Colorful Hello Spring! Salad

Hello Spring. What a spectacle! Gorgeous Super Moon in the sky last night to welcome the Spring Equinox and explosion of color on flowering shrubs and trees everywhere you look. 

This is the perfect time for spring cleaning. As you pack away your winter stuff and prepare for a big household cleaning, pay attention to your body's needs. Some people experience springtime fatigue, others are struggling with weight to put on during the winter months. 

A vibrantly colored, nutrient-rich salad might work as an instant mood enhancer and could improve your general well being. Your body needs vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, fiber, and other active compounds. Just pick locally grown, organic ingredients, whisk a dressing with a cold pressed olive oil, and you are ready to go. 

For my salad I picked organic baby greens and heirloom beets. A simple dressing made with freshly pressed grapefruit juice and cold pressed organic olive oil from the Isle of Crete, was just perfect for it. 

Beginning of spring is an ideal time for a detox cure. Some nutritionists suggest a total fast, others are less radical and claim that a weekend juice cleanse is enough to bring your body back to a perfect health. Listen to your body and pick the strategy that suits you best. Be gentle and remember that nothing can sabotage your efforts as much as strategies that are too rigorous or too impractical to follow in your daily life. 

In radiant health - passionately raw - Dominique 

Dominique Allmon© 2019. 

Chinese Vegetable Medley For The Lunar New Year

This is not your usual Chinese take out. It may look like a traditional stir-fried vegetarian dish, but it is perfectly raw to suit raw food lifestyle. It was inspired by the fragrant Cantonese cuisine and created specially for the celebrations of the Chinese New Year. 

Ingredients: 

for the salad

• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 1 kohlrabi, julienned
• 1 zucchini, julienned
• 1 cup Brussels sprouts, cut lengthwise into quarters
• 1 purple onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 cup bean sprouts (soy or mung bean)
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 3-4 bird chili peppers, thinly sliced

for the dressing

• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger root, grated
• 3 Tbsp Nama Shoyu, raw, unpasteurized Japanese soy sauce
• 5 Tbsp cold pressed sesame oil
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/3 tsp crushed or ground Sichuan peppercorns (hua jiao)
• pinch ground white pepper

for the garnish

• 1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
• 2-3 whole bird chili peppers for each individual bowl
• 1/3 cup peanuts (optional)

Method:

• Toss all the salad ingredients into a large bow and mix gently.
• Whisk the dressing. Adjust the taste to your personal liking. You may need to add some salt to your dressing since Nama shoyu has a very delicate flavor and is not as salty as most types of soy sauce. 
• Pour dressing over the vegetable and stir gently. The dish is ready, but you can place  it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes for the flavor to fully develop.
• Serve the medley in individual bowls. Garnish with cilantro, bird peppers, and peanuts. Enjoy in good company!

Tip: You can serve this Chinese vegetable medley with raw cauliflower "rice" or spiralized zucchini. 

Millions of people all over the world celebrate today the beginning of the Lunar New Year. In Chinese calendar 2019 is the Year of the Pig. For many people this is the year to go vegan. My advice to all is: Keep your nutrition balanced and do not judge others. Whether your lifestyle includes animal protein or not, always remember to add as many fruits and vegetables to your diet as possible. Buy organic, locally grown produce whenever you can.

Wishing everyone a very happy start into the New Lunar Year 

- in radiant health, passionately raw - Dominique

Dominique Allmon©2019