The Raw Challenge: Swiss Chard Salad

I challenge you to look in your frig, look in your cupboards, your pantry....and come up with a delicious meal without using a recipe - we'll call it cooking without a net. I'll be the first to enter the challenge. Here's my entry. Please note that I use rough estimates for amounts of some of the ingredients. That's partly the fun of this challenge. Just throw it in until it looks and tastes yummy. If you want to make this particular recipe, experiment. Combine ingredients until it tastes good to you. Or change them - substitute ingredients that you prefer. Be adventurous!

Swiss Chard Salad
(click here for printable recipe)

salad ingredients:
one avocado
one head swiss chard (red or green)
one handful asian greens
one red pepper, chopped
one small zucchini, julienned
one small cucumber, sliced
one cup fresh peas, cut into 1 inch pieces (leave them in the pod)
one large carrot, sliced
one cup fresh snap beans, cut into 2 inch pieces (I used black snap beans though green is easier to find)
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped
1 - 2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned
1/4 cup raw pecans, chopped
1 - 2 tabelspoons raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons dark raisins

dressing:
extra virgin olive oil
fresh lemon juice
wheat-free tamari (I use San-J)
agave syrup
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

For the salad: Wash and spin the swiss chard until dry. Repeat with Asian greens (can use mesclun mix). Peel and roughly cut the avocado. Add to greens in salad bowl and mush with your hands until the avocado has coated the greens. I know, it's weird, but trust me, it works. It softens the greens, especially the chard AND it helps the dressing bind to the greens. Plus, it's delicious!

Put into salad bowl along with other ingredients. Toss to combine.

For the dressing:
Combine ingredients and whisk. Pour over salad. Mix well.

Eat.

Yum.

Notice, the recipe for Swiss Chard Salad is completely raw. No, I haven't completely gone over to the raw side, but I'm trying to incorporate more and more raw into my diet. It's so easy to eat gluten free when you eat raw (for the most part). And here's the thing - yesterday, just because it was really hot and I didn't want to heat up the kitchen or even go near the grill, I decided to eat almost completely raw for the whole day. I've been a little afraid to do that because I figured I wouldn't get enough to eat and I thought I'd end up going to bed hungry or wake up at 3 AM famished. Completely the opposite. I felt fantastic all day. Sated and satisfied and never too full. Here's what my food day looked like, just in case you're interested.

Breakfast:
Muesli consisting of chopped pecans, sunflower seeds, chopped hazelnuts, chopped almonds, chopped cashews, unsweetened grated coconut, diced crystallized ginger, raisins, diced dried mango, chopped fresh fuji apple, vanilla almond milk

Lunch: Tomato Juice, Leftover green salad with leftover cold diced sauteed tamari tofu (not raw), gluten free croutons (not raw) and salad dressing

Snack: 1/2 cantaloupe

Dinner: Swiss Chard Salad

Bon Appetit!