Cottage Cheese Salad

This is a quick & healthy lunch option on it's own, or it can be used as a side dish.

Ingredients: tomato, cucumber, plain chunky cottage cheese, himalayan salt to taste, (and pepper if you like, or spices if you prefer).

Add as much of each ingredient as you like, but more salad & less cheese would probably be more favourable for weight loss if that's what you're after. :)

Broccoli & Carrot Slaw

I made this for the first time today, and it's also the first time I make a dish with raw broccoli...I had a small taste and I think I like it, the dressing is yummy.  And this is a new and different way to get some broccoli in - usually I just steam it and eat it as is (which is delicious!), but it's always nice to try something different once in a while.  So I may just make this again in future...I'll see how I feel about it after eating more. :)

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
+- 4 cups chopped broccoli (florets and stems)
2 medium carrots

Dressing:
2 tbs tangy mayonnaise
1 cup plain greek yoghurt
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp mustard (not the powder)
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt (I added 20 shakes of powdered himalayan salt instead)

Whisk to combine.

• toast sunflower seeds in dry pan over medium-high heat for a few minutes until they smell aromatic (don't let them burn or turn too brown)
• shred the broccoli & peeled carrots in a food processor
• combine everything with the dressing and mix to coat well.  

Jelly (Jello) Carrot Salad

This has *some* "healthy delight" aspect to it, buuuut the jelly kinda tips it over into the junk food category.  It's one of my favourite salads and it especially yummy on a hot summer day, say with a BBQ. :)

All you need is:

1 packet Jelly / jello (I use greengage because it's my favourite, but pineapple (or even peach) jelly works really well here too - so test it out with your favourite jelly)
3 cups finely grated carrots

First make the jelly according to packet instructions, then mix in the grated carrots.

If you'd like to, you can add pineapple chunks too.

The amounts don't have to be exact, of course.  For every 400ml of jelly that I make (ie 400ml of the liquidy end product, not 400ml of powder), I add about 3 cups of grated carrots.  You can add less carrots if you want more jelly in there, or even a little more carrots if you want the mixture to be firmer and denser.

Let it set in the fridge for a few hours until the jelly is fully set and no longer liquid - so make sure to make this dish WELL ahead of time.  It can stand in fridge overnight as well.

Mmmmmmm..........

Ok, so to be honest, the jelly I used is probably not strictly vegetarian because of the gelatine... :O  I have found a vegan jelly but I still need to try it out with this salad to see if it works.

Garden Salad with Feta & Mushrooms

I like to make this as a side-dish or as dinner if we've had a big lunch or late lunch that day.  It doesn't matter how much of what you throw it, so just use your discretion:

Salad:
mixed lettuce leaves
tomatoes
celery
cucumber
raw sliced white mushrooms
green pepper
plain feta cheese
sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds

Dressing:
olive oil
himalayan crystal salt

Mix together all the salad ingredients, drizzle over some olive oil & sprinkle some salt and mix until everything is coated.  Mmmm. :)

Colourful Coleslaw

This is my new favourite version of coleslaw salad. :)  Not only because it tastes yummy, but also because it's so colourful and pretty. :D

I didn't measure the ingredients this time, but it went something like this: (it doesn't really matter how much of what you put in...)

2 1/2 cups chopped purple cabbage
2 cups grated carrot
1/2 large green pepper, chopped (add more if you like, this is just all I had in the fridge)
+- 1 cup tangy mayonnaise mixed with 20 drops liquid stevia (add more if you'd like it sweeter)
handful raisins
handful chopped walnuts

1.   Mix all ingredients (except mayo mixture) together in a large bowl.  Pour over mayo and mix until everything is coated.
2.   Refrigerate until ready to use. 

I forgot about sunflower seeds, so you can add a small handful of those as well if you wish - it's always nice to cram as many beneficial nutrients as you can into a dish. :)

This salad is also very alkalizing (besides the mayo and the walnuts).

How to sprout your own seeds

Sprouting your own seeds and beans etc is really easy, not at all time consuming and takes up virtually no space in your home, and unless you grow some of your own fruits and veggies, sprouts will be the freshest nutrients you can get.  All you need is a sprouter, which usually look something like this:

It's just a stackable plastic goodie:

Sprouts: Day 1

You place a thin layer of your choice of beans and seeds (here I have alfalfa seeds and mung beans in the top row and dried chickpeas below).  Don't completely cover the bottom of the container with beans/seeds, because they will be expanding quite a bit, so leave some space like I've done.

Then all you do is re-stack your layers so that the perforated layer is on top and the un-perforated container is at the bottom to catch the water - each day pour 1/2 cup of clean water onto the top of the sprouter and it will pour down over all your beans/seeds.  Remember to empty the water from the bottom holder every few days so that it doesn't overflow.  Also, keep the sprouter out of direct sunlight - I just put mine in a corner on my kitchen counter where the sun doesn't reach.

