I love eating a raw food diet. I especially love eating a raw food diet in the summer. Many of you know that I frequent our farmer’s markets. Not only do I get great prices on produce, but I get fresh, just picked veggies and fruit. I also get to support local growers and see produce that I normally don’t have access to year round.
Right now, lettuce is beautiful and plentiful. I have been buying a lot of romaine and eating a lot of salads, not to mention putting it in green drinks. I have to tell you, I have never been a big salad eater. I love my raw food diet but salads can seem like a lot of work, not only to prepare but to eat. With all of these beautiful greens around, I couldn’t resist and have been making quite a few.
Here’s where it get’s interesting. As I eat more salads, I find that my cravings (normally for potato chips) have shifted. Now I am craving salads! It is quite amazing how you can retrain your taste-buds. As you eat healthier, your cravings for not-so-healthy food will eventually be replaced by cravings for healthy food!
I love mixing fruit with my greens. Don’t worry food combiners, greens are different than veggies. They are considered a leaf and closer to fruit than vegetables. Still, listen to your body as we are all different.
This is my current favorite salad. Mangoes, strawberries, jicama, and avocado, over romaine topped with a beautiful little blueberry vinaigrette and pumpkin seeds for that extra little boost. This is a hearty salad that works great for any meal.
Strawberry Mango Salad
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 cup strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup mango, diced
- 1 cup jicama, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds
1.Tear romaine and place on plate.
2. Mix together fruit and jicama. Place a handful on the lettuce bed.
3. Top with blueberry vinaigrette and pumpkin seeds
Blueberry Vinaigrette
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar (or sweetener of your choice)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil, cold pressed
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender.
2. Pour over top of salad.
For more recipes like this see: Salads
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
This salad looks delicious, especially the blueberry vinaigrette! Thank you for sharing it.
This looks Wonderful!!! I always try to incorpate fruit with my salads..leave behind the hard boiled eggs and pasta salads & breads. etc..that makes it heavy
refreshing Susan!!
This salad looks perfect for summer, thanks!
Thank you for your elegant encouragement. I made this salad for dinner tonight and it was perfectly satisfying – taste, color, texture, and volume! Now if I can understand how to make more meals like this I will be on a good path =) Thank you again.
OOOhhh! That dressing sounds lovely….
xoxo
Susan, you seem to use jicama frequently. Have you found an organic source for this? I read that jicamas are usually grown in Southeast Asia and they are dipped in formaldehyde to sanitize them for the trip to the US. I was just curious if you found a respectable source of jicama. I love jicama and I would love to grow my own some day!
I can not find any information about jicama being dipped in formaldehyde. Most of the jicama here comes from Texas and Mexico, not Asia. You could check with your grocer. Young Thai Coconuts can be dipped but considering you have to go through an entire husk, then the shell, the chances of the formaldehyde contaminating the coconut is pretty nill. I always peel my jicama about 1/4 inch in. That should help.
That looks like something I would love. What a beautiful salad. Thank you for sharing. You are so right about re-training our taste buds!! My sister-in-law and I discuss that quite a bit. We both have had that happen. Even my children are reaping this benefit. How awesome raw and living foods are!!
Peace and Raw Health,
Elizabeth
Yup, discovered the taste-but retraining myself a while back. Fascinating thing! Well, now that you’ve got my mouth drooling over this luscious lunch, I’m headed out to the kitchen to make it! Later……
Oops, meant “taste buD”
Funny to get your email today……For the FIRST time yesterday, (July 12, 2010) since going raw in early March 2010, I too actually CRAVED a salad ! BTW>…potato chips are my main crave as well :0 I was driving and actually started “pseudo chewing” imagining the CRUNCH of the fresh greens ! I have NEVER done that…..EVER. Thanks for sharing. JB
this sounds so delicious and so summery. I love the combination with the jicama, avocado and fruits. thanks!
This looks amazing! I also looove fruit with salad!
How many would you serve with this amount as a main? 1 or 2? Just curious
Thanks!
oh my…if you can eat an entire head of lettuce, an avocado, a papaya, a jiccama, a cup of pumpkin seeds and a cup of strawberries (that is aprox 9 cups of salad) at a sitting, that would be impressive. I would think this could serve 4 unless someone is really hungry. It is a very filling salad with the avocado and the pumpkin seeds.
Awesome recipe and article! Thanks keep them coming!
This looks delish! I love the blueberry vinaigrette:) Can’t wait to try this one.
Love my salads. Love my greens. Like you, they make me feel so healthy and complete. But… I’m deeply bothered by the bugs that cling to my greens. Especially organic greens (quite the paradoxical dilemma I’ve found myself in). I recognize this to be somewhat irrational which offers hope that I can overcome the fear of eating insects. It is a living food source, so, I know that I am not the only being that is going to want to dine on the greens I’m preparing. That is what I tell myself. Yet, I rinse the greens 2-3 times and still find tiny bugs floating in the spring water. It sometimes ruins my appetite. Do you have any suggestions for over-coming this issue? Thank you in advance.
What a delicious looking salad! This is gonna be the next raw food recipe that I try.
this looks amazing what wonderful colours, will be trying the blueberry viniagrette Thanks!
I made this for dinner last night and it was amazing! The vinaigrette was probably my favorite one ever! I’m going to be posting about it on my blog next week, with links to your site.
Thank you!
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com