Easy Beet Salad

Premixed Beet Salad

After studying how to support liver health, I thought to myself that I must share my favorite easy beet salad.  I love the combination of roasted beets, oregano, and citrus dressing!  

Ingredients

1 cup of chopped roasted beets - my favorite are golden beets!

1 teaspoon of oregano

1/8 cup of citrus dressing

Instructions

Mix all of these ingredients together in a medium-size mixing bowl.

Serve and enjoy immediately!

Zesty By Nature

Membrillo Without Added Sugars!

Ingredients

1/2 lemon juice

1/8 cup of collagen*

1/8 cup of agar agar

1/2 cup peeled apples (pink ladies are my favorite for this recipe)

zest from 4-5 kumquats (optional)

1/4 cup zest from Meyer lemons (regular lemons are fine, but I prefer the sweeter taste of meyer lemons)

*If you want a sweeter recipe, replace the collagen with agar; equal parts.  You can also use the leftover apple juice; just add more agar accordingly.

Directions

1. Pressure cook the peeled apples at high for 20 minutes. If possible, use a steamer to separate apples from liquid, so that the apples don’t absorb more liquid than necessary. Remove them from the heat.
2. Pour juice in one container; place steamed apples in another. 
3. In a saucepan, add the lemon juice. Turn on the heat and allow the liquid to come to almost a boil.
4. Add the collagen and agar to the saucepan; slowly to avoid making clumps. This part should take around 4-5 minutes.
5. Once the entire amount of collagen peptides and agar has melted into the mixture, turn off the heat.
6. Sieve the mixture to remove any clumps of collagen into another saucepan or mixing bowl.
7. Add the pressured cooked apples to the mixture. 
8. Taste try the mixture. If it is not sweet enough, you can add the leftover apple juice you placed in the container from step 1 until it suits you. 
9. Add the zest from kumquats and lemons.  
10. Place the mixture into a mason jar. Allow to cool overnight.   

 

Background

I hate baking, because I hate measuring things and don’t like how most gluten-free baked goods taste. For my mindful dinner I wanted to offer a dessert as the fourth course, so I decided to work on synergizing the creamy textures from agar agar and gelatin with the sweet and sour flavors of citrus fruits.  My first version worked well with folks who ate paleo, but folks who were use to eating added sugars thought it tasted strange. After a couple of iterations, I ended up with this current recipe.  I normally serve this dish with my version of greek style coconut yogurt - what I now call 'coconut crush'.   

Nutrients

Lemon: vitamin C, A, B1, P, potassium, magnesium, & folic acid, flavonids, phyotochemical (ex. limonene; lemon peels have high amounts of oxalates it is recommended that people with a history ofcalcium-oxalate kidney stonesshould limit their intake of them.  Zest contains essential oils (ex. limonene, citral, citronellal, alphaterpineol, linalyl, geranyl acetate).  

Apple: vitamin C, fiber (ex. pectin), potassium; when raw they contain measureable amounts of phytonutrients (ellagic acid, chlorogenic) & flavonoids (ex. quercetin). 

Kumquat: vitamin C, calcium, potassium, vitamin A

Collagen peptides: glycine, may be beneficial for people with conditions affecting connective tissues and the skin.  

Agar agar: used on a daily basis, appears to help obese people lose weight

References

Murray, M. Pizzorno, J. Pizzorno, L. (2005). The Encyclopedia Of Healing Foods. New York, New York:  Atria Books. 

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Consumer Version. (2009) Find a Vitamin Or Supplement.  Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-80-agar.aspx?activeingredientid=80&