What are you up to this long weekend?
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We're going to sleep in(!) catch a movie, go for long walks, and have dinner with friends (all while dodging a few springtime raindrops!)
I'm sure I'll also be doing some online listening. I still can't get enough of the presentations given during the online Lifestyle is the New Medicine Summit. If you haven't heard, 23 incredible speakers from various areas of lifestyle medicine, have come together to offer advice about how we can live our healthiest lives
As I've come to study holistic nutrition and started to follow the writings and work of some of the experts in the field, my goodness, has it ever been eye-opening. A few of my milestones ..
Macronutrients are certainly important, but there's so much more. I no longer see eating well as what we eat necessarily, but what we're able to digest.
Over the past few months, my food coach has prescribed several different vitamins and supplements that have made me feel really, really good again (after a wake-up call from a kidney stone). Although it's easy to get caught up and obsess about this piece of the health equation as well
When thinking of living our healthiest life, it's never only nutrition, or supplements, or having optimal numbers on a test that day. Instead, sleep, stress, relationships, mental, and emotional well being are all just as important. (For example, one can be thin and fit, but have a type-A personality and allow themselves to be in a continuous state of stress)
Always be mindful of how you define success
It's been so inspiring to listen to them. Happiness .. Better Sleep .. Living a Slower Life .. The Muse .. How to Create an Epic Life .. are a few of my favorites. As well as the art of
A favorite salad from the week as well
For the longest time, salads were always at the back of my mind. The semi-bland greens, a far cry from an explosion of tastes or guilty pleasure. Upon seeing and tasting this roasted beet and pear salad, with all of its approachable and yet interesting ingredients, one has to wonder if maybe the humble salad has held the power all along.
Could it really be part of the equation, when it comes to thinking differently about beauty? The idea is that if we want to be our most beautiful and vibrant selves, our dinner plate is the perfect and most logical place to start
Essentially they're a mix of chopped up ingredients, with some kind of dressing waiting in the wings to provide seasoning. But really? What makes up a good salad?
Certainly, color, textures, high notes, and an understanding of flavors, all come into play. Ever mindful that too much of a good thing is still, too much, it shouldn't be smeared with a plethora of dressing, nor should it lie completely naked, with only a few drops of olive oil as a decoration.
A good salad should work toward enhancing the taste of its veggies and greens, while at the same time retaining a certain sense of balance. It should be mixed with a gentle hand. We've all been there, the first fork full of bare greens, chased by another soaked in vinaigrette.
For the best distribution of textures and flavor, a wide range of ingredients should make their way into your big wooden bowl. Never forget to overdress, we want our salads to be a beautiful, flowing lady, never loud or obnoxious
A salad challenges the cook to cultivate flavor by combining different parts and toppings to accentuate the overall experience. Under the union of simple or complex vinaigrette, some characteristics will shine through at times, and be more discreet at others.
A good salad should never forget to be flexible, to either satisfy the appetite if nothing else is to come or prepare the tastes for the indulgence of courses yet to be served
Last, but certainly not least, they should encourage even the most inexperienced home cook to experiment bravely.
This salad makes for such a great meal. It's all about colors and textures — a combination of sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, something for all of the senses.
Enjoy!
xoxo
~ Adapted from The New York Times
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- Roasted Pears
- 4 - 6 small pears
- 1 medium-sized orange
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 - 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- pinch ground ginger
- pinch fine-grain sea salt
- Roasted Nuts
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup pecans (or walnuts)
- ½ cup toasted sesame seeds
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp tamari sauce
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch fine-grain sea salt
- Mustard Dressing
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 orange the juice of
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- pinch fine-grain sea salt
- pinch freshly ground black pepper
- Salad
- Fresh spinach and green kale washed, stems removed from the kale
- lemon
- 3 - 4 beets
- 2 oranges
- Sprouts
Instructions
- Salad
- Peel and cut the pears into halves, and place them on an oven tray.
- Squeeze the orange juice into a bowl and then, whisk it together with the maple syrup, olive oil, sea salt, and ginger powder. Cut some fresh rosemary leaves and add them into the mix.
- Brush the pears with the orange-rosemary juice.
- Rinse and drain the greens. Peel and slice the oranges for the salad.
- Remove the skin from the beets and cut into small squares. Sprinkle them with some olive oil and roast them in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes.
- For the added nut mix, combine all the ingredients together and place in a saucepan.
- Roast the nuts, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
- Dressing
- Mix and whisk all the ingredients.
- Combine and Serve
- Finally, combine the prepared pears, vegetables, nuts, and dressing in a nice bowl to finish off your salad.
1 Comment
I love pears but have never had them in a salad! This sounds delicious.