dreaming of color and flavor

I've been waiting for after Nikki's wedding to start up my micro-farm again. I'll be home tonight and can't wait to get my fingers back in the soil and seeds tomorrow. The salads and smoothies from my own greens are wonderful--much better than ones made from purchased produce. Growing sprouts and micro greens takes very little space and time plus a lot less money than purchasing them from a store. Somehow growing your own produce brings you closer to the food source and reduces the tendency to overeat or waste.

Kim Chi is a wonderful ingredient for many reasons. First cultured vegetables are natural, dairy-free probiotics. Second Kim Chi has a fantastic flavor. It's so funny that people are afraid to try new things. With many North Americans, eating sauerkraut is a cultural tradition. When Kim Chi or other unfamiliar things are mentioned, looks of dread and horror are seen all around. Kim Chi is simply sauerkraut made with a different variety of cabbage with a few peppers, garlic, and green onions thrown in. Anyway...the flavor is complex with elements of sour, salty, and spicy, making it a shoe in for salad dressing. Cultured vegetables are easier to digest than raw vegetables. Combining cultured and raw allows the benefits of cultured to help digestion, which is a big problem of mine. Garlic, onions, peppers, and cabbage have many health benefits including anti-cancer, heart health, and immune boosting. Kim Chi is a wonderful addition to any salad and any person's life.

I know this salad sounds unusual, but it is sooooo delicious. For a balance of flavor, the salad is sweet, spicy, bitter, salty, and sour plus creamy, crunchy, and chewy for a balance of texture. The more flavors and textures you can fit in a dish, the more the taste buds are stimulated. Maximum stimulation leads to maximum deliciousness. When eating lots of salads, I to try out a myriad of texture combinations and try to include the five flavors to stave boredom. Sticking with whole foods like avocado for fat rather than using oils, I get healthy fat without overeating calories. This one starts with two greens and two sprouts from my indoor micro-farm, which makes me so happy. Sprouted lentils contribute to satiation, which is very important with a plant-based diet. I love salad with raw tomato or other creamy soups made in the vitamix. I discovered I can blend them until warm (not hot) and delicious, while still maintaining the raw nutritiousness of the ingredients.

Korean Rainbow

sunflower greens
buckwheat lettuce
finely chopped romaine
lentil sprouts
alfalfa sprouts
shredded purple cabbage
shredded beets
shredded carrots
Enoki mushrooms
julienned jicama lightly
cubed avocado
gala apple, skin on, minced
minced spicy kim chi with a bit of the juice as the dressing
lime juice
cayenne or paprika

Toss kim chi and juice with greens and sprouts. Put these in a large salad bowl. Arrange cabbage, beets, carrots, mushrooms, and jicama in little hay stacks around the side of the bowl. (Rainbow salads are lovely in wooden or bamboo bowls.) Mix apple and avocado with lime juice and cayenne or paprika. Scatter over top. Gaze at the beauty of the colors for a couple seconds before diving in.

My diet has been mostly devoid of nutritious food this week, or shall I say, ANY food this week. Restaurant food is tasteless and boring. I'm dreaming of color and flavor only obtained by eating fresh plant foods.