Anyone who knows me well, knows I take my salads REALLY seriously. They are little works of art and I love putting the unexpected into a beautiful bowl of fresh, nutrient rich greens. Chopping all the ingredients into small pieces so that each bite has many different flavors in it is key to creating a super tasty salad. Like all my dishes, I believe a balance of sweet, salty, pungent and bitter helps create well rounded dishes, especially in a salad situation.
The Tropical Pitaya Power Salad features several fruits and vegetables that can be found in Hawaii but also in many other places in the world. This salad is packed full of vitamin rich, immune boosting nutrients, protein, iron, good fats and hydrating beauty fruits. It can be a meal, severed as a side dish, or the foundation to fish or other forms of protein.
Dragon Fruit and why it’s good:
Dragon fruit has a surprising number of phytonutrients. Rich in antioxidants, they contain vitamin C (equivalent to 10 percent of the daily value), polyunsaturated (good) fatty acids, and several B vitamins for carbohydrate metabolism, as well as carotene and protein. Calcium is present for strong bones and teeth, iron and phosphorus for healthy blood and tissue formation.
Dragon fruit has zero complex carbohydrates, so it can help food to be easily broken down in the body, helped by vitamin B1 (thiamin) and other B vitamins.
The seeds of dragon fruits are high in polyunsaturated fats that reduce triglycerides and lower the risk of cardiovascular disorders. Eating dragon fruit can help the body maintain such normal function as ridding the body of toxic heavy metals and improved eyesight. Lycopene, responsible for the red color in dragon fruit, has been shown to be linked with a lower prostate cancer risk.
Dragonfruit
Tip: With all H Lyfe Method recipes, if your local supermarket doesn’t carry a specific ingredient, chances are, you can order it on Amazon. Amazon is such a great resource if you’re a healthy eater. It surely is for me personally as their organic, non-GMO and vegan food assortment is out of this world and living in Hawaii, food is not only expensive but the shipping to get certain things here can be off the charts. If you sign up for Prime, you get free shipping and you never have to leave your house in search of that “obscure” ingredient.
Tropical Pitaya Power Salad
Serves: 3-8 (Depending on if it’s a side or a main course!)
Prep Time: 15 minutes (mostly chopping time!)
Total: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
– Approximately 1lb of “soft” salad greens to include: butter lettuce, green and red oakleaf
– A few cups of arugula, mache and/or sweet pea greens for a gourmet nuttiness with succulent texture
– 1 red dragon fruit (If fresh isn’t possible, most stores have frozen dragon fruit/pitaya in the frozen fruit section. You can also substitute kiwi frtui.)
– 1 mango (or try a nectarine or peach)
– 1 Avocado
– 1/2 red onion
– 6 baby porta bellow mushrooms
– 1/3 cup macadamia nuts (crushed)
– 1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
– 1/3 cup hemp seeds
Dressing:
– 1/3 cup olive oil
– Juice of 1 ½ lemons
– 1 ½ Tbs. balsamic (apple cider or white) vinegar
– 1 tsp. garlic powder
– 1 Tbs. Sea salt or to taste
– 1/2 tsp. black pepper or to taste
– 1 ½ Tbs. coconut sugar
Instructions:
1. Chop lettuce into small, bit size pieces and place in bowl
2. Chop all remaining fruits and vegetables and place in the salad
3. Top with pepitas, macadamia nuts and hemp seeds
4. Mix all salad dressing ingredients together with a whisk, pour of salad and toss!
Tip:I like to place the avocado, mango and dragon fruit on the top of the lettuce kind of in a circle around the perimeter of the bowl for presentation purposes. Use your creativity here. When food looks pretty, we eat it slower and savor it more.
Pair with: Fresh Opah (Moonfish), Mahi Mahi or Ono (Wahoo)