Silica Salad with Creamy Avo Dressing

I love a good salad for so many reasons!

They taste amazing
They are so versatile
They are a great way to pack in raw food, nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals
They don’t require cooking!
You can throw them together in an instant

My salad rules...

They must be BIG
They must contain lots of colour
They must contain an added protein
They must contain a healthy fat to help us absorb the vitamins and minerals
They must never be boring

I reeeallly love my Silica Salad as it provides me with a lot of crunch for my munch. 😉

When pregnant with my first baby, my cravings all involved crunchy food. When I wasn't munching and crunching on pickled gherkins, ice, a whole head of iceberg lettuce (!!!) and the odd deep-fried spring roll (come on guys, I was pregnant!!) 😉 I was getting my crunch fix from this salad.

I figured my cravings meant that I was low in the mineral Silica and that my bub must need more to help her grow her gorgeous little skeleton so this salad was created (much better than the crunch of a spring roll for mumma and bubba!)

Yep, anything that goes crunch in your mouth generally has silica! It's the mineral in the tough part of plant foods, the skin, roots etc. Silica is crucial in bones, tendons, skin, cartilage and blood vessels. Silica is also found in the blood itself, and in our liver, heart and lungs. Silica is easily absorbed via the intestinal wall so eating silica rich foods is very beneficial and it's water soluble so it's excreted by our body daily.

Silica can be found in any hard vegetable or fruit and also in the the skin of your fruit and veggies so don't peel them! Just make sure they are thoroughly washed and preferably organic.

Wholegrains also contain silica, especially oats but as I don't eat many grains, I get my silica from the plant world.

Silica is lost in the cooking, processing and refining of food. So eating your silica in the form of your raw veggies and fruits will be the most abundant way to get it as these are completely unrefined and unprocessed.

If anyone is really wanting to increase silica for treating skin, hair, nails and vessels, it is available as a mineral supplement and very high amounts are found in the herb Horsetail.

Health Benefits of Silica

increases the health of our hair, skin and nails
helps with bone density
aids in the repair and maintenance of the lungs
decreases swelling due to its positive effects on the lymphatic system
assists in preventing kidney stones and can speed healing of urinary tract infections
helps with inflammation of the intestinal mucosa
can assist with haemorrhoids
improves mobility by improving the elasticity of the joints
may help with the pain of osteoarthritis and rheumatism
by taking part in the synthesis of elastin and collagen, Silica regenerates the skin and the vascular walls.

Silica Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

I don't like to determine how much you need of each component of a salad because that is entirely up to you! We all like our salad a bit different and this WILL WORK no matter how much of each you use.

Ingredients

Iceberg lettuce (shredded)
Spanish or red onion (sliced)
Fresh green beans (snapped into half)
Celery stalks (cut anyway you like)
Coriander (stem and leaf roughly chopped)
Red capsicum (diced)
I use a few spoonfuls of my fermented veg which contains cultured carrot, beetroot and cabbage but of course grated beetroot and grated carrot could be added instead

Pop in a bowl and toss!

Add Your Protein

You could add shredded chicken, if you can do dairy - slices of cooked haloumi or cubes of any hard cheese or feta, cut up a boiled egg, chop up any leftover meat from a previous meal or BBQ and of course a handful of nuts and seeds will provide a complete protein addition as well.

Add Your Fat

You need to add fat so you can absorb all those lovely nutrients in your raw foods. If you don't want to use the following dressing, simply add a splash of your fave oil like olive, avocado, macadamia or coconut oil, mix with some lemon juice, a crushed garlic clove and voila!

Creamy Avocado Dressing

This is enough dressing for 2 big salads.

Half a ripe medium avocado
1 dessertspoon of whole egg mayo (to make your own mayo, this is a fabulous recipe from Jo at Quirky Cooking)
1-2 garlic cloves crushed
2 tblspns of lemon juice

Mash the avo in a bowl, add other ingredients and stir well.

Dollop on top of your salad and mix through while eating!

So that's it, nice and simple!

Yours in Health,

Alisha x