Cucumber Radish Delight [recipe]

I have been so in love with simple meals lately, and this salad has quickly become a favorite. Based on the Medical Medium recipe.

Cucumber Radish Delight (raw, fat-free, vegan, paleo, medicalmedium, plant-based)
(printable recipe here) 

2 cucumbers, sliced (and peeled if they have wax)
5-6 radishes, sliced thinly
several sprigs fresh dill, chopped
1/8-1/4 red onion, diced
juice of 1 lemon
maple syrup to taste
S+P to taste

Toss to combine. I'm sure this would be even better if left to marinate for about 30 minutes, but I can never manage to wait. 

Echota's Creamy Red Pepper Dressing/Dip/Sauce (Recipe)

Oh my gosh, my friends! I just made the most delicious dressing for my salad, and before I forget how I did it, I must share it with you! This would also be delicious as a dip or a sauce over zoodles, it's so good! 

Echota's Creamy Red Pepper Dressing/Dip/Sauce

Printable Recipe

🌱1/2 - 1 red bell pepper
🌱 Handful sundried or dehydrated tomatoes
🌱1 clove garlic
🌱several sprigs thyme
🌱Juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
🌱5 small dates or 3 large ones
🌱1/2 - 1 avocado
🌱water to thin

Blend all in high speed blender and enjoy over salads or zoodles or as a dip!

Raw Pad Thai Salad Recipe

Yesterday I made a delicious Raw Pad Thai salad with kelp noodles. It's a variation on a recipe from Muneeza Ahmed, and it's delicious! 

So much yum! Now that I understand how to properly prepare kelp noodles, I am so in love with them. Oh my gosh, this would roll into a nori sheet so beautifully! That might be my dinner! Nom!

Printable recipe here.

Purple Goddess Raw Pad Thai Salad

Salad:  1 pkg kelp noodles                                                    1/2 - 1 head lettuce 4 shredded carrots                                                    1 c shredded purple cabbage 5 radishes, shredded                                                1 c peas 3 sm apples, shredded                                              handful chopped basil  a few leaves chopped mint                                       1/2 - 1 c chopped cilantro 4 - 5 scallions , chopped                                           1-2 c chopped raw spinach. Proper preparation of kelp noodles:drain noodles and place in large bowl.  Add juice of 1 lemon and 1 Tbs baking soda to bowl. Fill with filtered water to cover. Soak 20 minutes. Drain and mix with everything else. Dressing: 1/2 c tahini                                                 5 small dates or 3 medjool dates juice of 1 lime                                                            1-2 cloves garlic 1/2 c water or more to thin                                        salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste (opt) 2 Tbs honey                                                      chunk of raw ginger Blend all in high-speed blender.  While the noodles are soaking, shred the cabbage, carrots, radishes and apple in the food processor. Pour into large mixing bowl. Add chopped herbs, peas, spinach and dressing. Top with scallions and serve on a bed of lettuce.

Spicy Healing Ginger Dressing (recipe)

Anthony William, Medical Medium, posted an article on the website GOOP today, and I think it's worth a read. It details the healing properties of "The Big Four" healing foods - which symptoms and conditions they address, the best forms to eat them in, how they help us physically and emotionally.

Did you know that healing foods actually help us emotionally as well? Because I didn't - that's pretty amazing, but also I DO feel that. Like how a cup of chamomile tea is calming, or how eating a ripe juicy strawberry feels good all the way down to my toes, or how a little raw honey feels like it's feeding my soul.

Sometimes I like my salad to be more simple (today's was lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and sprouts) and my dressing to be the big healer. Llately I am doing this more and more. If I don't want to eat radishes, for example, but I want the healing benefit, into my salad dressing they go for a nice spicy kick. Thank the Universe for high speed blenders, right? I use my Vitamix multiple times a day, and I love it.

 After reading the article I got inspired to spice up my lunch salad dressing with one of those four, ginger. I highly recommend reading the full article, but from it, a snippet about ginger: 

Ginger is one of the most important tools for giving ourselves respite from a reactive state. When you’ve been going a mile a minute from morning until night and you finally start to check out mentally and emotionally, the physical body often stays reactive, in a heightened, spasmodic state. This is how stress-related illnesses such as adrenal fatigue, acid reflux, sleep apnea, spastic bladder, insomnia, digestive issues such as spastic colon and gastritis, and chronic muscle pain can get kicked up. Ginger is the ultimate antispasmodic. A cup of ginger tea can calm an upset stomach and relax any other areas of tension for up to 12 hours. Rather than acting as a nerve tonic, it acts as a tonic for the organs and muscles, telling the body that it can let go, that everything is under control.

