Simple Salad with Home Grown Greens

This salad is simple, yet deliciously satisfying. Ingredients can vary depending on personal taste and availability.

Ingredients:

mixed greens (included but not limited to): spinach, arugula, kale, lettuce

cherry tomatoes

sliced beets

hazelnuts (walnuts or pecans are also wonderful)

chickpeas

fresh mozzarella

Radish and Snap Pea Salad

This time of year our food should have qualities that increase lightness and freshness, bringing us out of our heavier winter bodies.  This salad is a great addition to the spring diet.

2 bunches radishes – save a few leaves if they look fresh enough for garnish on soup
2 lbs snap peas

1 Tbs honey

2 Tbs water

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tsp miso paste (white, yellow or use red for a stronger flavor)

1 lime

pinch each of salt and pepper

extra spring greens (optional) such as arugula, dandelion, escarole, watercress, or whatever looks yummy and fresh at your local food shop or farmers market!

chop the radishes in thin slices and chop the peas. In a jar or small bowl use a fork to whisk the honey, water, olive oil and lime together, adding the miso last. toss peas, radishes and salad together with dressing, adding greens in at the end to keep them tender. top with salt and pepper

serves about 4

The bitter and pungent taste of radish is cleansing and helps to reduce extra water and fats held in the tissues and the blood stream. Snap peas and bitter greens cool the blood also and aid in cleansing. Fresh raw veggies with crunch increase a sense of lightness in the body and mind.

In Ayurveda raw foods are more difficult to digest, so we have included in the dressing miso paste as a digestive / probiotic, where the honey (sweet) lime (sour) and salt all pacify Vata by increasing the water and fire elements in the body. Sufficient water is our saliva and digestive juices, enzymes needed for proper absorption of the qualities of the foods taken in; fire element is agni and black pepper and salt increase heat in the gut to stoke the digestive fire.

This way we can receive the full effect of food as medicine.