Saturday, March 17, 2012

a salad i eat every day

it's true. i eat this salad every day. well, nearly every day. i make a huge one in the morning and have some for breakfast, then i'll have more later on in the day and normally there is enough for breakfast the next day. that's how much i love it!!!

i've thought about keeping it to myself. but that's not fair ;)



what you'll need to make this beauty of a salad:

-green leaf or red leaf lettuce
-organic baby spinach
-grape tomatoes or 1 large tomato
-cucumber
-chunk of red cabbage
-chunk of fennel
-2 medium carrots
-piece of red onion
-chickpeas
-1/2 or whole avocado
-hemp seeds

dressing:
-olive oil
-balsamic vinegar
-mustard of choice
-fresh lemon juice
-salt & pepper

to assemble the salad, cut up some lettuce and throw into a large bowl with a few handfuls of baby spinach. dice your tomato and cucumber (or halve the grape tomatoes). shred the cabbage (or what i do is just cut it up into small slices) and slice the fennel. grate the carrots and chop the onion. toss everything with the chickpeas, avocado and hemp seeds.

for the dressing: start with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (feel free to use your choice of oil). add a tsp or two of balsamic, 2 tsp mustard, and juice of half a lemon. add the salt and pepper and whisk. if you want the dressing thinner, add more lemon juice. if you want it thicker, add more mustard.

toss the salad with the dressing and enjoy!!

(if you want this raw, you can use sprouted chickpeas instead. i prefer the taste of the cooked beans, myself. for the dressing, you probably would have to sub the vinegar and mustard with something else as they may have been heated.)


hannah and i have been spending a LOT of time outside lately. it's been so beautiful! this is one of her favorite spots, her sitting tree. we made a path in the woods and i cleaned some vines off of it for her. so whenever we go outside now she has to go back there to sit in her tree :)


i'm so anxious to get digging in the gardens. but i think i better wait until our last frost date. i don't want to take any chances! i think i'm done buying seeds. i've got enough, hehe. tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, spinach, kale, sunflowers, a number of herbs, all organic....can't wait!


oh wanted to share a link to a recipe from uncooking101.com. it's so simple and all you need is frozen bananas, a ripe avocado, and homemade almond milk. find it here!

it's delicious. i made it a few nights ago and loved it. i wanted to put cacao in it but when hubby tried it he said "no chocolate! it's good like this!" hehe. but tonight i made it again and added the cacao, just a couple tbsps with some agave. it made a yummy shake.


one more thing! a new favorite inspiring website, nourishing our radiance, is offering a lovely course, cultivating the sweet life. if you need a healthy change in your life, this might be for you! take a look at what they are offering. intriguing, yes? <3