I've started these sprouts today and will add some more photos to this post as the sprouts progress.  Within a few days you'll have deliciously fresh & crunchy sprouts. :)

My favourite way to eat sprouts is by adding them to salads.

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Sprouts: Day 2

 They look pretty much the same as yesterday, but have expanded some.

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Sprouts: Day 3

The top 2 have started sprouting.

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Sprouts: Day 4

The mung beans (bottom pic) are almost ready! Actually you can eat them already, but I like them sprouted a little more before I use them.

Anyhoo....Project Chickpea Sprouting has been terminated...they haven't succeeded in sprouting, and it may or may not have something to do with the fact that my dried chickpeas have expired.... :O  But nevermind, they work exactly the same as the ones above. :)

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And the sprouts are ready!  :D

Sprouts: Day 5

So how easy was that?!  Now I place them in a sealed container in the fridge where they'll still keep for a few days.  Just a note though, in my experience, the chickpeas don't keep as long as these other 2, so rather eat them sooner.

Turmeric Yoghurt Salad Dressing

This is my favourite salad dressing!  Well, it's the only one I use, I don't like buying store bought ones anymore, I'd much rather make my own healthier ones from scratch.  I make a jar-full each time and it does keep for a while in the fridge (well, it's never lasted more than maybe 2 weeks max with me, I think...I use it a lot, so can't vouch that it keeps any longer than that).  :)

1 1/2 cup plain greek yoghurt
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cayenne powder

Add yoghurt and oil, then spices in a glass jar.  Mix very well until completely combined.  Close jar and store in fridge.  You may have to just mix it a little before each use, since the oil tends to separate.

It makes a delicious creamy bright yellow dressing.  These spices also have a lot of health benefits, I'll post something about spices some time soon.  :)

Mixed Avocado Salad

This is my husband's favourite salad - he loves salad and most of all salad with avo.  For me, avo or feta complete a salad.  :)  We have this with dinner several times a week - it's fresh, easy, quick to make and so healthy (also alkalising).  The more ways you can find to add raw fresh foods to your diet, the better.

2 tomatoes
1/4 cucumber
2 leaves lettuce
1 stick celery
1/4 large green pepper
1 avocado
2 tbs sunflower seeds
2 tbs pumpkin seeds
drizzle olive oil
Himalayan crystal salt, to taste

Dice, slice and chop the veggies, sprinkle over the seeds, olive oil and salt, mix and serve. 

I don't particularly like celery actually, but it's so healthy that I include it anyway - it's good for the kidneys, helping them to eliminate waste; it helps cleanse the body of toxins; it contains a lot of nutrients such as Vit. C, fibre, folic acid, potassium and compounds known as coumarins and acetylenics which help prevent free radicals from damaging cells, aids in cancer prevention and has also been show to stop the growth of tumors. 

I grow my own basil, so when I have that on hand I love to add it with this salad. 

I also sprout mung beans, alfalfa seeds and chickpeas, so when I have these on hand as well I add them to salads.  They're extremely nutritious - I'll post some info on them soon.

Alkalinizing Coleslaw Salad

It's important that your diet consists mostly of alkalinizing foods, since your body fucntions better and is more resistent to disease when it is overall in a more alkaline state, as opposed to acidic.  It is now well known that a body that is predominantly acidic is far more prone to things such as arthritis, cancer, heart disease and many, many more ailments.

Almost all the ingredients of this salad are generally considered alkaline (with the exception of the mayo) and the yoghurt, which is more or less neutral:

3 cups finely sliced/chopped cabbage
2 cups finely grated carrot
1/3 cup raisins
3 tbs sunflower seeds
1 apple, diced (optional)
3 rings pineapple, diced (optional)
1 celery stick, chopped (optional)
5 heaped dessert spoons plain greek yoghurt
1 heaped dessert spoon tangy mayo
20 drops liquid stevia

Mix the first 7 ingredients together.  For the "dressing", mix the yoghurt, mayo and stevia together well.  Mix into the rest of the ingredients.
I usually add whatever ingredients I happen to have on hand, so if I don't have apple, pineapple and celery, I don't add them - it's great tasting either way.

If you would like the dressing more tangy, just use less yoghurt and more mayo.  I like to use as little mayo as I can because of all the additives in there.  I also like to sweeten it a little with some stevia - if you prefer it more tart, then leave this out.  Also, if you're going to be using more mayo, then you may want to add more stevia for sweetness.

Incidentally, stevia is the most alkalinizing sweetener there is.

Also, it's best to eat this salad on the day you make it, so that the apple and celery don't get "old" - it's nicer when they're still fresh and crispy.