NW Raw East Kale Citrus Salad with Tahini Dressing
This NW Raw East Kale Citrus Salad with Tahini Dressing is a healthy, ultra-nutritious, tasty and satisfying salad to enjoy at any meal.
Friends, this past month has been a quiet month for me, but one of living a few good, daily rhythms and creating some new healthy habits.
My husband and I enjoyed beautiful, gorgeous, snowy Bend, Oregon for a couple of weeks in January, and then came back home to face the daily grind (for me, blog work, cooking, taxes, bedroom painting, garage cleaning, and have been purging the upstairs – for him, lots of travel), but also a little bit of hospitality mixed in. It’s been reflective, introspective, I’ve read some great books, prayed a lot, and I’m on a healthy roll with eating lots of salads and enjoying yoga every day. I wrote a post about NW Raw Organic Juice Bar, as our friends Web and Karen own this magical place in Ashland, Oregon. It’s the best secret in southern Oregon when it comes to health and vitality and ministry. Seriously, their mission (or ministry of serving raw food) is to serve their community, and help educate, empower and inspire their customers in a healthy lifestyle.
30 days of yoga
On our way to Bend, Web loaded Paul and me up with their varieties of juices, and not having planned this out (this was a last-minute, “let’s do it” approach) we started clean eating, drinking juice daily, and then online yoga with Lesley (Lesley Fightmaster Yoga). Today is Day 30 of yoga {free} for me and Paul! He’s been traveling for 10 days (but you can do it on the road), and I’ve been disciplined in our home to fit it into my schedule. I never dreamed I’d ever do yoga for 30 days straight.
We both decided to do the 90 day challenge! We both feel amazing!
Toss out the scale
Here’s another cool thing. When we went to Bend we did not bring a scale with us (although I did weigh myself around the holidays, so I had a rough idea of my weight). I am not a good diet person. I don’t like thinking about food all the time, how much I can eat, when I can eat. Diets are obsessive to me. I’ve seen so many people yo-yo on and off diets, and their happiness wanes at the same time. You’re happy when your weight is down, and you’re unhappy when it’s up. When you’re eating healthy, exercising, and strengthening your body, you don’t need a scale. You’ll be surprised the inches you’ll lose, too, without being obsessed by weight.
Adding juice into your diet is a way to break those bad habits. Some call it a cleanse, some call it a diet, but for me it’s sort of a way to re-set my metabolism.
30 days of healthy
So now after 30 days of a healthier approach, I am grateful for the last month and what I learned.
1. I still enjoy coffee. When I add raw, organic juice into my diet, I still enjoy my espresso in the mornings (no cream or sugar).
2. Daily cardio. I’m trying to get some sort of cardio in each day, by walking with Haggis, or running with a friend. A few days I just did yard work at a fast pace!
3. Not tied to the scale. I’m only weighing myself once a week, if even that. I don’t want to be obsessed with weight. I really just want to be healthy, disciplined, and strong.
4. Spiritual food. I’m reading the Bible every day, plus other good books (Rising Strong, by Brene Brown, and The Gift of Friendship, by Dawn Camp – and, by the way, I have my own chapter in this book! Exciting!)
5. Yoga every day. I’m doing Lesley’s 90 Day Yoga Challenge, and I’ve never felt better or stronger. I pray a lot during yoga time.
6. Drink lots of water. This is a no-brainer. We should be guzzling water!
7. Salad every day. It’s easy to mix it up and make a new kind of salad each day!
8. Portion control. Smaller plates, portions, and no seconds.
9. Share a meal when eating out. Paul and I have had several date nights, and are back to sharing a meal. We used to do this all the time, and had to break the old bad habit of each getting our own entree (we just eat too much, bottom line).
10. Busyness can cause stress eating – resulting in emotional or mindless eating. I personally have found that keeping a healthy drink (or shake) or plain almonds or even jerky handy. It works! And there’s always an apple or pear!
No plan is disaster.
Not having a plan for clean eating and a healthy lifestyle just doesn’t work. Having a plan means discipline, and if you have a partner, that’s even better!
It actually makes me think less about myself, and more about others. It motivates me to get dates on the calendar, or show a quiet kind of hospitality (visit a friend, invite a couple friends over, drop something off for someone you barely know).
NW Raw Kale Citrus Salad with Tahini Dressing
One of the salads at NW Raw is their East Kale Citrus Salad with Tahini Dressing. It’s my very favorite. In fact, I made it the other day for my friends who came to lunch at my house. So healthy!
The dressing is out of this world, but I love tahini.
And massaging the kale makes it tender and perfect.
Tips for massaging kale
Give your kale a quick five-minute rubdown from bitter and tough leaves to tender, silky and sweet. Take bunches of kale in both hands — with the fibrous ribs removed — rub them together and repeat. You’ll notice a visible change as you do this; the leaves will darken, shrink in size and become silky in texture. If you want, you can also add olive oil and salt while massaging (and this can also be in place of any dressing you might use).
I love to add spinach to the mix, too.
I really do want to be all that I can for God, my family and husband, and to be a good friend. I’m not sure what it is about taking care of my body, but when I do, I want to reach out more.
Have you noticed that when you are more disciplined? You have more to give to others?
Get the Recipe:
NW Raw East Kale Citrus Salad with Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale, leaves torn off stalks, massaged
- 1 small bunch spinach, optional
- 1/2 cup each shredded beets and carrots
- 1/2 cup red cabbage, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup sprouted almonds
- 4 clementines
- 1/2 cup currants
- 4 Tbsp. sesame seeds
- DRESSING: ½ cup tahini, almond butter works too
- ½ clove garlic, grated
- 1 Tbsp. ginger, grated
- 2 Tbsp. flax seed
- 4 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp. sesame seed oil
- 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. Coconut Nectar
- 1-2 Tbsp. Coconut aminos
- ½ – 1 cup water
Instructions
- Grab bunches of the kale leaves (removed from the stalks) and tear into small pieces (or cut with knife).
- To make the dressing, combine the tahini, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, sesame seed oil, olive oil, coconut nectar, coconut amines, and water into a blender or food processor and blend thoroughly.
- Massage the kale; add the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle dressing on top; toss until combined. Add a little more dressing if it needs it (extra dressing can be stored in the fridge and used for any salad.)
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
I’ve read this post several times, or referred back to it for the salad idea, but tonight I keyed in on what you said about how taking care of your body makes you want to reach out more. I agree. Truly! And I’ve never heard anyone else say that exactly. I have more energy, I’m more confident, sure, but it’s a deeper sense of well being that I want to share. So beautiful, thanks Sandy. Xo
PS I’m not doing 30 days of yoga but have incorporated barre classes in with my running schedule and feel so good!! It’s a game changer for my shape and strength. Do kind of miss the meditation of yoga though.
Thanks for sharing, Marie. I find, more than meditation, that my body just does better with daily stretching. This forces me to do it for 30-40 minutes. :)