Root Chakra Salad

Over the years, I've experimented with many salads. I get tire of cookbooks that put cheese on salads or treat them like side dishes. For me, a salad is just an interesting pile of veggies that taste good mixed together.

This salad has many variations. The key to some of food enjoyment is presentation, and what better way to present than to play with color! I call this salad "Root Chakra Salad" because it is a magenta salad which is the color of the first chakra. It is also the color of iron. If you feel anemic, this is a great salad to "perk" you up. It is also a warming salad for winter.

I've done this salad three ways. I'll list the ingredients for you and then the dressings. The first time I did it, I used red sauerkraut. Here is that recipe.

One small red cabbage (or half a large one) grated
1 tbs dill seed
1 tbs Celtic salt
1 tbs raw apple cider vinegar

Knead the cabbage and other ingredients, put into a jar (don't put a lid on it) wait a few days until the kraut has the taste you like. Some people get serious about kraut and pack it in a ceramic container all winter--I like it fairly fresh.

I then mix:

1 cup kraut
1 small beet, grated
lemon to taste
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dulse
1 tsp powdered nettles
1 tsp soaked black sesame seeds
1 tbs olive oil

A good variation on this salad is to use freshly grated red cabbage.

1 cup grated red cabbage
1 small beet, grated
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dulse
1 tsp powdered nettles
1 tsp dill seed (or caraway)
1 tsp soaked black sesame seeds (or soaked sunflower seeds)
1 tbs olive oil

You can also substitute (or add) red or purple kale, red lettuce, purple beet leaves, purple flowers, red celery, or other dark red or purple leaves. I don't usually mix beets with any kind of fruit, but elder berries taste good in this salad.

The salad above is:

1/2 cup grated red cabbage
1/2 cup red leaf lettuce
1/2 cup spinach
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (I can't eat lemon)
1 tsp powdered nettles
1 tsp dulse
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tbs olive oil
1 stalk celery

I find the beets sweet enough without honey, but honey makes this salad good enough for kids.

Enjoy!