Summer Crunch Salad with Sweet Corn and Roasted Golden Beets

Summer Salads are far from boring.

With just a few fresh and preferably local ingredients you can put together a salad that is worthy of being called a meal. Utilizing mostly fresh ingredients that are easily found at your weekly farmers market this salad will provide you with lots of good plant based nutrients and crunch.

Summer Crunch Salad

When choosing ingredients it is very important for me to look for fresh, preferably local, and organic vegetables.  We are so fortunate to have a great selection of organic farms in our area and many farmers markets that run on various days of the week. So no need to purchase vegetables and place them in the refrigerator.  Pick them up in the morning and use them in our meals for that specific day.  If anything is left then of course we put them in the refrigerator but they generally don't last long.

On our way back from teaching we actually took a gander at what was at one of our favourite local organic farmer's market.  When ever I walk into the place the wheels in my brain start to spin with ideas.  Having been away for a few days of family fun in the wilderness I came home to beautiful lettuce and kale from my garden just begging to be picked, washed, and tossed. So I was very much looking forward to a nice crisp salad.

What you will need:
1 cob fresh corn, kernels removed
1 medium zucchini
Mixed Summer lettuce of your choice (Boston lettuce, red leaf lettuce and young kale)
6 cherry tomatoes
1/2 english cucumber
1/4 medium red onion, sliced or chopped
2 medium golden beets
2 large fresh sage leaves
1/2 tsp onion powder (optional)
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
dijon mustard
sea salt to season

Balsamic Vinaigrette
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
sea salt to taste

Place all ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together until smooth and creamy.

Season with sea salt to taste.

Set aside.

Roast the Beets 
Roasted caramelized beets will add sweetness to your salad and enhance flavour.

Chop your beets into 1 cm cubes for even cooking.

Place them evenly on a tray lined with parchment paper.

Season them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, fresh finely chopped fresh sage, a sprinkle of onion powder (optional) and sea salt. Bake at 400•F until golden. (approximately 20 minutes)

Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Golden Beets ready for baking!

Put your Salad Together

1. Remove corn kernels from cob using a knife and place into a large bowl.
2. Cut zucchini and cucumber into 1 cm cubes and place into bowl.
3. Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters and toss into bowl.
4. Toss in chopped red onion and give everything a little mix.
5. Tear and add in lettuce, kale, and other greens of your choice.
6. Pour in vinaigrette a little at a time and toss until everything is coated.  Pour in more if your like more dressing.
7. Top with freshly roasted golden beets.

Makes 2 meal size servings.

Where are the Recipes?

I promise you they are coming!

Being new to the whole concept of pages and creating links to posts on those pages. 

It may take me some practice in figuring it all out but once I do I promise you they will be there for you to peruse through.

Patience, Patience, Patience Dear Grasshopper! 

Did I just age myself? :D

Who Doesn't Want Beautiful Skin?

I wrote this blog for a friend of mine about diet and how to obtain that beautiful healthy glow.  

Here is the first of 3 blog posts for you to meander through.  Perhaps you already know this but if you are anything like me a little reminder of the importance of Eating Well every so often is always a good thing. 

Beautiful Skin Starts on Your Plate Part 1

If you really want to improve the condition of your skin you need to take your awareness to what is on your plate every day and in your glass as well.

When it comes to skin health, food is just as important, if not more important, then the plethora of anti-aging products on the market for maintaining supple radiant skin. 

Lets begin with how you are hydrating your body. Today, in any given corner store and market, you will find an array of drinks to quench your thirst.  Often, even with best intentions, water has been loaded with sugar, carbonized into a fizzy drink loaded with an array of additives that you cannot even pronounce.  Lets face it, all that sugar and who knows what, isn’t really helping you in achieving beautiful glowing skin or great health for that matter.

So what should you be drinking? Quite simply, its the one thing that nature has provided for us, its pure, its natural and makes up 50-65% of our body weight. Its called water.  

We know that there are many benefits to drinking plenty of water. Water helps clear toxins and byproducts of metabolism out through our liver and kidneys, but what can it do for our skin? Our skin is one of the largest organs in our body and its made up of millions of cells that are made up of mostly water. Drinking enough water allows our inner organs to function at their best so why wouldn’t we want that for our skin.  Since its the most superficial organ, its the last to get what it needs as it is important for the body to hydrate important organs first such as heart, liver, kidneys etcetera. Improper hydration might leave your skin feeling dry, brittle, tight and over time may lead to premature aging...yes, wrinkles. Studies have shown that women who do not normally consume enough water in their diet can improve skin physiology by getting enough.

Are you consuming enough water? 2L of water daily is recommended by the Mayo Clinic and other authorities.

 To keep things simple the 8x8 rule was suggested, which is 8 glasses of water of which each glass is a total of 8 ounces. We can also account in the 8x8 rule water that is naturally in the food we consume such as fruit and vegetables and the water we use to prepare our meals.

If you are living in warmer and dry climate areas you should consider increasing water intake to offset the dehydration from perspiration. One rule to follow in these climates is to look at your pee, yup your pee. You know you are getting enough water if your pee is pale yellow in color.  A deep yellow color is a useful indicator that you aren’t getting enough water in your diet.  So keep an eye on that and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

¹ https://www.dovepress.com/dietary-water-affects-human-skin-hydration-and-biomechanics-peer-reviewed-article-CCID

² http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

³ http://authoritynutrition.com/how-much-water-should-you-drink-per-day/

Coming Back to What I Love!

Coming Back to What I love!

If I told you I set up this blog page about a year ago would you believe me?

Well I did, but then everything started happening all at once or maybe I was allowing everything to happen all at once, yeah that's it, and I never got around to it. Not one post! Rien! Zilch! Jack Squat!

So why post for the first time today, you might be asking, or maybe I'm hoping you are asking, because I'm going to answer it.

I love wellness! You must have read that in my profile, right? I worked in the health industry as a researcher in hopes to find a cure for cancer, diabetes, understanding the brain . I wanted nothing more in this world than to eradicate cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses that I've witnessed people I know and in my family. Well fat chance that will happen any time soon, because what goes on in the world of science when it comes to curing people frankly scares the sh-t out of me.  It scared me then and it still scares me now. Yeah there are good things out there to help you over the bump of illness and get you to recovery, but one of my biggest "beefs" is that the more I pay attention, the more I have noticed is the politics of the pharmaceutical industry. Just watch the next commercial on a specific medication and you will quickly become aware that what they are selling you isn't necessary a cure but something to alleviate the symptom.  Millions, Billions, Trillions of $$$$ on getting rid of the end symptom but nothing on what to do so that you don't get the symptom in the first place.  A prime example is heart burn relief.  Yes go ahead have that ____________(fill in the blank) piece of whatever, even though it gives you the most incredible heart burn, but wait, take this first, so that you can still have it! Oh for fu_k sake! What they forget to add in is the side effects of eating that __________ (fill in the blank) at the end of the long list of drug side effects. So can you imagine if they added in, eating like this might cause your cells to change their DNA due to the crap you are voluntarily surrounding them with that may lead to XYZ in the future. 

So why am I starting to post for the first time today? The answer is simple. Someone asked me to.  

So let get blogging and find our personal Compass of Wellness to lead us on our path to feeling better, looking great, and who knows what else!

Thanks for reading this and being here!