Simple Lemon Tahini Dressing
Happy Halloween, lovely friends! Wishing you a joyous start to the winter holiday season. As we enter this year’s festivities, beginning with all the fun of Halloween, I would like to gently encourage you to up your veg game. I’m not here to take away your candy. I like the trick or treat cauldron as much as the next gal. I am simply reminding you that alongside your decadent holiday treats, you might also want to focus on piling your plate with nutrient-rich plant foods. As most of us will gain a few pounds during the winter holiday season, starting with tonight’s Halloween candy and ending with a New Year’s feast, a focus on filling your plate with abundant and tasty veggies will help to offset this year’s winter weight gain. More importantly, eating abundant plants will flood your system with nutrients and help you to stay healthy during what is predicted to be a particularly nasty winter trifecta of Covid, Flu, and RSV.
But how do you make your veggies taste amazing without drowning them in cheese or dousing them with store-bought dressings filled with unhealthy fats and emulsifiers? My go-to is a Simple Lemon-Tahini Dressing. I shared this recipe early on, but it is worth repeating because it is so easy to make, it’s scrumptious, and it is brimming with nutrients. The tahini adds protein, antioxidants, heart-healthy poly-unsaturated fats, and it has recently been shown to improve cardiovascular health markers. www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(22)00393-8/fulltext The lemon juice adds vitamin C, which increases the absorption of non-heme iron found in foods like leafy greens. When combined, these two simple ingredients improve the nutrient density of any dish they touch. I use this dressing on everything from roasted veggies, to salads, to grain bowls.
SIMPLE LEMON TAHINI DRESSING
Mix:
¼ cup of tahini (Joyva is my favorite, but any brand containing only roasted sesame seeds will do nicely.)
¼ cup of lemon juice
A pinch of salt
Cold water, added by the TBS until the dressing is smooth
You can add a little maple syrup if you like more sweetness, or a little sriracha to spice things up, or a splash of tamari for extra umami, or try garlic or fresh herbs. Add in whatever makes you happy.
Here, I have used it on oven-roasted butternut squash and red onion, with toasted pine nuts and Za’atar seasoning. This combo is unbelievably tasty!
Or try it on roasted kabocha pumpkin, zucchini, and shiitake mushrooms, with toasted pine nuts and Za’atar.
If you don't have time to roast veg in the oven, simply water-sauté some greens in pan (no oil is needed), then add a little sauce and a few nuts. Here, I used rainbow chard.
If you prefer salads, simply toss some veg, fruit, and nuts in a bowl, and then top your salad with the tahini dressing. Here, I used it on a spinach salad with dates, almonds, baked pita cubes, lemon juice, and sumac.
It was also tasty on a salad of leftover couscous, butter lettuce, asian pear, dried apricots, and pistachios. I added a little maple syrup for increased sweetness.
You get the idea. As we kick-off the holiday season with tonight’s spooky adventures, I encourage you to also jump-start your holiday health game by filling your plates with veggies at every meal. Roast them, sauté them, eat them raw, add fruit, nuts, seeds, legumes, and a great simple sauce. Maximizing the whole plant foods on your plate will improve your chances of staying well this winter, reduce the likelihood of unwanted winter weight gain, and help to optimize your brain health and microbiome richness. So, enjoy your candy, but also eat your veg!
Wishing you a safe and healthy start to the holiday season! 🌱🎃