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How to Make the Perfect Summer Salad

Summertime is the time for salad—the possibilities are endless. 🌺🌱🍅 In the Virginia summers, greens grow in abundance, fruit starts popping off and there are edible flowers galore! It’s one of my favorite times of the year. ⁠

Of course Ayurveda suggests not over consuming raw food, but there are plenty of ways around this. Salads are appropriate in the hot summer months and if your digestive system is a little sluggish, you can always pair your greens with a cooked element or additional spices to support your specific needs. ⁠
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I love going to the farmer’s market in the summer and seeing what creations I can make with the various colors and shapes of the vegetables. Making food should feel like an art (of course it’s not always going to feel easy), but it is an act of creativity that can really serve you well. ⁠
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When it comes to making salads you can get really creative. Just simply think of what flavors and textures you love most and create a salad from that. For me, I love crunch, I love FAT and I love citrus. I usually end up making a big bowl of greens, some sort of seed sautéed in ghee, avocado, radishes and all of it topped with a lemon vinaigrette. I often will always add some sort of protein source. Grilled chicken, fried tempeh and hard boiled (farm fresh eggs) are all my favorite go-to forms of protein.

Here's How to Make my Perfect Summer Salad:

Salad Ingredients:

½ cup cooked quinoa
1 ½ cups summer greens (mix of your choice-diced)
1 tbsp lightly toasted pumpkin seeds
½ cup summer cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 handful of summer sprouts
Optional protein add ons: ¼ cup cooked chickpeas or grilled chicken

Dressing Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegan mayo
¼ cup fresh mint & parsley mix (diced)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Assemble all of your salad ingredients into a bowl (except the sprouts) organizing however you would like. Whisk dressing ingredients in a bowl using a fork (adding more or less apple cider vinegar depending on preference). Generously pour dressing over the salad. Garnish with fresh edible flowers and sprouts!

Enjoy! 🥬🌱🍅🌼

Ayurvedic Tips For Allergy Season

Two more of my fave supports for allergy season are quercetin (studies have shown that quercetin can prevent immune cells from releasing histamines which means runny nose, hives and swelling = bye bye 👋🏼) and Green Tea (‘cause it’s high in quercetin 😉). ⁠
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Ayurveda understands that allergies are the result of an outer allergen aggravating a specific dosha. ⁣⁠Seasonal allergies related to spring (and sometimes fall) are usually more kapha-related.⁣⁠
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In order to aid our kapha allergies, we have to heat things up, boost circulation, clear out the channels of the body and support our system’s natural cleansing pathways (think lymph flow, circulation, digestion and elimination!).⁣⁠

Here are some more of my favorite tips for allergy season:

Get a Neti Pot and use it daily! Add ¼ tsp salt to warm water and pour through both nostrils.
Follow your Neti Pot with Nasya Oil to lubricate your nostrils with herbal oil.
Scrape your tongue. Scraping your tongue helps to remove the ama that your body is cleansing through the night.
Dry Brush. Dry brushing boosts the lymphatic system–this helps the channels of the body circulate and eliminate toxins.
Drink your nettles. Nettles promote healthy circulation and activate the liver and kidneys.

And if you really want to get ahead of things, start doing some of these practices before allergy season hits to improve your overall immunity. 🌸⁠

P.S. Here’s how I make my nettles infusion: Brew a tea by combining 4 large tablespoons of dried nettles in a mason jar with boiling water - let steep for 1 hour and then strain! Enjoy! 🌿

Simple Spring Pea Soup

One of the keys to good digestion in Ayurveda is keeping things SIMPLE. Less complicated meals give our digestive fire a chance to rest and truly metabolize the fuel we’re feeding the fire. ⁠
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Peas are light, astringent and slightly drying—aka they help balance kapha’s natural heaviness and tendency to hold onto all the things (mucus, water, emotional clutter... you name it). Plus, they're packed with protein and fiber without being overly dense.⁠
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On top of that, soup is basically kapha’s best friend. It’s warm, light AND easy to digest. Broth and veggie-based soups are the perfect go-to option for spring dinners that aren’t too heavy! Enjoy! 🌿

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons sunflower or olive oil
4 spring onions, finely minced
1 leek, chopped
1 cup vegetable or chicken stock
1½ cups fresh peas, shelled
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small saucepan, sauté the spring onions and leek over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, until translucent. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook until bright green and slightly tender. (This depends on their size, but should only take a few moments.)

