i don't know whether i've yet made something that i would consider the ultimate (vegan) salad. but what i made today comes pretty close.

i have a friend who, when reading some of my recipes (like the magic cereal post and some other things i haven't published here), said, "it's like you are trying to make human rocket fuel".

yeah, actually, that's totally it. plant based, human rocket fuel. my philosophy has sort of evolved over the past couple of years into: every meal can be a healing, cleansing, powerfully nutritive event that literally rebuilds you while simultaneously protecting you from disease and lowering stress.

did you know food could do that?

i had a particularly productive day in the kitchen today, and i wanted to write down what i did so that i can replicate it later.

dressing (measurements are approximations, just do what makes sense to you...)

BASE (these are my usual suspects when it comes to dressing)
1/2 cup olive oil (first cold press organic - the "cold press" part is very important nutritionally)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
juice of 2 or 3 lemons
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon basil
1/2 tablespoon thyme
1/2 tablespoon rosemary

SALTY STUFF
5 or 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 onion, sliced thin
4 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, minced
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 pinches or so of Celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons of tamari

put the onions and garlic into a pan with olive oil and let them simmer for 10 minutes. the heat is very low, just about where it would be if you were simmering some soup. it's setting "2" on my stove.

add the shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, tamari and Celtic sea salt. keep the heat low and let sit for another ten minutes or so.

SWEET STUFF
handful of blueberries
1/2 orange

put the base, the salty stuff, and the sweet stuff together in a food processor. mix it up with the big blade for a good long time, pulsing here and there and pushing the seeds and stuff back down the sides with a rubber spatula. you should end up with a consistency that is something like thousand island dressing. it will have a slightly purple color because of the blueberries.

put the dressing in the fridge, let it mellow for a bit.

topping (a nice vegan approximation to Parmesan cheese)

salba seeds (also called chia seeds)
unhulled sesame seeds
nutritional yeast

put the salba seeds in a coffee grinder to about the halfway point - 2 tablespoons maybe? grind them into fluffy powder. put in a bowl.

same thing with the unhulled sesame seeds.

now mix in some nutritional yeast, so that it's about half salba/sesame and half nutritional yeast. take a whisk or a fork and mix it up until it is well blended.

put this stuff in a jar and set aside.

note: you will want to store it in a dark place when you aren't using it. sunlight destroys the B vitamins in the nutritional yeast. in fact when you buy nutritional yeast it should be in a bottle that is completely opaque. i never buy it from a bulk bin for that reason.

the salad

ok here is what i used today and it was amazing:

1/2 cup fresh dandelion greens, minced
1/2 cup fresh spinach, minced
1/4 cup hemp seeds
2 big carrots peeled and grated (the food processor is my friend)
1/4 cup salba seeds
1 cup mixed greens (i buy these prepackaged/organic)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1.5 oranges (you used half an orange in the dressing)
1/2 cup strawberries
1/4 cup tamari roasted almonds (yes the raw ones are better for you but i can't resist the taste of these)

and that's it!

spoon yourself out some salad. put a few big dollops of the dressing on top. sprinkle a generous amount of the faux Parmesan topping on top of the dressing. mix it up and eat... omg so good.

it's probably impossible to completely understand what this combination of ingredients can do for us, but here is a breakdown of a few things just to give you an idea as to why this salad is, to my mind, a great example of plant based "human rocket fuel". :-)

greens are "super foods" unto themselves. they are packed with calcium and iron and protein (spinach is ~40% protein in easily digestible amino acid form!) and vitamins and fiber. i don't eat nearly enough greens. we should all be eating a big serving of greens in some form or another every single day. chimps (our closest genetic relative) eat 50% greens.

hemp seeds - packed with protein, they have all of the essential amino acids. they are also high in omega 3 and 6 fats. hemp seeds are considered a super food.

salba/chia - these tiny unassuming seeds have omega 3's and 6's in the 4-1 ratio needed for human health. they are also considered a super food. they also have quite a bit of protein.

blueberries and carrots - lots of cancer fighting antioxidants.

nutritional yeast - again, another super food, contains all the essential amino acids (proteins our bodies can't make) along with a plethora of B vitamins. there are so many B vitamins in nutritional yeast, if you eat enough of it, your pee will turn "vitamin yellow". this is not an active yeast; i've never had a problem digesting it.

the pumpkin seeds, dandelion greens and spinach are high in iron. the citric acid in the lemon and oranges facilitates absorption of the iron. great for the sisters around that time of the month. :-) also great if you run a lot and therefore spend a lot of time crushing red blood cells with your feet.

the unhulled sesame seeds are high in calcium.

the topping is a powerful mix of perfectly balanced omega 3/6 fats, B vitamins, proteins, and calcium! it's great on soups, salads, or anywhere you would use Parmesan. i put it on top of peanut butter sometimes if i make some peanut butter toast and it's great!

bon appetit! :-)