Monday 4 July 2011

Sunshine dressing

It’s not what you wear; it’s how you wear it! Ask any self-respecting salad!!!

Slip on your favourite dress or a crisp white shirt, after a fresh aromatic shower, how do you feel? What do you feel? I hope cleansed, alert, alive and ready for the day, wherever it may take you! And today, this summer we want to “feel” good! Here’s how….
The Citrus Virgin Classic awakens the Beets
EAT SALAD, FRESH AND SEASONAL.
The Creamed Herb classic offers freshness and flavour to potatoes and beans
 And here’s why…..

You’ll get a light and enriched feeling that will leave you beaming like the bear that found the honey!

I have a friend, Alexandra, she has a way with salads, various leaves and herbs tossed together with a seemingly random mixture of ingredients, mushrooms, chorizo, artichokes, beans, cornichons, tomatoes, seasonal leaves, pickled onions and other delights. She’s a salad artist if you like.
An Alexandra Special!
And I challenge anyone who thinks creating beauty on a plate is not within his or her reach. Salads, by their very definition are simple and easy to make -

A cold dish of chopped vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, or other food, usually prepared with a dressing, such as mayonnaise”

With a midas touch and some care a Vinegar laced Van Gogh Classic is yours for the making, similarly a Citrus drizzled Claude Monet Medley of greens. Fresh and seasonal, salad is the choice dish of summer and lifts both spirits and appetites to new realms of goodness and beauty – as if to make this notion liquid simple, I offer some scientific reasoning that so many desire these days -  researchers in Sweden asked a group of women, half were Thai and the other half Swedish to eat a Thai curry, the results are fascinating. The Thai women absorbed 50% more iron from the meal, because they enjoyed the taste more. It is believed the anticipation of eating something you’re going to enjoy stimulates your digestive system, thus one absorbs more nutrients. I wonder does the same apply to company, knowledge, and clarity? My guess is yes, and I highly recommend that if one cares about health and nutrition, not only should one eat what they enjoy, they should eat with people whose company is as nutritious as the food!

The best news about salads is HOW YOU CHOOSE to dress them will affect HOW MANY NUTRIENTS YOU ABSORB!!! Choose a dressing that appeals and you’re half way there. Use a good extra-virgin olive oil as this will not only aid your digestion it is also anti-cancerous and my friend Columba, a Consultant Oncologist swears by it, so dress away! Here are three fail-safe dressings to insure the tastiest and most nutritious salad. Once made, dressings should be kept in the fridge and be used within three days to guarantee freshness and flavour. I’ve borrowed an idea from the lovely Jamie Oliver, he uses Jam Jars to make his dressings, and I too think this is a great idea. Jam jars make it easy to mix the dressing and help keep it fresh. Make sure your jars are spotlessly clean, the easiest way to do this is wash them in soapy water and steep in boiling water for fifteen minutes.



The Citrus Virgin Classic

Lemons, 2 juiced
Extra-virgin olive oil, 150ml
Garlic clove, 1 crushed
Sweet freedom/ Fruit sugar 1 tsp
Whole-grain mustard 1 tsp

POP all of the above ingredients in a jar and tighten the lid.
SHAKE shake shake!
SEASON to taste and dress your salad lovingly.

The Thai tryst

Lime Juice, 2 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil, 150ml
Fish sauce, 2 tsp
Sweet freedom/ Fruit sugar 1 tsp
Spring onions, 1 finely chopped
Red chilli, 1 finely chopped
Sesame oil 2 tsp

POP all of the above ingredients in a jar and tighten the lid.
SHAKE shake shake!
SEASON to taste and dress your salad lovingly.

The Creamed Herb Classic

Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp
Red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil, 50ml
Mint, 3 sprigs, leaves finely chopped
Chives, a small bunch finely chopped
Basil, seven leaves torn and shredded

POP all of the above ingredients in a jar and tighten the lid.
SHAKE shake shake!
SEASON to taste and dress your salad lovingly.

7 comments:

  1. I love salad and these look dreamy as does your website!! Well done you! Keep it going. xx

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  2. Thank you Jay and Victoria! Your comments bring a smile to my face. Please let me know if you try any of these and how they go. Hope it is salad weather where you are! FFX

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  3. How delicious those dressings look ;o)

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  4. Thank you Deborah:) They're deliciously sweet too! FFX

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  5. "I don't know how you pull that off" said a nurse the other day. I was wearing my beanie, shriveled jeans jacket, working shirt-tie-and pants.
    I never got told about being unprofessional looking as oppose to my best mate for come with a simple hoodie. Must be the "how" ;)

    Interesting talk about Iron absorption. I actually had a small blurb about how our environment changes our DNA and the current genetic trends in here: http://littlehungryheart.blogspot.com/2011/07/ciabatta.html

    Always love a big bowl of hearty salad!

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  6. PFx, you are a master of blogging and science! That was fascinating, "Two groups of genetically identical female rats with different emotional exposure + same dad =
    Genetically different baby rats."

    That consolidates a great deal of my thoughts and affirms scientifically my whole "Feeling Food" philosophy. Nourishing and nurturing the self as a whole is key to a balanced and happy life.

    Thanks for your comment and sharing:)

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I'm glad you're here and would love to know what you think? If there’s a dish or a type of food you’d like to see here, please do let me know. Your comments, notes, tweets always bring a smile to my face. Thanks very much for stopping by at Feeling Food:)