Salad Tutorial from Mrs. Plant

Making a healthy and satiating salad is done with a conscious effort. I try to have a 2-quart salad a minimum of FIVE times a week. Here are some of the deliberate decisions I make when I make my salads to make sure they are life-giving and nutritionally sound.
NOTE: My salads are 100% animal-free, made without dairy, eggs, or any other animal products.

Bowl Size:
I use a two quart-sized bowl for my salads. The ones I love came from Amazon. I bought this set of 2 porcelain bowls, and they are still like new even though I use them daily! I make sure to fill the bowl to the top first with greens -- Romaine or red-leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, or whatever I feel like for the day.

Greens:
As I mentioned above, I fill the 2-quart bowl with a mixture of greens or just Romaine lettuce, which is my fave. I chop it all into bite-sized pieces--not really super small like some people do. I think I get plenty of greens in this bowl without having to chop it into itty bitty pieces. I usually wash, spin to dry, and store lettuce for 2 days of salads at a time, leaving the top slightly open to keep them from getting soggy or turning pink. You can also use lettuce that is already washed, dried, and pre-cut in bags from your favorite grocery store. Whatever gets you to eat greens is the right way!

Cruciferous:
In order to get some cruciferious veggies into my salad, I generally add some shredded red cabbage (about 1/4 cup). However, you could add raw or cooked broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, or any other cruci-veg you like!

Veggies and Fruits:
I always make sure to add lots of chopped veggies and fruits with PLENTY OF COLOR. EAT THE RAINBOW! Tri-colored bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, and so forth. One of my faves is oil-free roasted, cooled, and chopped beets! Leftover roasted veggies that have been cooled in the fridge are also delightful added to a salad. I also love to add berries, chopped mango, or fruits like chopped apple or pear with the peel left on, or the sections of a couple of cutie oranges. If I don't add the fruit into my salad, I eat if after I finish my salad as my dessert (like a big apple or orange, or a bowl of melon).

Legumes:
I will also add 1/4 cup of oil-free (usually homemade) hummus, or 1/2-3/4 cup of cooked and cooled beans, lentils, or green peas. Legumes are full of healthy protein, low in fat, have the helpful resistant starch that our bodies need to slow down the absorption of glucose into the blood stream, plus LOTS of fabulous fiber! Fiber helps make you feel full and is crucial to keep you "regular" daily. 😊

Starch:
I don't always add starch into my salads, but a 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa, brown rice, farro, or other grains can be a delicious addition to a salad because it will add a new texture that makes your salad more interesting. Most of the time, I eat my starch on the side, like a small baked sweet potato  or some air-fried potato "fries" (about 200 grams).

Whole Plant Fats:
I like to top my salad with a nut or seed-based homemade dressing. This is where I get about 1/2 of my whole plant fat calories for the day. I especially love Spicy Peanut dressing (recipe below)! If the salad is more of a Mexican style, I may use salsa for the dressing and top with 1/4 of a chopped avocado or a scoop of guacamole. If the dressing is more of a vinaigrette, I will add 1 T of pumpkin seeds or chopped dry-roasted almonds or peanuts. You can also add sunflower seeds or other nuts and seeds that you like. Some people also add their daily 1 T of ground flaxseeds into their salad if they didn't get it into their breakfast. I usually get mine in during breakfast, so I rarely add it to my salad. Occasionally, I add some chopped olives to my salad, as well.

Fermented Vegetables:
I almost always add 1-2 T of garlicky sauerkraut (store-bought or homemade) to my salad or kimchi, if I have some available. Fermented veggies are great for positive gut health.

Salad Dressing:
Salad dressing is what keeps us coming back to salads, no? I just know that for me, really good salad dressing seems to be necessary to get me to consistently eat my produce. So, check out my oil-free salad dressings section of my website, or consider buying High Carb Hannah's "Let's Get Saucy" eBook or Dreena Burton's Oil-Free Dressings eBook.

My Favorite Spicy Peanut Salad Dressing:
2 scoops (or 1/4 cup) of Naked PB Peanut Powder (no salt, oil, or sugar added -- Non-GMO)
1 T tamari or low-sodium soy sauce
1/2-1T Sriracha sauce
1/2-1T date syrup, maple syrup, or agave
1/4 t ground ginger
1/4 t garlic powder or 1 small clove of crushed garlic
cold water to thin out


Disclosure: Mrs. Plant makes use of Amazon.com affiliate links when they are available. These are products I have personally purchased and recommend based on my experience with them. Your use of these links for product purchases provides me with a commission which pays for the food and supplies I use to keep this website alive. However, your use of these links as a reader is not required.

