Warm Spring Salad

Warm Spring Salad

4 cups Baby Greens
2 medium beets (cubed)

Handful of green beens
Thinly sliced spring onion
½ package Non-GMO Firm tofu cubed (optional)

Directions:
Roast the cubed beets
Cube tofu into 1″cubes

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

Slice spring onion thinly.

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

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 or are prone to loose bowels or chronic congestion.

Dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp grated or minced ginger

½ tsp garlic chopped finely or minced

1tbsp 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 hot water. Warm olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic and ginger and cook until softened. Mix in lemon juice and 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 spring onion and garlic are great for circulating energy which is so important in the spring-time. We associate it with the liver energy in Traditional Chinese Medicine and we’re really trying to help that movement after the sedentary winter months. The vinegar and lemon juice have a sour flavour which helps to stimulate flow in the liver facilitation the release of stored toxins which helps the body detoxify.