by Frederic Patenaude
Until now I've hesitated to explain what a blended salad is and how to make one. The truth is, that the sight of this dish alone is enough to make many people wonder, “What the hell is that?!”
To be perfectly honest, a blended salad often looks like green, gooey mush and will never earn any culinary awards, anywhere.
But, it sure feels great in your stomach, and the benefits of consuming this uncommon dish are numerous enough that I have finally decided to break my vow of secrecy and reveal how to make this green elixir of health.
Why Eat Blended Salads
We know the importance of eating green vegetables. I've already explained how you can create delicious green smoothies by blending fruits with greens to come up with a surprising mixture! (To read our issue on green smoothies, click here)
So why blended salads? Blended salads...
1- ... can contain more vegetables than green smoothies.
2- ... can included other types of vegetables you couldn't include in a green smoothie.
3- ...are easy to eat. If you want to eat your vegetables but hate to chew a salad for 1 hour, a blended salad is the answer.
4- ...contain nutrients that are digested and assimilated much more quickly than in a regular salad.
And if you're on a raw-food diet and need to eat more calories in fruit, you will find that eating too many green smoothies makes this difficult. So having lots of fruit during the day and a blended salad in the evening is a good solution.
How to Make a Blended Salad
I have several blended salad recipes scattered in my books “Raw Soups, Salads & Smoothies”, “Instant Raw Sensations,” and the upcoming “Green Rebel Survival Guide”.
Today, I'll walk you through the general procedure of making a blended salad.
• In your blender or Vita-Mix, put in 1-2 tomatoes and/or peeled baby cucumbers cut in chunks, and blend.
• Add some lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
• If desired, add half a red bell pepper, and continue blending.
• Add several leaves of lettuce, spinach, and other non-bitter greens. You can also add some green onions.
• Use celery stalks to push the ingredients in the blender (this will blend the stalks too).
• Add half to one avocado, and turn the whole thing into a liquefied, thick green blob.
• Season with powdered dulse (a seaweed). I like to use home-made dehydrated celery powder (as explained in my book, “The Raw Secrets”).
• If desired, add in other seasonings of your choice and enjoy! (Most likely, on your own...)
There are so many variations possible, but at least this will give you an idea to spark your own creative recipe experiments.
Are You Gonna Eat That?!
Upon seeing my blended salads, most strangers would probably wonder, “Are you really going to eat that?” The truth is, they don't know what they're missing. Personally, I really like the stuff.
Of course, making great blended salads takes a little experience, so I encourage you to make sure they are tasty to YOU before experimenting on friends and loved ones.
If you're inspired by the idea, and would like to give it a try, I recommend going back to my books and trying the different blended salad recipes there. All of my very best blended salad recipes are included in the Raw Health Starter Kit.
Let's not waste any more time. Pull out that blender and start creating some dynamite blended salad recipes. When you come across one you really like, I'd be thrilled if you sent it to me. We could put them in a book called “This Green, Gooey Mush Made Me Healthy”. I'm sure the title would at the very least arouse some curiosity, at best it'd become an all-time best-seller.
And then again, who knows. Maybe we'll just keep the secret to ourselves...
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