Winter salad with sourdough bread

This winter salad with sourdough bread is for those whose tums demand plenty of fibre all year round; that's all of us, with a tangy kefir-dressing.

We look to foods that don't just taste pretty good but will make sure that we also have happy tums. Gone are the days when we ate "tasty" meals and then sat up half the night groaning with indigestion; and next morning with a compacted colon.

One of the joys of sourdough bread is that it keeps so much longer and is perfect for a pan-fry; it also deals with the gluten issues that some of us may have. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it but you may have to learn how to bake a decent loaf; it's not difficult.

Ingredients

  1. 2 slices of stale sourdough bread
  2. A large handful of deveined-greens
  3. 1 whole lime
  4. Any green legumes in season
  5. A cup of your favourite herbs
  6. Half a cup of olive oil
  7. 1/4 cup kefir or buttermilk
  8. A handful of spring onions
  9. A handful of toasted-almonds
  10. Black olives
  11. Feta cheese

Go for it

  • 2 TBSP of olive oil into a large pan; when hot, gently fry the bread for five minutes, 2 more on the other side until golden-brown.
  • Stick-blend the peeled lime, garlic and kefir; add 2 TBSP olive oil and whisk further. S&P.
  • Blanche the chopped greens for a minute or two; add the peas. Mix well with the dressing.
  • Add the sliced spring-onions, almonds and olives. Sprinkle with the herbs.
  • Add chunks of the toasted sourdough, toss until well soaked in the dressing.
  • Toss chunks of feta and the olives on the salads.
Pan-fried toast.

Since we are gardeners every recipe is adapted to whatever is in season. In summer you could use a cucumber and instead of peas we often enjoy young podded fava-beans, simmered gently for about five minutes. Never remove their skins; without the fibre they become highly glycemic.

But in our mild winters it is kale, spinach and rocket most often. These are the greens that eaten daily keep us regular.

Did you know that a tablespoon of olive oil reduces heart disease by 18%; it's a medicine.

Ever since kefir fixed my severe 15 year belly-ache from a helicobacter infection that was threatening to give me an ulcer, we use it daily with our food. Antibiotic-resistant bugs are a serious issue in these times. The probiotic might be in a dressing like this winter salad with sourdough bread; more often than not in a smoothie.

This all raises a central issue. Do we eat food for function or for pleasure? Obviously one aims for both, but if I had to choose wellness would always come first; a moment on the lips but I have no desire to be saddled with poor health from a sweet tooth or a longing for refined bread.

Kale

Broad-leafed kale.

Kale is one of those dark-green leafy vegetables that is abhorred by many. Fresh young leaves are very delicious, but old and after sitting on the grocer's shelves for several days they become simply awful. It is not difficult to grow[3].

Whole grains

Blithely nutritionists admonish us to eat more whole grains, failing to mention just how difficult they are to acquire. The bread industry is founded on a big fat lie; millers are allowed to remove up to 51% of the goodies and still describe their product as complete and unrefined.

Eventually we realised that if we really wanted to enjoy old age without medication, pain and disability then our own mill was a non-negotiable; the 100% wholemeal at the top.

In the centre is a commercial "wholemeal" and below cake flour. Millers remove much of the bran, all of the important fatty acids and most of the vitamins; the minerals too.

100 percent wholemeal flour compared with refined grains.

Bake your own sourdough loaf; it takes only five minutes if you have a bread-machine.

Longevity

At the centre of this way of living is a belief that we either spend time growing and preparing wholesome food and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise, or far more consulting doctors and swallowing pills.

So far it's been a success; in the middle of our eighth decade neither of us take any drugs and have not consulted a medical doctor for over a year; and then only for benign skin lesions. In our early days we, like mad dogs and Englishmen[1], spent too much time in the midday sun without hats; plenty of vitamin D but lucky to have escaped the melanoma.

All of this is central to the longevity diet proposed by two eminent gerontologists after profound and long research[2].

Winter salad with sourdough bread

Winter salad with sourdough bread supplies whole grains and greens, both absolutely essential if we desire to enjoy good years in our dotage.

  1. Mad dogs and Englishmen
  2. Valter Longo longevity diet
  3. Everlasting kale

Newsletter

Our newsletter is entitled "create a cyan zone" at your home, preserving both yourself, the family and friends, and Mother Earth for future generations. We promise not to spam you with daily emails promoting various products. You may get an occasional nudge to buy one of my books!

Here are the back issues.

  • Refined maize meal and stunting
  • Should agriculture and industry get priority for water and electricity?
  • Nature is calling
  • Mill your own flour
  • Bake your own sourdough bread
  • Microplastics from our water
  • Alternative types of water storage
  • Wear your clothes out
  • Comfort foods
  • Create a bee-friendly environment
  • Go to bed slightly hungry
  • Keep bees
  • Blue zone folk are religious
  • Reduce plastic waste
  • Family is important
  • What can go in compost?
  • Grow broad beans for longevity
  • Harvest and store sunshine
  • Blue zone exercise
  • Harvest and store your rainwater
  • Create a cyan zone at your home

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