On Monday I decided to make sure I ate two big salads a day in order to implement a lifelong habit. Before monday, the idea of making a salad seemed ALL too tedious. Buy the romaine, wash the romaine, cut the romaine, and dress the romaine. Seriously now, too many steps in there. Unless my mom already had a salad on the table I'd resort to my simple 2:1 (fruit-green ratio) smoothies. Today was day 3, and I can't even explain the improvement in myself. The key to enjoying these salads starts in the right dressing. You need to experiment until you find the best combination of fruits/nuts/ seeds/oils. Naturally, raw vegans tend to stray away from heavy dressings, but I realized the mixture of sea salt, olive oil, and lemon was not attractive enough to have me eating two big bowls a day! Here's what I've been mixing in:
-dried cranberries (sulfite-free)
-strawberries or orange slices
-whole raw walnuts
-dried peppercorn
-sea salt
-olive oil
-any citrus juice: lemon/lime/orange
-whole kalamata olives
-fresh basil, and mint
-any other interesting veggies: cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms
Challenge: Eat 1-2 big salads as a meal or before a meal for one week, comment back on any noticeable improvements, or blog about them, and spread the word to non-veggie eaters!
Improvements: SKIN, hello! Energy and mental clarity. and UM, movement..ya get the drift.
This entire mix keeps me full for at least 4-5 hours. I use over half a head of romaine lettuce. I used spinach on monday, but I'd prefer to keep those leaves for my smoothies.
What's your favourite salad dressing/combination??
My absolute favorite is kale with lemon juice and dried cranberries. Insane!
ReplyDeleteHowever, if I want a more substantial salad dressing, hummus all the way. Like a basil hummus. Ooo, delicious, haha.
I'm not too picky about my salads in general (please hold the mushrooms) or the dressing but love love avo in my salads. It makes it so creamy even mixed with something simple like lemon and S&P. Of course it can be filling that dinner is lite or not needed. :)
ReplyDeletewhat a great mix! I love basically a burrito stripped of its tortilla and tossed with white wine vinegar :) it may be odd but I love it
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty good challenge, and you have some great things in your salad! I love putting fruit in my salad (citrus fruits, or berries), and avocado is a must. Sometimes I'll forego using romaine entirely, and just make a salad with avocado, tomato, pepper, and carrots.. more like a hearty guacamole than salad. Delicious anyway!
ReplyDeleteI put olive oil and apple cider vinegar with nutritional yeast, cayenne and sea salt with a tad bit of sweetener like a few raisins or maybe a little honey or agave (altho I threw out the agave lately). I sometimes add nama shoyu and hempseeds. You can blend the hempseed and it's very creamy. I usually just toss all that in though! It's "cindy's secret sauce" haha I carry it in a little cloth lunchie bag into restaurants too so I can always just order fresh raw veggies and toss it in that. Oh! cashews are pretty darn good with hot peppers too!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I interchange and put some walnuts and maybe a half avocado chunks. A few tomatos and slices of cucumber or red pepper slices. Definitely some carrots either chopped or grated and grated beet is awesome too. Bean sprouts round it off and give it hydrating crunch.
Nice posts!