Superfood Salad Bowl With Smoky Red Pepper Mesquite Dressing

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Hey all! Fabulous response to my giveaway of Superfood Cuisine by Julie Morrisand the Navitas Naturals trail mix! I can’t wait to pick a winner. If you haven’t entered yet, please do!

I was also really intrigued to scroll through the comments and hear everybody’s thoughts on superfoods and how to approach them. In light of my recent conversion from superfoods skepticism to superfoods curiosity, I thought I’d share a fabulous “superfood salad” I made on Tuesday, right after my grueling midterm. It replenished my body and tasted delicious; if that’s what superfoods do, well then, I’m sold.

A few specialty foods graced this salad. My favorite addition was a sprinkling of golden mulberries and goldenberries, both from Navitas. They’re totally different: the mulberries (my personal favorite) are sweet:

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And the goldenberries are very tart (with a sweet finish):

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Throw in some blueberries, apples, baby kale, spinach, and a silky red pepper mesquite dressing, and you have a lovely bowl full of color, texture, and taste.

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Superfood Salad Bowl (raw, vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Serves 1

4 cups mixed greens (spinach, baby kale, or mesclun will all work well)
1/3 cup blueberries
2 tbsp golden mulberries
2 tbsp goldenberries
1/2 apple, sliced thinly
1 carrot, grated
1 tbsp hemp seeds

Smoky Red Pepper Mesquite Dressing

Makes 2 cups

1 heaping cup roasted red (or red and yellow) peppers (you can use jarred roast peppers, OR you can use raw, but the taste won’t be quite as rich)
1 small avocado
2 tbsp mesquite powder (available from Navitas Naturals)
A few drops liquid smoke
Juice of 4 lemons
1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
Black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups water (more if you need to thin the dressing out)
2 tbsp flax oil (hemp oil would be good here, too)

Blend all ingredients together in a blender on high. Add more water if you’d like the texture to be thinner; a little more oil if you’d like it creamier.

To prepare the salad, combine all salad ingredients, sprinkling hemp seeds on at the end. Drizzle the salad bowl with dressing to taste. Enjoy!

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This flavorful bowl provides you with:

  • Tons of antioxidants: the golden and mulberries, blueberries, apples, and greens are all outstanding sources
  • Protein from the hemp seeds
  • EFAs from hemp and avocado
  • Fiber from the mesquite powder and vegatbles
  • Vitamin C from the red pepper
  • Calcium and Vitamin A from your dark leafy greens

Pretty super, if you ask me.

I hope this recipe shows you how easy it is to work the mysterious entities that are “superfoods” into a perfectly normal and approachable recipe. Even the dressing is exemplar: mesquite is the sort of thing I would typically purchase, stare at, and let sit on my shelf for ages, but blended into a creamy dressing, it adds a wonderful sweet and smoky flavor, along with tons of fiber. When in doubt, use dressings and other blended food as vehicles for anything that comes in powder form—hemp protein, maca, mesquite, etc.!

Alright, my healthy food loving friends: it’s back to class for me.

xo

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Categories: Salads
Dietary Preferences: Raw

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    25 Comments
  1. Stunning salad! Love that it’s packed with superfood nutrition.

    You must see the film “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” One of the actresses looks JUST like you. And no, that’s definitely not a bad thing.

  2. Gena-I know this is off topic, but I just got my Champion Juicer yesterday and I am loving it already! I have so many questions for you. Have you written a post that answers questions like smoothies vs. juicing, how often you juice, why you juice, etc? If not, can I send you a bunch of questions?

    • Wendy,

      I wrote a post on blending vs. juicing some time ago: to blend or to juice.

      These days I never have time to juice more than a few times a week–maybe 1-3. I do it because I love the taste and the fresh vitamins and minerals! I don’t believe juice can or should be a meal replacement. Other questions? Fire away.

      • On this subject, I have to thank you Gena for opening up the options for the juice ‘leftovers’! Between smoothies, juicing, and juice pulp recipes, the variety for ‘uncooking’ is becoming endless! I’ve had to start writing all the ideas in a notebook to stop them from clogging my brain :p
        I do wish ‘superfoods’ weren’t quite so costly though (and I’m not sure if goldenberries exist here in England!). I think I might have to treat myself to a ‘bulk buy’…

  3. Using roasted red peppers and liquid smoke in a salad dressing is genius! Thanks for taking the mystic out of the “super”. I have to side with Bianca, though-I’m just too cheap for superfoods 🙂 Besides, I’, eating my “super” green apple right now.

  4. I love the tartness of goldenberries, but I’m a tart/sour flavour lover. Pucker power!

    And mesquite intrigues me. It’s one of those things I see, and think about buying, but have no idea how I might use it. Good idea on using it in a dressing.

  5. Mulberries are my favorite too! I have packaged up mesquite powder before, and let me tell you, it is not very pleasant going up the nose! But I am sure that you did not suffer the same way. How are your tests going dearest G? I hope well and that you are feeling confident. <3

  6. Mmmm, what a superfood salad indeed. I like to call all salads superfoods that contain bright colors, seeds or nuts and a veggie protein. 🙂 Most of my meals already do that!

  7. Goldenberries, golden mulberries, hemp, mesquite, liquid smoke… this salad is like an evil taunting beast of things I cannot get but desperately want! Oh, woe is me! 😛

  8. I am so the person who purchases “superfoods” and lets them sit in my cabinet until they go bad. I put a ban on buying “speciality” food items for that very reason. I’d probably do the same with mesquite powder, but this looks delicious. Maybe I should reconsider?

  9. “I hope this recipe shows you how easy it is to work the mysterious entities that are “superfoods” into a perfectly normal and approachable recipe.”

    Yes you succeeded!

    I have both mulberries AND mesquite sitting in my cupboards. I think I need to get busy with them.

    One superfood I havent had in a long time is maca. I really do like it but haven’t bought it in ages…kinda pricey and I can live without it..plus I have the mesquite and mulberries to get busy with 🙂

  10. Golden mulberries are my favorite! Whole Foods makes a pretty killer superfoods trail mix that I’ve been know to eat bags’ worth full right in the store. Whoops.

    I have never used mesquite AND I’ve been dying to try a red pepper dressing. Done and done. Sometimes I swear you read your readers’ minds. Spoooookyyyyy.

  11. It really does sound and look wonderful. I suppose my biggest “issue” with superfood recipes like this is that, even in a healthy household (or an average high raw vegan one) one has to really stock up on a pricey food to make specialty recipes full of great nutrients that can be found otherwise. I am certainly not putting down the existance of the recipe, in fact I think it is good of you to show us what sorts of good things we can do if we win the giveaway or choose to explore some of these new foods. I guess I have felt a frustration with their “specialty” status at the market, including high prices and difficult to find locations. So, to end my rambling, I’m frustrated with the lack of availability in order to make greater use of the recipes. I apparently just needed to write it out before I figured out what I’m getting at.

  12. I use smoothies as a vehicle for a lot of things. Lucuma powder is one of my favorites. I haven’t tried mesquite yet! But I love both mulberries and goldenberries…which are also called gooseberries! Have you tried them in their fresh state? I’ve seen them sold that way, and have always wondered if they have the same flavor they do when they’re dried.

  13. looks fabulous! I love the idea of mesquite in the dressing. Maybe I can do something similar with my maca stash?!

  14. Sounds delicious! Now I just need to get my hands on those necessary “superfoods”, then I can try this! 😀