Using a blender, purée the soup until very smooth. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil on top or add a dab of yogurt for garnish. Serve warm or chilled.

How to Dry Brush the Ayurvedic Way

Why Dry Brush?

Dry Brushing (traditionally called garshana) helps move stagnation, stimulates Rasa Dhatu’s flow, boosts our natural detoxification system and gives the skin that GLOW we all want! 🌟⁠
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In Ayurveda, our lymph is part of the Rasa Dhatu, one of the 7 tissues of the body.⁠
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The lymph and blood plasma serve as the first line of immune defense when we encounter allergens and bacteria. Not only does the lymphatic system serve as immune defense, it also serves as psycho-emotional defense (AKA how easily we can let things roll off us, rather than deeply penetrate and wound us, on an emotional level). 🫀⁠
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Unlike your blood, which is pumped throughout your body by your heart, your lymph relies on your body’s valve system to move, functioning more like a manual pumping system. This is where practices like dry brushing and Abhyanga come in - they help literally “pump” the lymph! 💪🏽⁠
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Brush Towards the Heart

It's best to use a dry brush on dry skin before you take a bath or shower. Start at your feet and work your way upwards. Brush in a circular motion always in the direction of your heart. This will help increase blood flow throughout the body.

Follow Up with Moisture

Try to brush for at least 3 minutes working your way up to 5 minutes. After showering, make sure to lather yourself in some kind of amazing moisturizer or use your dry brush right before you Abhyanga, allowing the oil to be deeply absorbed into your revived skin.

Spring is an amazing time for dry brushing, boosting your body’s natural detoxification system and even giving you a freshened-up, more vigorous outlook on life. 😉

Beet & Chickpea Hummus

To further support you during this kapha season, I want to offer up one of my go-to recipes for one of my favorite grounding veggies: the beet! ⁠
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Beets are loaded with health benefits and when I eat them regularly I feel like I have some sort of super strength. ⁠
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Their rich color is a key indicator of their richness in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory effects on the body. ⁠
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In Ayurveda, beets can be eaten in abundance by all doshas as long as they are prepared appropriately. Vata & pitta individuals can tolerate cooked beets more so than kapha. If you are prone to have more kapha, try adding a little extra mustard seed and black pepper to your beets. ⁠
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Other benefits of beets include: ⁠
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🫜 Improves circulation ⁠
⁠🫜 Supports healthy skin⁠
⁠🫜 High in iron ⁠
⁠🫜 Good for liver detoxification ⁠
⁠🫜 Cleanses the blood ⁠
⁠🫜 Good for the brain ⁠
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I love making all sorts of dishes with beets. I’ve added beets to chocolate cakes, roasted them for salads, hummus and dressings, and have even added them to smoothies. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the beet! ⁠

Now let's get into the recipe:

Ingredients:

1-2 beets (already roasted or boiled)
1 can of chickpeas drained (or you can use 1 cup freshly cooked/drained chickpeas)
1 juiced lemon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 large cloves garlic
3 Tbsp tahini (if you’re looking for an even more kapha-friendly version, you can use sunflower seed butter)
¼ water
Olive oil for topping

Directions:

Add all the ingredients to a food processor (except for the olive oil). Blend until smooth (you may need to add more water to reach the desired consistency).
Top with a drizzle of olive oil, a little parsley or some sesame seeds!⁠

Save this recipe for the next time you need to spice up your dinner rotation or add some color to your plate. 😉🫜🌺🌿

