Salads

[bodaflower]

How do you guys make yours?

Lately I've been buying a bag of Earthbound Organic salad mix, i really like their italian salad (hearts of romaine and raddichio)

i usually cut up maybe 2 medium sized carrots, about half a red onion, mix in some bean sprouts (peas, lentils, mung) and sometimes some celery, some pine nuts and usually a cheese of some sort.

today i bought a purple cheese, i believe it's called purple cow, made with raw milk and soaked in wine...it's pretty good but you can definitely taste the wine

and then for dressing i use cindy's kitchen wild maine blueberry dressing, it's not raw but it has good ingredients and it's really delicious

but i just bought four pints of blueberries today so i want to make a raw blueberry dressing of my own

what about you?

[dreamrawalwz]

Mine are pretty simple:

Spinach and or romaine
tomato
celery
yellow, red, or orange bell pepper
alfalfa, clover, or a mix of sprouts
lemon juice

[bodaflower]

Yes! I Forgot tomatoes and cucumbers!

[SmilingRawDancer]

SO SIMPLE:
2+ cups Baby spinach
2+ cups Continental blend baby greens from Costco (both organic)
1 Roma Tomato
1 -2 cloves garlic
Avocado
ACV
Spices: Cayenne, parsley flakes, nutritional yeast, basil, cumin.

[Beckla]

Things I love in my salads:
fresh peas
fresh corn
sprouts
mushrooms
avacado slices
sliced (raw!) almonds
raw feta (do a banana search!)
artichoke hearts (I know - not raw, but we all have our fixes)
fresh broccoli
fresh tomatoes
sliced carrots
hearts of palm (are these raw??)
homemade pickeled beets
Sliced onions
Sliced red cabbage
Sliced (in strips) squash
Red, green, yellow peppers
Raw walnuts

I could go on and on.... :)

The greener thelettuce/spinach/veggie, the betterit is for ya - from what I've heard.

Dressing -- either I make a favorite recipe (the light Ceasar in Alissa's book...sweet and sour onion as I've posted... honey mustard.... you name it...) or just go with a basic mix of olive oil, vinegar (either raw ACV or raw red wine vinegar) and spices.

[juliebove]

I quit buying the bagged mixes because of so much food poisoning in the past concerning them.

I was growing some butter lettuce but I couldn't eat it all and it bolted. Aside from that I will use whatever comes in my organic produce box each week. I usually get some lettuce or spinach, maybe some kale or Swish chard, and usually there is a mixed bag of greens. This week I got a head of purple cabbage. I have had a thyroid problem in the past so I am careful not to use too much of the goitrogenic greens and other vegetables. If I get them in the box, I might use a small amount.

I almost always add tomatoes and onions of some sort. I love all kinds of onions and am growing them in my garden. I also love peppers so will usually add those as well as some celery and carrots.

Those are really the basic things I like in my salad, but if I have other things in the produce box, I might add them too. Like peas, corn, green beans, radishes, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

If I have sprouts I might add those.

I always add some nuts or nut cheese if I have it. Haven't made any nut cheese in a while. I don't like dressing, but I might top it with some fresh salsa or a squeeze of lemon and a bit of salt and pepper.

[bodaflower]

I'm really interested in making my own dressing so that it'll be raw but I've never done it before so I just keep using a store bought one :p but i've been trying out new recipes lately (my own creation - monster maca mud balls, flax seed crackers, salsa, and doing smoothies more often)

Do any of you have a good dressing recipe or just something to add in for some seasoning?

[bodaflower]

SO SIMPLE:
2+ cups Baby spinach
2+ cups Continental blend baby greens from Costco (both organic)
1 Roma Tomato
1 -2 cloves garlic
Avocado
ACV
Spices: Cayenne, parsley flakes, nutritional yeast, basil, cumin.


Where can you get nutrional yeast? That sounds like a delicious mix

[Random Violin Guy]

I make my own vinaigrette: equal parts of Apple Cider Vinegar and Olive Oil. It's really easy, fairly cheap, and it's raw.

Anyways, my salads are somewhat like this:

mescaline mix salad greens
1 carrot, shredded
alfalfa sprouts
1 tomato, or a bunch of cherry tomatoes, diced
maybe an avocado, diced
a few slices of cucumber

I'll toss that with the vinaigrette, and then add:

salt
pepper
basil
oregano

After I've finished adjusting the spices, I'll finish it up by sprinkling on:

dulse flakes
hemp seeds
sunflower seeds


I'd like to hear some other dressing recipes, though. This is what I do every time... it's wonderful, but I'd like to build up my repertoire a bit.

[Random Violin Guy]

Oh, and I forgot to mention. You can get nutritional yeast at your local health food store. It shouldn't be too hard to find.