Mrs. Plant's Kimchi Recipe

1 large head of Napa cabbage
kosher salt
1 Fuji apple (with skin left on)
2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicky you like it)
2 t of crushed ginger
1 bunch of green onions,  white separated from the green
Gochugaru (Korean Chili Flakes) of choice
Kimchi Box  OR sanitized Mason jars
Disposable plastic gloves

Wash and dry Napa cabbage leaves, then cut into 1 1/2-2 inch pieces (rectangular or diamond-shaped). Place in a large container and layer with kosher salt. Let sit for approximately 2-6 hours.

In the meantime, blend the apple, garlic, ginger, and white part of the onions in a cup blender with a very small amount of water. You want to create a thick sauce. Refrigerate the sauce until the cabbage leaves are wilted, rinsed, and drained well. Cut the remaining green onions (the green ends) into 1 1/2 inch-long pieces and refrigerate as well.

After the cabbage is wilted, do a quick cold water rinse on the leaves and drain well. You want some of the salt to remain for the fermenting process.

Progress Photo - Adding the "sauce" and chili flakes

Pour the sauce over the wilted cabbage and the green ends of the green onions. Add as much gochugaru as you like. I like my kimchi mild, so I don't use a ton of it.

Put disposable plastic gloves on and gently mix the sauce and chili flakes into the cabbage and green onion pieces, moving them around until all pieces have been coated.

Place seasoned cabbage in kimchi box or in a sanitized Mason jar (leave about 1/2 inch empty at the top), pressing down with kimchi box seal or fist (if using a Mason jar) to remove all air. Cover with top and leave in a dark place (like a pantry) for at least 2-3 days. Then, refrigerate.

Soy Yogurt -- Made in the Instant Pot!

If you have the Instant Pot IP-DUO 7-in-1 with the yogurt feature, you can make your own soy yogurt with VERY little effort!
PLEASE read everything below BEFORE you start--INCLUDING the notes!

METHOD #1:
NOTE: You can make up to 4 pints in the Instant Pot at once! These instructions are showing you how to make one pint jar. Just follow the same instructions for EACH one you are making.

Step 1. Take 2 cups of Trader Joe's UNSWEETENED Soy Milk* in the aseptic (shelf-stable) container (containing only organic soy beans and filtered water!!!) and pour it into a pint-sized glass jar.
* You can use other brands of soy milk as long as they contained ONLY organic soy beans and filtered water.

Step 2. Stir in 2 T. of UNSWEETENED, PLAIN soy or coconut yogurt (or previously made soy yogurt) or 2 vegan probiotic capsules (emptied into the milk).

Step 3. Place the UNCOVERED jar in the Instant Pot inner bowl.

Step 4. Cover the pressure cooker top, set to SEALING, and click the YOGURT button.

Step 5. After 8 hours, cover the jar and chill it.


Method #2:

Step 1. Take 1 whole container (4 cups) of Trader Joe's UNSWEETENED Soy Milk* in the aseptic container (containing only organic soy beans and filtered water!!!) and pour it directly into the Instant Pot pot.
* You can use other brands of soy milk as long as they contained ONLY organic soy beans and filtered water.

Step 2. Stir in 5 vegan probiotic capsules (empty the capsules into the milk) or 1/2 cup of previously made unsweetened, plain yogurt into the soy milk. Stir WELL!

Step 3. Cover the pressure cooker top, set to SEALING, and click the YOGURT button.

Step 4. After 8 hours, cover the jar and chill it.

Straining the yogurt

NOTE: If you like your yogurt less sour, only cook for 7.5 hours. You can test the flavor any time after 7 hours by just inserting a clean spoon into the jar of yogurt and tasting it.

NOTE: If you want THICK yogurt, buy a jelly strainer bag or a nut milk bag and place it over a Mason jar. Tighten the string. Then, pour the yogurt in the bag over the jar and close the cap over it. Make sure the bag is high enough in the jar that it is not touching the bottom and there is room for the liquid to be released without touching the bag. Place jar in the refrigerator. Your yogurt (in the bag) will be thick in about 2-3 hours. Dispense of liquid in the bottom of the jar.

