Chickpea Caesar Salad

Caesar salad used to be one of my favourites.

I used to put caesar salad dressing on basically everything. I would use it as a dipping sauce for pizza, chicken, vegetables, everything, etc. It was my lifeline.

That all had to change once I found out about my dairy intolerance and decided to switch to a plant-based diet - pretty much the worst day.

Something that I've been focusing on lately is taking my old favourite recipes and making them with all real ingredients. My body craves real food because it makes me feel amazing. I rarely want to put processed food in my body anymore. Although, I still do sometimes - because well, I'm only human and life happens.

I used to get mad and upset with myself, but I've been practicing forgiveness. I keep in mind that 90% of my diet is delicious and healthy, so it's ok if I want chocolate and cookies, sometimes. I know that I won't feel that great after, so I choose wisely.

But it's so important to have a healthy relationship with food. It's all about balance. It's not going to be perfect all of the time and that's ok. It's important to listen to your body and it's cravings in order to feed your body what it needs.

When I constantly deny myself food (or anything), it doesn't make me feel good and it just makes me want it even more - because that's how I work. I allow myself to eat what I want because I can't live a life always denying myself simple pleasures. My goal in life is to add things into my life each day to make me feel good and that includes cake on occasion.

Kale and romaine are super healthy for you, as I'm sure you already know. But did you know that kale is actually more beneficial for you if it has been heated. Kale and other cruciferous vegetables are goitrogenic because they inhibit the absorption of iodine - which is harmful to the thyroid! But don't worry, heating up kale saves the day. Kale can be extremely beneficial for the thyroid because it pulls out radiation and protects against the viral explosion that is the reason for many thyroid diseases. Heating up kale and other cruciferous vegetables also makes the antioxidants easier to absorb because the cell wall is broken down.

According to Medical Medium in his book "Life Changing Foods", kale has anti-inflammatory compounds that help destroy viruses and its bioavailable phytochemicals help stimulate cell growth and the production of healthy, new connective tissue. It's perfect for those with connective tissue damage, aches and pains, or inflammation of the joints. The healing benefits of food are amazing - food is our real medicine.

Medical Medium also says that other cruciferous vegetables are great for lung health because they're full of sulfur. They contain two types of sulfur, one in macromineral form and the other as an accompanying micro-sulfur trace mineral. These two together help stimulate growth, regeneration, and healing, and they restore lung scar tissue.

Eat your greens, loves.

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THE RECIPE: CHICKPEA CAESAR SALAD

SALAD:

- 2 cups romaine lettuce

- 1 cup kale

SALAD DRESSING:

- 1/2 cup tahini

- 1/2 cup filtered water

- juice of 1 lemon

- 3 garlic cloves

- 2.5 tbsps nutritional yeast

- 1 tbsp mustard

- 1/2 tsp garlic salt

- himalayan salt and pepper to taste

CHICKPEAS (CROUTONS):

- 1 can chickpeas

- avocado oil

- 1 tsp himalayan salt

- 1 tsp pepper

- 1-2 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1 tsp paprika

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Rinse chickpeas fully. Mix the chickpeas, avocado oil, and chosen spices. Lay chickpeas evenly on the parchment paper and put in oven for 30-40 minutes.

2. Add all of the dressing ingredients into blender until smooth. Add more water for desired consistency.

3. Wash and rip romaine and kale into bite size pieces. When you have 2 minutes left for the chickpeas, add the kale to the baking sheet in the oven to heat up the kale.

4. Put romaine and kale in bowl. Add dressing and top with half of the chickpeas. Enjoy!

Note: You will probably have leftover dressing and chickpeas - should last for 3-4 days.

Love Lisa xo