Spectacular summer salad with apples, figs, mixed greens, radishes and pomegranate seeds

Vegan, gluten free

With its bounty of fruits and vegetables, the summertime is the best season of the year for salad eating and making. We can get out of our comfort zone and try new combinations of ingredients, introduce new herbs or spices and experiment with mixing our own healthy dressings. While we savor the weather and beautiful outdoors, we can easily enjoy the pleasure of these simple, healthy and affordable meal options.

In Ayurveda, salads are considered cold or cooling, which is one of the reasons why we crave them on hot or humid summer days. “Cold”, however is not beneficial for our digestive system, so adding healthy oils, warming herbs, lemon juice and black or cayenne pepper to the dressing will ease the digestion of the salad and improve absorption of its nutrients.

Please remember that salads should always be made from fresh, organic ingredients and eaten right away. If stored for more than six hours, they may become toxic and harmful to our health.

This refreshing salad offers plenty of nutrients and antioxidants and has lots of texture and crunch. It looks beautiful and I am going to make it this Sunday for a get-together with my girlfriends. I am planning to make the whole menu vegan and gluten-free, with an exception of the dessert – a cake that I saw last week in a great eatery in Three Oaks, Michigan. The recipe for the cake, if it comes out as great as it looked in the store, I may post on another occasion.

Here is the recipe for the salad.                              

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of mixed greens, tightly packed
• 2 apples (Gala, Granny Smith, Braeburn), thinly sliced
• 8 fresh figs (or 10-12 dried), cut in quarters
• 1 bunch radishes, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup red currants, separated from the stems (optional)
• 3/4 cup pomegranate seeds
• 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup sunflower sprouts
• salt, pepper

 Dressing:

• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup pomegranate juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt, black pepper

Combine fig quarters, pomegranate seeds, red currants and sliced radishes with the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix them well together. Add the greens and apple slices and mix again. Place the salad on the plates. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds and sunflower sprouts.