Winterize Your Salad

Salads are one of my favorite ways to eat my greens, but in the dead of Winter a cold meal doesn’t always appeal to me. Did you know that just like you winterize your car, you can make your salads more winter friendly too?

Here are some of my tried and true tips:

 

• Add hearty whole grains – add a scoop of leftover brown rice, quinoa or millet
• Use warm foods – not all salads have to be cold. Try a warm quinoa salad with chopped herbs, vegetables and nuts or seeds and a simple vinaigrette or use warm beans or steamed veggies on a bed of salad greens
• Lay down some roots – cooked, root vegetables like squash, sweet potatoes or beets are a perfect way to include grounding, energizing foods into a salad
• Choose seasonal greens and ingredients– use denser, spicier, more bitter greens for your base  like arugula, radicchio, spinach or dandelion greens
• Top it with nuts – nuts and seeds add a boost and can be dry roasted on the stove top until fragrant or sprinkled on raw

I’ve adapted these two winter salads from Whole Living and they’ve quickly become a couple of my personal favorites.

Not only are they satisfying they’re detoxifying and won’t weigh you down.

Steamed Broccoli and Squash Salad with Tahini Dressing

1. Steam half a head of broccoli florets and 1 diced and seeded Delicata squash.

2. In a bowl, toss 1 cup of mixed greens, 1 cup of thinly sliced red cabbage and 2 Tbsp diced onion.

3. Top with steamed vegetables and 1 cooked black beans.

4. Season with sea salt and pepper, sprinkle some sesame seeds and top with this homemade Tahini dressing:

• 1 inch peeled and diced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled and diced)
• 2 tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons of tahini
• 1/2 teaspoon pure maple syrup
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon
• dash of cayenne pepper

Throw ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend. If it’s too thick add a little water and blend again.

Kale Salad with Berries and Walnuts

1. Wash 1 bunch of kale, remove the leaves from the stems and pat the leaves dry.

2. Tear t into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl.

3. Add 2 Tbsps olive oil, 1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice, 1/2 tsp of freshly grated ginger and half an avocado (optional) and massage with your hands until the leaves soften and the ingredients are worked in.

4. Add 1/2 c blueberries, 2 Tbsp chopped red onion, and 1/4 c toasted walnuts.

5. Toss with sea salt and black pepper.