Hints & Tips

Stock in only as many fresh veggies that you can consume before your next shopping trip. If you live near an urban area, you can pick up fresh organic produce as often as you’d like. If you live out in the country, as we do, we make the 140-mile round trip to town about once a week. Of course, if you have a garden, you have the best of all possible worlds! Inevitably, there will be greens that don’t make the cut and must be recycled. We have a willing army of goats, sheep and chickens to help us clean up the leftovers.

Soak your almonds, nuts and seeds. Raw, unsalted almonds and many other nuts and seeds are loaded with protein, fiber and omega-3 and -6 fatty acids. Many raw food advocates believe that soaking them in water overnight can unlock even more health benefits by removing the coating known as an enzyme inhibitor. This helps the almond shed its outer layer and release its enzymes. Doing so also makes the almonds easier to chew and digest, a benefit especially important for children and seniors. In any case, stay away from processed or roasted almonds as this process will destroy the enzymes.

You can make a salad pre-mix with green and red cabbages, cauliflower, celery, broccoli and other hardy veggies that store and keep well. This will cut your salad prep time in half; when it’s time to make a salad, just grab a handful or two of the ready-to-go veggies for your “base.” Kept in the fridge, the mix will last as long as three to five days.

The benefits of fresh sauerkraut go far beyond texture and taste. Tree of Life founder Dr. Gabriel Cousens recommends we all make our own fermented cabbage in order to maximize the levels of probiotics (“good flora”) to heal our gut linings of accumulated toxins. Real (unpasteurized) sauerkraut has trillions of probiotics, far more than commercially produced sauerkraut or probiotic capsules.

As you are assembling and mixing your salad, neither the olive oil nor the apple cider vinegar should dominate. The blend should be sassy and tasty. Of course, individual tastes vary; some folks like more ACV or lemon juice and less oil. Experiment! If you find dressing pooling in the bottom of your bowl when you are done, you have probably put in a bit too much oil. If the salad tastes a little dry, you need to add a bit more olive oil or vinegar, depending upon taste.

We have found the following practices profoundly enhance our ability to eat well and improve our health:

• Preparing the meal with your spouse, partner or a friend can deepen your spiritual connection with the Earth, your friends and yourself.
• Blessing the food, saying a prayer or expressing gratitude to those who plant, harvest and bring us organic, living food.
• Eating in a peaceful environment (eliminating the distractions we normally tolerate while eating), ideally with a partner or friend with whom you may enjoy quiet company and conversation.

Sharing food with others is a very spiritual activity, as are all actions that come from the heart. Enchant your friends with a beautiful presentation and your prettiest bowls. Hand-painted and glazed pottery that’s been on display in your China cabinet for years? Vintage pottery that’s been stashed away out of sight? Now is the time to enjoy those beauties!

Our daily salad preparation is a ritual that has become a treasured centerpiece of our domestic life. We chop, slice, spritz and sprinkle as a team. We anticipate all the yummy bites we are about to enjoy, and the ever-amazing harmonies of the various combinations. We hope we have inspired you to leap into the sensational world of salads—sassy salads!