Power up salad



On their own, the super foods are fighting a losing battle against refined crappy crap. But when they join forces their powers combined make an unstoppable health benefit for fighting the evil toxins in our intoxicated bodies. Combine the colourful forces of these classic and trendy superfoods to make a bright, light salad that is full of goodness and great taste. It’s loaded up to make a complete and balanced meal.

Mega morphing salad 

Black

1 bunch of black kale, leaves finely shredded 

Red

1 cup water

1/2 cup red quinoa ( you can also use red or regular)

pinch of salt

Pink

1 pink grapefruit

300g Cunningham smoked trout

Yellow 

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ cup Highwood Crossing organic canola oil

½ cup Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger

salt to taste

Green

3 cups (approximately) of mixed greens 

To make the vinaigrette. Put all the ingredients into a large glass jar with a lid. Close the lid up tight and give everything a really good shake. Set vinaigrette aside to get happy for a little while.

To cook the Quinoa. Bring water to a boil. Stir in the quinoa and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove lid and cook until the water evaporates. Pour the cooked quinoa out of the pot onto a large plate or baking dish and spread it out while fluffing it with a fork. Let the quinoa dry out a bit and cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Cut off the top and bottom of the grapefruit. Place a flat side down and use a knife to cut away the peel. Once all the pink skin and white pith are cut away, you can start to remove the pieces of grapefruit supreme by cutting wedges out as close to the thin connected membrane as you can manage. The technique is called ‘supreme’. For detailed instructions on how to ‘citrus supreme’ check out swervecalgary.com and search “Citrus Supreme” for a how-to video.

To shred the black kale, remove the tough stem by cutting down each side. Save the stems for a stir-fry. Collect all the leaves into a neat and tidy pile and hyper-thinly slice until you’ve got a springy pile ready to get dressed.

Get dressed. Dress each item individually to ensure everything is distributed evenly.

Start with the mixed greens and kale together. Dressing sparingly and to your personal taste with the vinaigrette and use your clean hands to toss the leaves. Divide into two bowls.

Now toss the grapefruit supremes in vinaigrette until nicely coated. Arrange the grapefruits into and around the nest of greens.

Now dress the quinoa with vinaigrette. Be sure it doesn’t end up getting too sloppy. Scatter the quinoa on and around the mixed greens. Carefully arrange pieces of smoked trout on the salad.

Any left over vinaigrette can be saved for future salads.

Serve forth and prosper.

Scarborough fair

Scarborough Fair was an annual raucous medieval festival of merriment organized to conduct a little bartering. This pleasant peasant party lasted from The Feast of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug 15) until the Feast of St.Michael (Sept 29). Raise thine flagons of good-cheer beer and snarffle down a herby minced meat hand-pie whilst thou sing a classic ballad in honour of Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.

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Life’s a peach

Life isn’t all peaches and cream, but sometimes it can be.

It’s the truly perfect peachy micro-moments of unquantifiable bliss that make life worth living. Don’t get caught up in trying to beat the monotony of life with canned peach-attempts at happiness, pick the perfect moments and savour the sweetness while it lasts. Enjoy those juicy bursts of peachy perfection that give us the real warm, fuzzy navel feeling inside.

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