Today's Salad: Berry Spinach with Cinnamon Hemp Dressing

Okay, I'll admit it, I am addicted to berries, spinach, and hemp protein. Aside from the fact that these are the healthiest foods on this planet, they do taste, oooh, so good. This morning I missed my usually fresh fruit salad, mostly because I got up at the crack of noon. (I'm blaming it on all the housework I did this week.) So my breakfast was at lunch and I only managed to drink my hemp and flax shake before I got too busy to remember to eat again. By then, my editor wanted to drop by so we could discuss business. By the time she left, would you look at the time? It's time for dinner already.

So I improvised, trying to get breakfast and lunch on my plate for dinner. Breakfast is usually a fresh raw fruit salad followed by a hemp protein and flax shake chaser. Lunch is always a raw salad, sometimes followed by miso soup and that's usually followed by a hemp shake or pot of delectable tea.

Being that I didn't get either of those meals in yet, I looked at the pile of spinach and eyed the fresh carton of strawberries in the fridge, their sweet scent wafting out every time I opened the door. (I am a strawberry hound, always have been. Strawberries are my most favorite food in the entire world, not kidding. I have eaten several pounds in one sitting.)

Anyway, back to my salad. I eyed the strawberries, the apple I missed this morning, and remembered the frozen blueberries. Then, I had a hankering for cinnamon and something sweet. This idea was born: Berry Spinach Salad with Hemp Cinnamon Dressing.

Salad:

One 8oz bag washed baby spinach

6 ounces fresh strawberries

1 cored apple (peeling is optional)

4 ounces mung bean sprouts

½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Dressing

¼ cup tahini

2 tablespoons 50% fiber hemp protein

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon cocoa powder (optional)

¼ cup filtered water

1 packet raw stevia

Mix all the dressing ingredients with a fork in a mug or deep bowl. It will thicken as it sets. It's high protein and slightly sweet, yet very low fat and carb.

1. Arrange spinach on a large platter.

2. Top with the chopped apple in one row.

3. Circle the apple with halved strawberries.

4. Top with mung bean sprouts.

5. Top with blueberries.

6. Drizzle with the dressing

This serves one or two people very nicely. All the ingredients of this salad are from the world's list of top foods to eat for good health. Is it just me, or aren't all the foods on the list very delicious, too? All I know is that this salad is very filling and quite delicious. It satisfied my sweet tooth and hunger. It is high in protein, antioxidants, and several key minerals and vitamins. Tahini is ground sesame seed paste and is quite bitter on its own, hence, it needs stevia. The tahini adds a nice tang to the hemp dressing, while the cinnamon makes it blend well with the fruit.