Posts

Healthy Sweet Potato Salad

                           Sweet potatoes will help get your digestion running smoothly!
healthy sweet potato salad

I love potatoes of any kind. You can prepare them any way and I will love them. That’s why it’s so important that I make my tubers healthy. I mean, if I’m going to eat the whole bowl, I’d much rather it be a healing dish than a mess of fried or mayonnaise-y potatoes. This healthy sweet potato salad is perfect. It’s delicious and it’s healing… even if you eat more than you should…

Lately, I’ve been swapping out traditional potatoes for sweet potatoes in every recipe that I can. When I was a kid, my favorite thing to order in a diner was french fries with gravy. OMG… just thinking about it makes me both smile and cringe at the same time. The other day when I was at lunch by the beach, I ordered sweet potato fries, rationalizing that this was somehow healthier than ordinary fries. Bahahaha — it’s amazing the rationalizations you can talk yourself into — this was so unhealthy and the second I was done eating, I was sorry I ate it.

So, back to this awesome recipe for healthy sweet potato salad. This is perfect.

And NO MAYONNAISE — the creamy dressing is made with parsnips!!!

And you still feel good after you eat it. It’s got sweet potatoes and dill and some crunchy radishes. Really, it’s clean tasting and creamy at the same time. It’s the perfect side dish for everything you make this summer.

I served this beautiful, colorful salad with fish one night and then on top of a crisp green salad on the second night. Both were just perfect!

Also, you should try my simple recipe for Vegan Potato Salad.

healthy sweet potato salad

healthy sweet potato salad

Here are some of the awesome healing ingredients in this healthy sweet potato salad recipe:

Sweet potatoes are good for your digestive system. They can be good for both constipation and diarrhea. These orange gems also help rid your body of excess water, are good for breast health, help people with diabetes and actually can help ease night blindness. In olden times, it was common in China to rub mashed sweet potatoes on poison insect bites to remove the toxins. I haven’t tried this, but if you see me looking a tad orange, this will be why…

Parsnips will help you knock a cold out of your system. So if you have a common cold with headaches, muscle aches, and a stuffy nose, try eating parsnips. They can also help ease arthritic pain.

Dill is considered a chemoprotective in that it can help neutralize some carcinogens. It also helps fight bacteria in the body.

Scallions, as I tell you often, are one of my favorites. In Chinese medicine, the root of the scallion is a healing herb (Cong Bai). I always keep scallions on hand in my refrigerator so that I can whip up a batch of cold and flu fighting tea (scallion roots and ginger) the second anyone feels that scratchy throat coming on. It helps the body sweat out toxins. Scallions are antiviral and antibacterial; they are good for the common cold and general nasal congestion — just don’t eat too many if you have a fever.

Radishes are good for your tissues, blood vessels, teeth and bones. They also can help regulate your blood pressure and can ease the symptoms of asthma and other respiratory ailments. In this sweet potato salad, they also add a good amount of crunch and peppery bite.

healthy sweet potato salad

Healthy Sweet Potato Salad
Print
Recipe type: salad, side dish
Cuisine: paleo, healthy, sweet potatoes, vegetables, vegan, vegetarian
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
This healthy potato salad is so colorful and so flavorful, you'll love it even more than your favorite mayonnaise-y dish!
Ingredients
  • 1 lb sweet potatoes (I used a mixture of orange, white, and purple ones), unpeeled, cut into ½-in. pieces
  • 1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 parsnips, peeled, cut into 1-in. pieces
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 Tbs fresh dill, chopped
  • 2 radishes, sliced
  • 2 scallions, sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F convection setting, or 425°F regular bake setting.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  3. Toss the potatoes with the oil and spread them out on the baking sheet.
  4. Sprinkle with sea salt.
  5. Roast the potatoes in the oven for about 15 - 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
  6. Meanwhile, put the parsnips, vegetable broth and a pinch of sea salt into a medium saucepan.
  7. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil.
  8. Reduce heat and simmer until the parsnips are soft, about 20 minutes.
  9. Pour the parsnip mixture into a blender. Cover the blender with a clean dish towel and hold that towel tight over the top while you blend until smooth. NOTE: the towel will allow steam to escape so you can prevent the top blowing off and burning you!
  10. In a large bowl, mix together the roasted sweet potatoes, radishes and scallions. Pour in the parsnip dressing and gently stir to combine.
  11. Add the dill, and serve.
  12. Enjoy!

healthy sweet potato salad

Blood Orange Salmon With Turnip Noodles

Change up your usual salmon dinner and try this blood orange salmon with turnip noodles…

blood orange salmon with parsnip noodles

I think I’m pretty intuitive. So, the other day when I “felt” that people were craving a more substantial dinner than I’ve been providing lately, I just went with it. Haha… the looks I was getting from my non-vegan crew because I’m in a vegan phase, really could have been read my anyone — no special intuition necessary! I felt the love when I served this blood orange salmon with turnip noodles.

