Make Your Veggies Easier to Eat

salad greens

Salad greens can be improved with this recipe, but are an amazing addition to any meal!

Over the past week, I’ve been working with a seven-day program created by Dr. Pedram Shojai, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and the founder of Well.org, one of my favorite health websites.  Dr. Shojai has recently released his book The Urban Monk: Eastern Wisdom and Modern Hacks to Stop Time and Find Success, Happiness, and Peace, and the seven-day program was one of the bonuses that went along with its purchase.  One of the great habits that this program has instilled in me is that I’m eating a lot more veggies than I was before.

I’ve more-or-less replaced my butter/egg/coconut oil coffee with a kale/berry smoothie in the morning and I have been feeling a lot more nourished and less hungry.  The coffee mix was good, but this is better for me.  It’s tasty, it’s full of a ton of stuff I wasn’t getting regularly and now am, and it’s adding some super-food stuff like cacao powder and goji berries for further micronutrient action.

The other big thing I’ve been doing is consciously putting more salad into my lunch – kale salad right now, but I’m slowly adding more leafy greens to the mix for a big boost in that aforementioned micronutrient department (can’t wait till spring and summer hit and I can add fresh dandelion and plantain to my salad from my yard for a huge boost of flavor!).  I toss in some other random veggies, too – celery, carrot, broccoli, peapods, cauliflower, onion, etc.  Really feeling good and satisfied after a meal like this.

Now, a lot of people don’t care for kale and other leafy greens.  They can be tough, strong flavored, and dry.  But I’ve solved that problem with the next item:

My first Mudlife Crisis recipe video!  I picked up this Pampered Chef Measure Mix Pour salad dressing maker.  This is basically just a glass carafe with a top that doubles as a mixer.  So here’s the recipe video:

The ingredients:

  • 1/4 c. organic apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 to 1 t. minced garlic (to taste. I like a lot of garlic)
  • 2 drops marjoram essential oil
  • 2 drops basil essential oil
  • 2 drops rosemary essential oil

Dump all ingredients into the vial and mix together.  This dressing doesn’t need to be refrigerated because the garlic, the one ingredient that might need refrigeration will be preserved by the oil and vinegar.

You can sub in other vinegars like wine vinegars or balsamic vinegar, but experiment a bit with the oils because, obviously, those flavors are very different than the apple cider vinegar.

I like using the oils because 1) they mix nicely with the olive oil, and 2) they don’t lose their herbal effectiveness nearly as quickly as dried or even fresh herbs.  If you’re going to be using all the dressing in a few days, then the herbs are fine, but if you expect this to last longer (as I do, as my family much prefers ranch to this dressing) then go for the oils.

This oil can be put right on the veggies when you pack your lunch in the morning, and they’ll help to soften some of the robust greens like kale and swiss chard and such, making them more palatable when you are ready for lunch.

Enjoy – and let me know what you think of this recipe!