There is so much more, but that's a taste.  I've got a big hunk of ginger root in the fridge and lately have been experimenting with "just throwing what's in the fridge and healing" into my dressing to see what happens, and so far it's been working out nicely. This was a hit, so I thought I'd share.

Printable Recipe

Spicy Healing Ginger Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2" piece ginger
• 1 cup cherry or other tomatoes
• 1/2 fresh mango
• 1 garlic clove
• 1-2 sprigs fresh thyme (opt)
• 2 Medjool dates

Instructions

Blend all in a high speed blender and pour over a big salad. Eat immediately. Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 5 mins 

Purple Goddess's Special Healing Salad Dressing

Since finding the Medical Medium protocol, so much healing is happening. I've been going out into the world more and more, to see what I can tolerate and how I do. I have a long way to go with building my strength back up and my endurance, and I'm okay with the fact that these thigns take time - it seems like I've acclimated to a pace of one step at a time, one thing at a time, baby steps...and it's my preferred pace.

That said, I was able to do Costco in a motorized scooter last week, which blew my mind - Costco has in the past been so incredibly overwhelming for me, and so difficult to even consider - there are so many bright painful lights and chemicals and it's a sensory overload for my incredibly sensitive system. It would have ended in migraines for sure, and a huge crash, and so much pain - even just ten minutes of Costco were incredibly overwhelming for me.

But I did it! No mask, no crash afterward, no pain. It was a LOT for me, and I felt that, but I just needed to rest a little afterward at home and I was fine. No sleep disturbances, no reactions, no migraines or excruciating pain. It was a victory check of the best kind. And once again proved that I AM healing, because I couldn't do that before.

I've also been able to go on increasingly longer walks with my family when weather permits, and that feels amazing, too. It's not that far - just a few blocks there and back - but it's huge for me, since the first time I even attempted a walk with them I couldn't even make it two whole blocks before we had to return. Progress!

I've also been able to do so much more in the kitchen, which is really exciting to me. I wasn't able to do anything with food for so many months, maybe even more than a year - I lost my ability to prepare food, which was so so disheartening for me. I love preparing delicious healthy food for my family. But again, more and more I CAN prepare foods and plan menus and do recipes in the kitchen - both cooked and raw - which means the world to me in supporting my family in eating healthfully and also taking some of the burden off of my already way overworked husband and caregiver.

Anthony William, the Medical Medium, has been great about giving healthful recipes for salad dressings and many other dishes to make eating healthy really enjoyable and not boring at all. And today I found myself  feeling a little of my old creativity in the kitchen and rather than just doing the basic salad dressing recipe I've been using, I made a delicious variation on one of them and thought I'd share with you - because delicious should be shared, epsecially if delicious is also filled with nourishing healing foods!

Without further ado, I give you:

Printable Version Here

Purple Goddess's Special Healing Salad Dressing

by Echota Keller October-21-2016

Ingredients

• 1 juice of orange
• 2 medjool dates
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup tomatoes, any type
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 2/3 - 1 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper
• 1 - 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tbs almond butter (opt)
• to taste sea salt

Instructions:

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender and pour over a big salad or use as a dip for veggies. I recommend making this fresh and eating right away, as I expect oxidation and time wouldn't be kind to this dressing. But it is DELICIOUS! Other additional possibilities for spices would include paprika, cayenne pepper if you like a kick, cumin, fresh dill or basil. Take out the almond butter for less fat, or the avocado - the possibilities on variations for this dressing are vast and delicious!

Details

Prep time: 10 mins 

Summertime Recipes

In the summer, what does one usually find an abundance of? Spinach and Strawberries! Here's one more way to use them togather in a most delicious way!

Strawberry Spinach Salad
Printable Recipe

Dressing:
2 Tbs sesame seeds
1 Tbs poppy seeds
1/4c honey
1 sm zucchini
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 tsp paprika
1 Tbs minced onion

Put all in high speed blander and blend. 

Salad:
sliced strawberries
slivered or sliced almonds
spinach

Toss dressing over salad and refrigerate, or just eat like we did :-)
And to drink, a delicious smoothie dessert!

Cinnamon Mango Delight

Printable Recipe 1-2 c water
1 mango
2 bananas
greens to taste (I use 1/2 bunch)
1 tsp cinnamon

Blend in Vita-Mix. Divine!