Super-Healing Superfood Salad

Nothing beats a good bowl of greens, grains, and the sweet touch of vinegar. You know I'm all about vegetables and healing foods, but some days require more healing than others. This happens to be one of those days.

For me, this week has been all about healing and helping others to heal. Finding the places of peace and courage. Finding inner strength. And being able to find the balance. Healing, just like cooking, is all about balance. The balance between mind, body, and spirit. The balance between anger and forgiveness. And the balance between darkness and light.

When I first began my master's program a year and a half ago, I would clearly identify my life's calling as working to end violence against women. I had studied women's studies in my undergraduate program, was an educator/activist for women's issues at the UW campus, and had many spent years of my life helping women to deal with trauma. My work as an educator about violence and working with victims and survivors of abuse was vital and necessary - but personally draining. For me, there was so much darkness and sadness in that work that it took more from my life than it gave.

As I have progressed through my graduate program, I began to find a new calling in environmental concerns and, you'd never guess this, food. There had always been a passion in my life around food, but it became stronger and stronger. The more time that passed, the more that food became connected in my life.

Recently, several of my classmates have made comments about the shift in my area of focus. This shift in my life has brought me a great deal of guilt. I kept questioning myself, "how can I give up my work with women when there is such great need?" Starting to devote my time and energy to food was a huge shift and it took me a long time to be okay with it.

However, after a lot of soul-searching, I have realized that these two areas of my life are not entirely separate. The more that I have cooked over the past few months, the more I see trauma and food as connected. For me, food is about healing and helping survivors. All survivors. Food, one of our basic necessities, has so many deep emotional and spiritual connections. Just as food nourishs our body, it can shift our mood, and sometimes even lift our spirits. I am fortunate enough to have found a place where my passion for food meets my passion for healing.

Today I was walking past a church and saw a quote about darkness and light that struck me. I immediately googled it and found it in a speech by Martin Luther King.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction.

"Strength To Love,"
1963 Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where is your light? For me, food is my light and my love. In sharing my food, I am sharing light and love with those that need it the most. Thank you to all of those who are strong enough to work in the darkness and find their own source of light. Here's to your well-being and the health of your loved ones.

In creating this salad, I immediately turned to my typical superfood favorites: kale (a great source of vitamin A as well as iron, calcium, fiber, vitamin C, B1, B2, B6, and E), tomatoes (vitamin C, iron and lycopene - an antioxidant that neutrolizes free radicals that can damage cells in the body), qunioa (rich in amino acids and a complete protein), and red onions (which contain a phytochemical, quercetin, a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant).

My new fave superfood is red beets. Not only do red beets contain a variety of vitamins (A, B, C, E, and K), folic acid, calcium, iron, and zinc, but they contain Betacyanin which is the pigment that makes them red. I have heard that this pigment can increase the amount of oxygen your blood can carry, thereby increasing the healing process. Sounds good to me.

3 medium red beets
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 small red onion, diced
1 red apple, diced
1 cup quinoa (I used a mixture of white and red quinoa)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 bunch (about 3 cups) lacinato kale, stems removed, chopped
2 Tbs rice vinegar
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the beets and trim off the greens and pointy ends. Place the beets on a sheet of foil on a baking sheet. Cover with a light coat of olive oil and wrap the foil over them so they are covered. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until beets are soft, but not slimy.

While beets are cooking, cook the quinoa. Add the water and quinoa to a pot, bring to a boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and then let simmer for 15 minutes until water is gone and quinoa is soft.

Combine the kale, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers and apples in a medium bowl. Add the vinegars, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. When the quinoa cools, mix this with the other ingredients. Once the beets have cooked and cooled, dice, and mix with the other ingredients. Serve.

Gluten-free, soy-free