Life Saving Salads

Have I mentioned how good green and raw veggies are? How much better I feel when I get plenty of green? The thing is, life happens and despite what I know, I constantly forget to get the green I need to feel at my best.  

Recently, after several long work days, and weekends spent just catching up, I asked myself, am I missing something? I remembered my "choppy salads" and how much of a boost they are to my sense of health and well-being.

My "choppy salad" usually consists of a dark green base ("base" meaning it is the prominent ingredient - about 50% of the salad), like kale and/or parsley, mixed with whatever other veggies I have handy.  (There are alternatives to the base such as zucchini, or other summer squash)  Sometimes I shop for specific veggies, of course, but the choppy salad is more of a concept than a recipe designed to get some deep nutrition in a quick, tasty, and convenient way using whatever you have on hand.

Start with your base (i.e. kale and/or parsley), using a small bunch of kale or a large bunch of parsley, or a combination.  

Chop your greens and put in a food processor.(If you don't have one, the Braun and Aicock got good reviews. I have a Cuisinart for years, but reviews on recent products are mixed)
(They don't have to be finely chopped; large chucks will work - see images below)

Pulse your "base" (i.e. greens) in the food processor until they are almost finely chopped 

Add your other veggies - these can be any combination of what you have handy - a couple of carrots, zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, a green onion, sugar snap peas, a small quantity of broccoli or peeled broccoli stems
Chop the veggies into large chunks and add into the food processor 

Add 1 tsp Himalayan salt or Real Salt

Squeeze the juice from a slice of lemon into the mix
Add extra virgin olive oil (at least 4 tbsp, more if you love olive oil as I do)

A dash of cayenne (don't over do it, you can always add)
Add 1 medium tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes

For variety you can add dried or fresh herbs like oregano, thyme, basil, dill - whatever you prefer.
Pulse until the salad is fairly uniform small chunks (you may need to stop and open the food processor in the middle of this process if you have large chunks hanging out on top. Just use a spatula to turn them to the bottom of the processor bowl)

Taste before you take it out of the food processor bowl. You may want to add something to the dressing - more olive oil, more lemon, more salt.  This is the time to make adjustments to taste if you want to mix in the food processor.  Some friends have told me they add a little goat cheese with the olive oil. If you like a heavier dressing, there are great creamy raw dressings made with avocados, pine nuts, cashews.  (I plan to share a couple of my favorite dressing recipes soon, so please stay tuned!)

Get SOMETHING Green on Your Plate!

You know green veggies are good for you, but do you find you keep telling yourself you'll be better about eating them - in the future?  Does it seem like too much to deal with today? When it all seems too much, I seek SIMPLE solutions. 

Why eat fresh green veggies?  Green veggies help digestion and help you feel satisfied with less likelihood of overeating. They can help avoid acid reflux and indigestion.  The chlorophyll in your green veggies is said to improve anemic conditions, the action of the heart, reduce high blood pressure normal blood count and platelet levels; to contribute to healing of hepatitis and other liver diseases, asthma and hay-fever, pyorrhea, varicose veins, ulcers - internal and external, high and low blood sugar, offensive body odors, sore throat; to shield the brain from antioxidant damage; and to add power to an anti-aging program. My article on chlorophyll details all kinds of the amazing benefits of green stuff.
{You can find chlorophyll here}

Despite all this goodness, it is so easy to find your meals have little or no green! (And don't try to cheat yourself with canned vegetables - they do not have the nutritional value of fresh veggies)

A little bit of iceberg lettuce (what I sometimes call "green water") a slice of insipid tomato, a few bits of shredded carrot are of little help.  Remember the more veggies you eat, the easier it is for your body to process your meal - leading to weight loss, better digestion, blood sugar balance, and all around real nourishment and health improvement.

It may seem that getting around to creating a routine of eating plenty of green veggies is impossible.  It just isn't happening.  I have been through stages like this - I found myself thinking:

- Oh my gosh HOW do I get something GREEN on this PLATE??  I can barely manage to get myself fed in the first place!

Well, the first thing is to commit to making the habit of veggie.  Start with just the idea of it,  like "I am okay with eating more green veggies. I can make it happen (as long as they taste good). I just have to keep it really simple to start."

Now, I realize that even my super simple Perfect Green Veggie Sautee and Kale Salad can seem a little daunting if you are living life in overwhelm. So for this post I got down to basics. I found that when there is too much going on in my life, the minimum was all I could do - maybe you feel like that too.  So let's break it down - what is the one thing you can do - one thing you can manage to get yourself to do? Start with veggies that need little or no preparation.

Baby Steps:
(this is all I could manage for a couple of weeks!)
Just slice some celery, cucumber, and/or decent tomatoes.  A handful of snap peas also work well (remove the strings). Baby carrots are better than nothing. (Okay, okay...tomatoes and carrots aren't green, but I feel better if I have them with a meal than if I have no veggies at all!) In my experience, if I could get one or more of those vegetables on my lunch or dinner (or breakfast!) plate, I felt better.  If I felt better, I found I was able to do it again -- if by no other means than by remembering feeling better.

Get the green on your plate! Veggies aren't taking anything away from you.  They don't make you fat! They don't give you health problems! Just add them to what you are already eating, whatever that is.

Once you take the first steps, try some variety: Super Simple Chunky Salad

• Super Simple Chunky Salad -- For one serving, cut 1 Persian cucumber or half of a regular cucumber in half lengthwise, and then cut these halves the long way again, then I cut these long quarters into bite sized chunks; toss in a medium bowl with virgin olive oil, Himalayan or other quality salt, any savory dried spices that are handy (oregano, basil, thyme, sage, rosemary) and similarly sized chunks of tomatoes.  

Variation #1:  Add more green veggies to your chunky salad, cutting them to about the same size as your cukes and tomatoes: Try celery, sugar peas, even leftover steamed asparagus or broccoli.  

Hey, it's summer, so grab some decent tomatoes at the farmers' market or if you can't get there, you can get organic Del Cabo Cherry tomatoes at many grocery stores.

Variation #2: Add fresh herbs, such as chopped basil, Italian parsley, mint, or dill. 

Good-For-You Foods That Are Bad For You?

Have you ever found out that something that was supposedly good for you is now bad for you?  And vice-versa?  Remember the egg saga?

With eggs it was on again off again like a bad romance.  

Well, Pop-eye may have been wrong about spinach.  

What!? Isn’t spinach high in vitamins A and C and folate? A good source of riboflavin, vitamin B-6, calcium, iron and magnesium?  

Well--Perhaps not!  There is some controversy regarding its super high oxalic acid content (about 50 times higher than other leafy green veggies) 

What is an oxalate, you ask? 

Wikipedia explains:

Oxalate (IUPAC: ethanedioate) is the dianion with the formula C
2O2−
42O2−
44, also written (COO)2−
22. Either name is often used for derivatives, such as salts of oxalic acid, for example sodium oxalateNa₂C₂O₄, or dimethyl oxalate ((CH₃)₂C₂O₄). Oxalate also forms coordination compounds where it is sometimes abbreviated as ox.
Many metal ions form insoluble precipitates with oxalate, a prominent example being calcium oxalate, the primary constituent of the most common kind of kidney stones.

Oxalates are common in many vegetable products, though they play a much worse role in some. Soy, for example, also contains the “anti-nutrient” called oxalate that binds to calcium and prevents its absorption in the human body.