January is an inspiring time of year to motivate change. Health Clubs are bustling, diets are beginning and for me, it is a time to reorganize. This year I decided to refresh my body as well as my surroundings so I am on a 6 day program to rid my body of potentially harmful impurities, while infusing it with essential vitamins, botanicals and other natural ingredients. I am following a program from a company called Isogenix. I have selected to do a 5 day program using their meal replacement shakes with one healthy meal per day and will be following that up with a one day cleanse. I can’t wait to see how great I feel afterward!
Today was my first day and I spent some time organizing ideas for the meals to have during the first five days. I had a beautiful assortment of citrus from my Talley Farms CSA box that inspired me to try one of the recipes from The San Luis Obispo Farmers Market Cookbook. It is a Winter Citrus Salad with Avocado, Almonds & Radish. I have adapted it for a smaller portion with ingredients I had on hand. It’s an incredibly wonderful, refreshing salad robust with natures colors and bright flavors.
For the citrus, I used beautiful winter specimens of lemon, lime, Satsuma tangerine, Blood orange and Pink grapefruit. This salad utilizes every part of the citrus including the zest, juice and fruit segments. The buttery flavor of the lettuce and the creamy avocado offer a nice balance for the citrus. The added crunch of the almonds and radishes add the finishing touch. It was the perfect end to my first day and left me feeling healthy and satisfied.
Citrus Salad
Serves 2
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 Meyer lemon
- 1/2 lime
- 1 tangerine or orange
- 1 blood orange
- 1 pink grapefruit
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 avocado, sliced
- baby lettuce greens
- 2 radishes, very finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon almonds, sliced
- To make the citrus vinaigrette, zest all of the citrus in a bowl with a microplane grater. Add the shallots and vinegar. Squeeze the juice of the lemons, lime and 1/2 of the tangerine, blood orange and grapefruit over the shallots. Let the shallots and citrus macerate for 10 minutes. Slowly drizzle the oils into the bowl while continuously whisking. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
- Cut the pith off of the other half of the grapefruit, tangerine and blood orange and slice them.
- To assemble the salad, lay the lettuce in the center of a platter and top with avocado slices, radishes and almonds. Arrange the citrus slices around the salad. Drizzle the citrus dressing over the lettuce. Pass some of the additional dressing if desired and reserve the rest for another salad.
- The original recipe included roasted beets. You can also add other items such as crumbled goat or feta cheese.
(click here) for printable recipe