Have you ever side-eyed the question of how to boost up the nutritional value of your food?

I am always asking that question. Or, well, something along those lines, anyway.

How can I eat better, with better meaning more aligned with the body's needs – and not just the body's! How can I best support mind and Self and the evolution of consciousness by what I consume? How can I adjust my diet in a way that works even better?

It does help that I am naturally curious and passionate about food as well.

If you would also like some answers to those questions, but have so much else going on, internally and externally, that this is low on your list of priorities – here's some ideas from my practice.

You may remember Open's sharing a while back of the 3 Day Reset, and in particular the recipes for a salad and dressing. If not, well, I'm going to share some of it, anyway. (But do head over and have a read, it might inspire you differently than it did me. More aligned for what you need!)

So, after reading the recipe, especially for the nutri paste/salad dressing, of course I had to give it a try! It turned out pretty awesome, and in combination with the salad I made – slightly different ingredients though I used – it was delicious. Better than expected, if I am allowed to say so. ;-)

Most fascinating to observe: Eating this, the cravings went away. All of them. There was a calm, settled feeling in the physical that spoke of, well – being not simply full, but fulfilled.

You can bet I didn't stop there! And of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't go, “Okay, that was awesome, now what if I changed this …?”

Here's two examples of my explorations:

First, we start with what I could not resist calling the

1-2-3, Crunch with Me Salad

For the salad, I used:

1 beetroot

2 carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 jar/can of cooked chickpeas

The dressing combined one of my all-time favourite dressings, used in the past for bean salads, and aspects of the “rocket booster”. Here's the whole long list of ingredients:

4 tablespoons cashew butter

3 tablespoons tamari

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons ginger juice (or a big chunk of ginger, grated)

1 tablespoon chilli oil (you won't really taste it, except if you use super-hot chilli oil)

1 clove of garlic, grated

½ lemon juiced

5 tablespoons finely ground oats

1 tablespoon maca powder

1 tablespoon baobab powder (optional, I'm adding it because I still have so much left ...)

1 heaped tablespoon protein powder aka finely ground sunflower and pumpkin seeds

1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast

turmeric & pepper

water

Don't let that list deter you! I promise, it is well worth the kitchen alchemy!

How to make the salad:

1. You begin by washing your veggies; if they organic, no need to peel carrots or beetroot!

2. Then grate beetroot and carrots, and dice the celery stalks.

3. Throw into a salad bowl, add the drained and rinsed chickpeas.

4. Mix all dressing ingredients in a jug or blender. I use a stick blender, so they all go into the jug

5. Add water – how much depends on your preferred consistency. I start with just enough to cover everything in the jug, and then add more as needed.

6. Give everything a good whirrrrrr until blended together and creamy.

7. Pour dressing over salad and mix well

This keeps very well in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days. Don't panic if on the second day the whole things looks a bit … meh and uninviting. Simply give it a stir, so that the dressing coats the veggies, and you're good to go.

Seriously. Give this a try. It's so incredibly delicious, I kept eating way too much!

And yes, you can totally use different veggies. These were just the ones I had on hand. But I would recommend including either carrot or beetroot. Hmmm, now I'm thinking, how about carrots and red cabbage and black beans …

Ahem. Sorry.

Second version, I'm calling the Super-Cheeze Dip and Sauce

It combines my go-to cheeze sauce and the second half of the above-listed dressing ingredients. So, in total

500g or four potatoes

375ml plant-based milk

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 clove of garlic

salt

(and a teaspoon of chilli paste, for the fun of it; totally optional!)

5 tablespoons finely ground oats

1 tablespoon maca powder

1 tablespoon baobab powder (optional, I'm adding it because I still have so much left ...)

1 heaped tablespoon protein powder aka finely ground sunflower and pumpkin seeds

1 heaped tablespoon nutritional yeast

turmeric & pepper

water

Here's how you make it:

1. Wash your potatoes – peeling only required if not organic – and chop into small pieces. Put in a pot, cover with water, add some salt, and cook until soft, about 12 minutes.

2. Drain potatoes, add all ingredients for the dressing in the pot (if you use a stick blender) or a jug blender/food processor.

3. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr until all blended well together, and there are no hidden potato lumps left. This might take a while.

4. Done!

This makes a somewhat thicker sauce that is awesome to use for dipping veggies into – here I'm using raw carrots and celery sticks and oven-baked pumpkin slices and sweet potato. If your dip is still a little hot, it's even better!

This can also be used as a sauce for, well, anything, probably – pasta, cooked veggies, a proper dressing for salads … You will need more milk though (or water), to make it a little more pourable.

I found this, especially together with the veggies, to be very grounding and calming food. Like, if your nervous system has been in red alert for hours and everything makes you either angry or wanting to cry – the crunch of the raw veggies, the warmth of the cooked ones, and the density of the dip/sauce/dressing work well to soothe and calm.

Healthier than devouring a whole bag of potato crisps, too. ;-)

And if you have a little dip left over, and then stir some more non-ground oats into it, you can, potentially, make little fritters/cakes – or what we in Germany would call “Frikadellen”...

I highly recommend exploring along those lines yourself. It is really amazing how you can boost up the nutritional value of a simple salad dressing or sauce ~ and give yourself that really nice feeling of being sated ~ not over-full, simply complete.