Raw Appétit, Raw Food Recipes & Info by Angela Salvucci

Salad is what’s for dinner several times a week. And it is frequently what’s for lunch, just about every day. Once I’m comfortably situated in front of my trough of tasty greens, I am usually pretty happy, but sometimes the thought of first of all making, and then sitting down to ANOTHER salad makes me want to run in the direction of Chinese takeout (I kid!).

A lot of the time I try to keep it very simple, especially with dressing (salt and pepper, oil & vinegar or lemon, thrown right on top of the salad before I toss it) but, again, it gets a little boring, and you can start to feel like a bunny.

If your nose is starting to twitch like mine is, here’s a cool way to have a little fun with your salad toppings, making the whole thing feel a little more special than just feeding time.

Last night, I found myself in a typical situation of having several items that I wanted to use before they passed their prime…several very ripe avocados, a red bell pepper, some celery that was turning a little floppy.

I whipped up Alissa Cohen’s salmon pate recipe from Living on Live Food, which consists of 2 cups of walnuts, one red pepper, two stalks of celery, a scallion, and ¼-1 tsp of salt, blended til smooth in the food processor. I didn’t have a scallion so I used a few tablespoons of onion, and it came out just fine.

Here’s where I got creative: I used a large tumbler lined completely with plastic wrap (make sure it sticks out over the top of the glass) and layered halved cherry and teardrop tomatoes, ¼ cup of salmon, ¼ cup of avocado, and repeated it, and then inverted the glass onto a plate, and carefully lifted the glass, and removed the plastic wrap. And voila! A nifty layered tower of salad goodies! I surrounded it with a whole lot of greens (dressed with a “fancy” dressing, by my standards – juice of one lemon, 1/3 cup olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons fresh basil, and salt and pepper, all processed together). This would make a pretty salad if you were having mom or a girlfriend over for lunch…and the possibilities are infinite! You could use guacamole, a nut cheese, chopped olives or tapenade, mango or other fruits…raw appétit!