7. Add fruit and sweetener to your yogurt, if desired. We also use this yogurt as sour cream and for other condiments.

NOTE: This yogurt lasts about 4 days in the fridge. Make sure to SAVE at least 2 T of this plain yogurt to use for your next batch!

Disclosure: Mrs. Plant makes use of Amazon.com affiliate links when they are available. These are products I have personally purchased and recommend based on my experience with them. Your use of these links for product purchases provides me with a commission which pays for the food and supplies I use to keep this website alive. However, your use of these links as a reader is not required.

Homemade Sauerkraut

If you're reading HOW NOT TO DIE by Dr. Michael Greger, you might have discovered that he advocates eating raw and fermented foods to create good gut health. But sauerkraut, for example, is pricey in the stores. You could consume a jar in a couple of days! So, why not make it for yourself? No starter necessary!

In my progress shots below, I am making plain, old sauerkraut with green cabbage and salt. You can use shredded carrots, celery, any colored cabbage, etc. There are a lot of YouTube videos out there with people making fermented veggies and seasonings, so that might give you more ideas. This method though really doesn't require anything special to make it.

Here are a few things to think about before you get started...

1) You can buy already shredded veggies if you don't have a food processor. However, the result with freshly shredded veggies makes a premium result.

2) You can use a Kimchi Box for simplicity, though it's not required.  You can simply use a ceramic crock with a sealed lid if you own one and press down your veggies with a large piece of cabbage on top (leaving the cabbage piece there throughout the fermentation process.

3) I use Kosher salt, but you could probably use other types of salt.

4) You can add caraway seeds, chili flakes, and other seasonings to your fermented veggies, though I have only made my plain.

So, here's how you make it!

Make sure your crock or Kimchi Box, food processor, bowl to hold the shredded cabbage, your hands, and food scale bowl are VERY clean BEFORE YOU START!

1) Chop cabbage into chunks that will fit in your food processor.
2) Choose the thickness you want for your sauerkraut on your food processor blade.
3) Shred the cabbage in your food processor.
4) Weigh your bowl first to know how heavy it is. Then, weigh your shredded cabbage (subtracting the bowl). You need to know this information to determine how much salt you need.
5) Weigh out 1% of the cabbage weight in salt. For example, my shredded cabbage weighed about 3 lbs (48 ounces). So,  I used about a 1/2 ounce of salt, which equates to about 3 t. or 1 T of salt.
6) Wash your hands well and massage the salt into the cabbage for about 15 minutes. This will create a brine and "wilt" the cabbage.
7) Place the massaged cabbage into your crock or Kimchi Box.
8) Put on the top of the Kimchi Box or place the large piece of cabbage reserved for this purpose on top.
9) Press down the top (or use your fist to press all of the air out of your crock of kraut) to remove all of the air. Seal it with the tab closure.
10) Close the top of the Kimchi box (or close the top of your crock) and store in a dark location (like a pantry) for about 4-5 days. Taste test to see if the flavor is how you like it. You can add more fermentation days if needed. 

Chop cabbage into chunks that will fit in .your food processor.	Choose the thickness you want for your sauerkraut on your food processor blade.	Shred the cabbage in your food processor.
Weigh your bowl first to know how heavy it is. Then, weigh your shredded cabbage (subtracting the bowl). You need to know this information to determine how much salt you need.	Weigh out 1% of the cabbage weight in salt.	Wash your hands well and massage the salt into the cabbage for about 15 minutes. This will create a brine and "wilt" the cabbage.
Place the massaged cabbage into your crock or Kimchi Box.	Put on the top of the Kimchi Box or the large piece of cabbage reserved for this purpose.	Press down the top (or use your fist to press all of the air out of your crock of kraut) to remove all of the air. Seal it with the tab closure.
	Close the top of the Kimchi box (or close the top of your crock) and store in a dark location (like a pantry) for about 4-5 days. Taste test to see if the flavor is how you like it. You can add more fermentation days if needed.

Disclosure: Mrs. Plant makes use of Amazon.com affiliate links when they are available. These are products I have personally purchased and recommend based on my experience with them. Your use of these links for product purchases provides me with a commission. However, your use of these links as a reader is not required.