Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Jicama Salad with Beets, Orange, Spinach and Walnuts

Last time I went grocery shopping, I picked up a jicama without being sure what I was going to do with it. Well, today I was poking through the refrigerator, wondering what to do about lunch, and I came up with a great jicama salad. Not only is it one of the tastiest salads I've ever made, it's also one of the prettiest.



It came together pretty quickly, too.  Here's the recipe:

Jicama Salad 


Salad:
1 1/2 cup coarsely grated jicama
1 medium beet, coarsely grated
1 orange, sectioned and diced
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/2 small avocado (about 1/2 cup), diced
2 tablespoons walnuts, coarsely chopped


Dressing: 
1/4 cup olive oil
juice from 1/2 lime, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

The directions are self explanatory--just combine everything and serve--except that I rolled up my spinach leaves and cut them into ribbons (chiffonade).  I used an organic Valencia orange, and it was more flavorful than a Navel. I bet a blood orange would be delicious, too.

Jicamas are high fiber, full of Vitamin C, and are wonderful for diabetics or people who want to lose weight because they contain inulin, a sweet, zero-calorie carbohydrate which doesn't metabolize in our bodies.

Also, remember I mentioned some flax seed crackers I was dehydrating? This is the first time I've made  raw flax seed crackers as opposed to bread, the difference being I didn't grind or process most of the flax seeds when I made the crackers. I did soak them first, and was quite surprised at how gelatinous they became. It's one thing to read about them becoming gelatinous, but quite another to poke them and have the seeds and water spring back at you. It reminded me of that childhood Halloween game where you pretend peeled grapes are a bowl of eyeballs.

I used this recipe for the flax crackers. More or less.  It made three trays worth of crackers. They looked like this before I put them in the dehydrator:




Now they're thin, crunchy and a little spicy, the perfect accompaniment for the guacamole I'm planning to make this evening.





Today's Chow:
smoothie with bananas, spinach, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond milk. Tasted eggnoggish. :)
morning snack of raspberries, blueberries and kiwi with a dollop of yesterday's cashew yoghurt.
Jicama salad
expecting to eat a green salad, guacamole and flax crackers for dinner.

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