Rolls

Collard greens are delicious in many ways, but one of the best ways to use those beautiful big leaves is as wraps! Not only is this a gluten-free option, it's an easy way to make a quick meal out of whatever is in the fridge. Hummus? Cashew Cheeze? Leftover chili? Anything goes into a collard wrap, the same way that anything goes for burritos. Check out Honest Fare's tutorial for mastering a collard green roll, and check out my recipe for Super Greens Rolls here, featuring collards, kale, cabbage and nori for a quadruple green meal!

A Week of Greens Salad

This is my new favorite meal, and incorporates all the tips we've already covered. I usually make this salad once or twice a week, and then always have a big bowl of ready-made green goodness to use. The recipe below is just a guideline, so use what's available and make the salad work for you! And don't be scared to use this in multiple ways: in your pasta salad, in a green smoothie, in your wraps, or in stir-fries. Of if you want to feel super clean and healthy, just enjoy the salad on its own!

Super Greens Salad

3 cups thinly sliced kale
3 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 bunch dandelion greens, sliced
1-2 cups shredded carrots
1-2 cups fresh chopped herbs (basil and cilantro are best!)
1 lemon
Pinch of sea salt

Massage the sliced kale gently by squishing together in your hands. This will release some green juice and help wilt the kale to a more palatable texture. Just a few minutes should be good!
Toss the kale and all remaining ingredients into a large bowl and toss to combine. Drizzle with the juice from one lemon and just a sprinkle of salt. Toss again to combine.
Enjoy immediately or keep for up to a week!

Posted: | Categories: Food+Drink, greens, kale, kitchen tips, salad

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