Ingredients:

4 cups Baby Spinach
Handful Green beans
Thinly sliced red onion (1/2 a small onion)
½ package Non-GMO Firm tofu cubed (optional)
Cut green beans in half
Cube tofu into 1″cubes

Saute beans and tofu in small amount of oil on medium high until tofu is warmed and beans are slightly softened but still crisp. Set aside.

Cut onion in half and slice red onion very thinly.

Options: Mix it up by adding some sautéed red or yellow peppers or grape tomatoes or any other fresh veggies as the season changes.

By cooking some of the vegetables and making the dressing warm, you’re taking the ‘edge’ off of the raw foods so they are easier for the stomach to digest and absorb. This is particularly important for those of us who get bloated after they eat or feel sluggish and heavy.

Dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp grated or minced ginger

½ tsp garlic chopped finely or minced

1tbs miso (dissolved in ¼ cup hot water)

1tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

splash of braggs (unfermented soy sauce)

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Dissolve miso in ¼ cup boiled water. Warm olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic and ginger and cook until softened. Mix in lemon juice, vinegar. Take off heat and add miso and sesame oil. Add thinly sliced onion, green beans and tofu to spinach greens. Drizzle dressing over salad. Toss and enjoy!

What makes this recipe good for spring?

So this recipe is great for spring as it has the fresh spring greens but by cooking part of the salad and warming the dressing we’re making sure that our body can absorb it easily and doesn’t have to work to hard to digest it. We’re not in the full heat of the summer yet and still coming out of the cold winter months. We’re still trying to stay warm so we want to make sure we’re not putting cold raw things into our system yet. The onion and garlic help with that moving energy that’s so important in the spring-time. We associate it with the liver energy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and we’re really trying to help that movement after the sedentary winter months. The vinegar and lemon juice are also great for this moving energy.