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Savoy cabbage beautifully chopped and dressed in an apple cider tahini dressing. This salad has all the digestive gut-healing properties you need to start off the month!

Now that it is the start of the new year, it is time to keep clearing out the clutter from all those holiday cookies! That means getting back to refreshing salads and more recipes with whole food based ingredients. See ya later carbs!

As I strolled through our local market looking for fruit for an upcoming smoothie recipe, I came across the most beautiful savoy cabbage. The color was so vibrant with beautifully crinkled leaves just begging to be used in a recipe! Up into my hand the cabbage went with a big sniff then directly into the plastic baggie nearby. Meanwhile, my 2 year old is husking fresh corn and eating it raw in the back of the shopping cart. What shall we make with the gorgeous little savory cabbage green? Only it was not green, its purple!

For this recipe you could use either green or purple color or even your favorite leafy green vegetable of choice. Because the heart of this salad comes down to the dressing. A good salad is only at its best thanks to how it is dressed (all pun intended!).

Who would have thought there are so many types of cabbage?! Savoy purple cabbage being a new one I recently started working with in the kitchen. Usually I use traditional green cabbage or red cabbage for salads, taco salads, cabbage soup, and even sauteed with onions with melted cheese on top for tacos. Cabbage is so cheap to buy and wildly healthy to eat! It cleans the gut and intestines. So be aware, it does cause a bit of gas for those with trouble starting out healing their digestive system:-)

If you are afraid of how to eat this chunky salad…. throw it into a big bowl and chop it up super fine! I love the way these pictures look but to really eat it you have got to chop it into small bits to mix all the ingredients together. Then go ahead and dip it that tasty lemony dressing and enjoy!

Savoy cabbage is similar to green cabbage and is deep green and richly crinkled. The leaves are tender when raw yet they are usually used in soups and stir-fries. Consuming raw vegetables is the most nutritional way to eat vegetables. The vitamins and minerals are not depleted from because they are not cooked. But I would love to try these savoy purple cabbage greens lightly tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted into cabbage chips!

Health benefits of savoy cabbage:

Its fantastic for skin, hair and nails! It removes toxins from the body and contains ‘indole-3-carbonile’, a powerful antioxidant.
It is part of the brassica family which also includes broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts. These vegetables are rich in vitamins, iron, and potassium.
Assists in weight loss because about 1 cup of cabbage contains 33 calories and since it is full of fiber fills you up!
Are you super sore after a workout? Time to eat cabbage! Cabbage helps to aid sore muscles as it releases lactic acid (the build-up is what makes muscles ache).

I could eat cabbage like all of the time! Especially after knowing there are hardly any calories and I would stay full for hours. And this dressing… wow this dressing!

It is a tahini dressing made with real apples, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast and dill and mint for flavor. To some nutritional yeast may sound like a scary ingredient. But it can be online or at specialty stores and is the flavor that makes this dressing so good. Plus nutritional yeast is packed with lots of energizing B vitamins.