Rose + Mint Sun Tea

For this recipe, just let the sun do the steeping. 🌞 Steep dried rose petals and fresh mint in a glass jar under direct sunlight for a few hours. (No need to measure perfectly - just add what you’ve got on hand!) Sip room temperature or slightly chilled throughout the day to stay hydrated and soothe Pitta. What do you get? A cooling, heart-opening, Pitta-pacifying potion that’s as beautiful as it is nourishing.⁠
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Here’s a little bit about how these plant allies help support us during the warmer months of the year…⁠
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🌹 Rose - The ultimate flower of the Divine Feminine:⁠
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• Cools the heat of both the body and our emotions (hi, Pitta spiciness 😅)⁠
• Soothes the heart and uplifts mood with its subtle, floral sweetness⁠
• Some studies have demonstrated that rose also has the potential to support the reproductive and nervous systems, and even impact dopamine levels⁠
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🌿 Mint - The crisp, clarifying herb we all need in summer:⁠
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• Helps to clear excess heat and inflammation from the gut and skin⁠
• Stimulates digestion without aggravating Pitta (exactly what we want!)⁠
• Awakens the mind while calming overactive fire in the head + heart 🔥⁠

Sip this floral elixir all day long to stay hydrated, radiant and keep your Pitta chilled out. Your inner fire goddess will thank you. 🧘🏼‍♀️

Homemade Coconut Yogurt

Coconut Yogurt is so delicious and easy to make. It is one of my favorite things to top onto mung daal (if using for savory dishes, exclude the vanilla and maple syrup) or to eat with berries and nuts! Plus, it helps keep the digestive system in check. I especially love it around the early spring/summer months. ⁠
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Add coconut milk, probiotic capsules, vanilla bean and maple syrup to your shopping list—it’s the perfect time to make this cool, sweet recipe! 🥄

Ingredients:

1 14-ounce can of full fat coconut milk or 1 can of heavy coconut whipping cream
2 capsules of your favorite probiotics
1 tbsp vanilla bean powder
1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
Dash of sea salt

Instructions:

Add the coconut milk to a food processor or blender and blend until it is all one consistency. Pour into a glass jar.
Empty your probiotic capsules into the yogurt and stir until smooth.
Cover the jar with a cheesecloth and a rubber band to secure.
Let the yogurt sit on your countertop for at least 24 hours (up to 48 hours is okay).
Once the yogurt has reached a thick consistency, add the remaining ingredients and store in the refrigerator. Yogurt will get thicker while it is in the refrigerator as well.

Butternut Squash and Roasted Apple Soup

This has to be one of my all time favorite soups to make around the fall/winter season. It’s an absolutely perfect combination of flavors: savory, sweet, and a tiny bit of spice. And it’s creamy texture makes me feel like I'm being draped in a warm cozy blanket! If this sounds like too much for a soup to live up to, believe me, it’s not. You must try it!

In Ayurveda, we love talking about food flavor combinations. As many of you reading this may know already, Fall and Winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) tend to have a more drying and cooling effect on the body. This can often affect our sleeping patterns, the quality of our skin, and possibly throw our digestion off. This soup will help to target all of your autumnal needs. With the sweetness of the butternut and apple and the spiciness of the ginger and cayenne, you will feel warm and nourished in no time.

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash
1 medium sized carrot
1 medium sized turnip
2-4 tablespoons ghee
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 apples (local if possible)
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic cloves (whole)
1 tbsp minced ginger
4 cups vegetable stock or bone broth
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Directions:

Start by cutting your butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chop the apples, carrot, turnip and the onion (no need to cut them too small) and add them to the baking sheet. Cover everything generously with the spices (except the fresh ginger and rosemary) and the whole garlic cloves.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 420 degrees.

Add all the ingredients and the ginger to a food processor and blend on high until smooth.

For Serving:

Heat a small amount of ghee in a pan with pumpkin seeds, a dash of cinnamon, and rosemary until lightly toasted. Top with your soup and serve with crusty sourdough bread! 🧡🥖

How to Make the Perfect Summer Salad

Ayurvedic Tips For Allergy Season

Simple Spring Pea Soup

How to Dry Brush the Ayurvedic Way

Beet & Chickpea Hummus

Rose + Mint Sun Tea

Homemade Coconut Yogurt

Butternut Squash and Roasted Apple Soup

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