[Stina]

Nothing like a wonderful fresh salad! I really prefer my carrot grated on my salad and maybe I'll grate up some beet while I'm at it. Often I'll break up leftover Raw burger on my salad to kind of bulk it up.
I love to pour a lot of dressing on my salad and almost make it soupy, so due to the price of bottled salad dressing, the fact that they're not Raw and sit like a lump in my tummy, and fat content, I've gotten in the habit of making my own.
Here's my new favorite recipe that I never quite make the same way every time.

I soak several sundried tomatoes and I do use the soaking water.

I throw that in the blender with

- a pint of cherry tomatoes or a big juicy tomato

-maybe a few leaves of basil or few sprigs of cilantro

- splash of shoyu (soy sauce) or Bragg's liquid aminos

- squit of agave, honey, or a couple drops of stevia

- splash of umeboshi vinegar or apple cider vinegar

- splash of some fine olive oil

I whiz it up but leave it a little lumpy for personal preference. Yummy salad dressing!

[treegirl]

Stina: That dressing looks really good and simple! I'm gonna try it today for sure.

I like to use raw nut cheese 'n stuff - really good w/ cucumbers and lettuce in a wrap too - rolled in sunflower seeds

Walnuts and granny smith apples in a salad together are really good too

Basil, tomatoes, olives, and a white nut cheese on cucumbers w/ a splash of olive oil is reminiscent of genuine Greek salads

Bodaflower: Sometimes you can find Nutritional yeast in the bulk section of a regular grocery store too, if you don't live near a Natural Food store. I get mine from Fred Meyer's bulk section

[Stina]

One my favorite toppings for salads is dried daikon- not a fresh item but Raw 'cause it's sundried. I got it from Gold Mine catalogue. Wish it was easier for me to get Raw olives.....

[Veganforlife]

bodaflower - interesting enough I rarely eat salads these days. I guess close to thirty years of being Vegetarian and then Vegan I'm a little weary of them.
Also your raw milk cheese you spoke of? Are you striving to be 100% raw? If yes, then milk is not doing your body good. Milk is a very mucous-forming product. and we are the only species that suckles from another. Also bottled dressings are usually pasteurized. Just an FYI...

[bodaflower]

I do consider myself to be 100% raw, I know all about milk but i choose to include the raw cheese in my diet anyway :) I don't really eat that much of it and I don't find it to have any adverse effects on my body

[littlemarie]

Do you use cow or goat milk?

[dreamrawalwz]

I do consider myself to be 100% raw, I know all about milk but i choose to include the raw cheese in my diet anyway :) I don't really eat that much of it and I don't find it to have any adverse effects on my body

I'm not judging or anything, just curious. Why do you decide to include the raw dairy? I don't want to start a debate here on the furom though...

[SmilingRawDancer]

Salad dressings are fairly simple to just create on your own:
Oil/fat of choice (Avocado counts!)
Acid part of choice
Seasonings/salt to taste

Some people just use lemon juice, but I blend 1/2 an avocado with a bit of salt, some dry mustard (1/4-1/2 TSP.), 1/2 tsp. turmeric.
Its a derivitive of Raw Food Right Now!'s Deviled Eggless Spread :)
It's delightful.

OH and the best salad topping:
1/4 cup Walnuts
1/2 scoop Nutritional yeast
salt to taste
1/2 - 1 Tbsp. dried basil

Put that in a ziplock baggy, pound it with a rubber mallet and sprinkle it on your salad. It's TO DIE FOR.

[bodaflower]

I'm not judging or anything, just curious. Why do you decide to include the raw dairy? I don't want to start a debate here on the furom though...

haha yeah no debates...honestly, it just feels right :) I don't have any specific reasons or anything, I try not to eat more than once a day and get the highest quality cheese possible, my brother got raw milk once and it was amazing, but unfortunately there's nowhere to buy it except a farm in Tucson which is about an hour and a half away from here

If I ever go to Tucson though, I'm definitely going to hit them up

so yeah..basically it just feels natural for me to include it in my diet, at least at this stage..it helps me eat more salads, especially if I get the purple moon cheese, which is raw and soaked in cabernet wine :D

[sherahtaylor]

Mmmm lately I've been having with one of Alissa's dressings:

Green/Red Leaf lettuce or romaine
tomatoes
red onions
avocados
cucumbers
sprouts
sunflower seeds
mushrooms

[ocean spray]

Organic Spring Mix
Romaine
Tomato
Red onion
Cranberries (dried no sugar)
Cucumber
Sunflower seeds

Dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tsp. ginger (fresh)
1 Tbs. Basil (fresh)
1 C Olive oil
1/4 C Apple Cider Vinagar
Splash of Noma Shoyo

Blend in Blender until mixed.