I always honor dinner requests. Well, almost always — but if I can, I do. It’s fun for me to create and cook dishes to satisfy whatever anyone is craving at that particular time. Lately, I’ve been on a vegan kick. Unfortunately for me, not everyone else who I’ve been feeding shares that same love of vegan food… So, when the request was made for fish, I was happy to oblige!

Sometimes when I get a request, I pour over saved blog posts, dog-eared cookbooks, and a mass of unorganized post-it notes that I’m embarrassed to say are stuck every where on my counter where there is any surface space left. This time, I remembered several recipes I had seen for salmon dishes that included vegetable noodles. One of those inspirational recipes comes from one of my favorite blogs, Foodie Crush.

I think this dish would be good with grapefruit, oranges, or tangerines, but really, just look at the pretty color of these blood oranges. Anytime I see these beauties at the market, I buy a few and fit them into whatever recipes I can. This is the first time I ever tried turnip noodles, and I have to say that they are awesome. You can either spiralize your own turnips or, if you are as lucky as I was to find them pre-noodled, buy at least one big package!

If you love salmon as much as I do, you should also try my recipe for Slow Roasted Salmon With Smoked Salmon Rollups.

blood orange salmon with parsnip noodles

Here are some of the great healing ingredients in this recipe for blood orange salmon with turnip noodles:

Salmon is the perfect food to nourish the blood and the yin. It’s especially great for women because it raises fertility levels by promoting a healthy endometrial lining. Salmon is also great for anyone who is in need of additional iron. Be sure to buy wild salmon because the levels of mercury are lower than in farmed salmon. This beautiful fish also contains large amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, making it a good food source to combat breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, asthma, depression and diabetes. Lately there’s also been a lot of evidence that salmon is great at reducing intestinal inflammation and that it’s also good for your joints and muscles.

There are a lot of reasons to eat turnips. They are great for indigestion, and can help relieve that horrible bloated feeling we all get sometimes by reducing excess gas and diarrhea. Research shows that turnips contain a substance that may reduce your risk of colon, prostate, and lung cancer. In Chinese medicine turnips (wu jing) are known to help reduce inflammation and phlegm, and they can even help lessen your cough.

Blood Oranges are oranges with extra anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are compounds found in many plant-based foods. These compounds can help prevent certain cancers and can help with brain function. Oranges, of any kind, will help boost your levels of vitamins A, B and C. In Chinese medicine oranges have been used for many years to help coughs, colds and anorexia. Lately, oranges have been widely touted for their ability to help heal colon cancer. I peel my oranges and lay the rinds in the sun to dry, and save them for tea or for cooking because the orange rinds are an actual Chinese herb. I dry out the peels of oranges, tangerines, clementines… whatever I have. Dried tangerine peel, or “chen pi” as it’s known in Chinese medicine, is one of the greatest and most easily accessible herbs around. It’s especially good for digestive issues like abdominal discomfort, distention, fullness, bloating, belching, and nausea. It’s also great if you have a cough with a heavy or stuffy chest.

Garlic is amazing in its antiviral and antibacterial capabilities. Garlic is actually a Chinese herb (Da Suan). It’s used to kill toxins and parasites and also to reduce swelling in the body. It’s what I call a great “A” herb: anesthetic, antibacterial, anti fungal, antioxidant, antiviral, etc….

blood orange salmon with parsnip noodles

Blood Orange Salmon With Turnip Noodles
Print
Recipe type: fish, seafood, vegetable noodles, paleo
Cuisine: recipe inspired by: Foodie Crush
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6
This dish is beautiful, delicious, healthy, and so impressive. It's easy enough to make on a weeknight, but it's impressive enough to serve to your guests!
Ingredients
  • For turnip noodles:
  • 1 lb turnip noodles (either spiralize your own with a few turnips, or buy a package of pre-noodled turnips). ** Feel free to use whatever type of veggie noodles you like here if turnips aren't your thing...
  • 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • sea salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 2 scallions, sliced
  • 5 large garlic cloves, smashed
  • For salmon:
  • 2 Tbs plus 1-tsp coconut sugar
  • 1 blood orange, zested and sliced
  • 1 tsp five-spice powder
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • 20 grinds of black pepper
  • 1-1/2 lb wild salmon fillet, skinned, and cut into 4- to 6-pieces
  • 1-1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbs chopped cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
  3. Add the turnip noodles, scallions, garlic, and some salt and pepper.
  4. Using tongs, toss the parsnip noodles around in the hot oil for about 5 minutes, or until the noodles start to soften.
  5. In a small bowl, combine the coconut sugar, orange zest, five-spice powder, sea salt, and black pepper.
  6. Spread the noodles in the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.
  7. Sprinkle half of the coconut sugar mixture on top of the noodles, and toss to combine.
  8. Lay the salmon portions on top of the noodles.
  9. Spread the Dijon mustard evenly on top of the salmon pieces.
  10. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture evenly over the top of the Dijon mustard.
  11. Bake the dish in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked how you like it (I like mine still juicy and pink in the center).
  12. Remove the dish from the oven, and garnish with cilantro and the orange slices.
  13. Enjoy!

blood orange salmon with parsnip noodles blood orange salmon with turnip noodles