Visual beauty, color, hearty flavors, tastes, and textures come together to make a delicious salad bursting with nutrition. Protein rich sprouted sunflower seeds mingle with pungent red bell peppers in a yummy sauce of toasted sesame oil, garlic, and miso. This is served over a bed of fresh spinach (or your favorite greens), zucchini pasta, sweet cherry tomatoes, and a slice or two of avocado.

I took this photo of the salad atop a table runner that we bought from one of our favorite local textile artists, Margot Bianca who we often see at our farmers market. We enjoy chatting with Margot and we shared our recipe with her which she thought sounded delicious... and it is!

Ingredients: serves 2
3-4 cups spinach, chopped
2 cups zucchini pasta
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, soaked 2 hours (or overnight)
1/3 cup red bell pepper, diced
Avocado slices
Cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon South River Aduki Bean Miso (or your favorite)
1 clove garlic, pressed
Balsamic vinegar

Directions
Soak sunflower seeds, rinse, and drain well. Transfer to a bowl.
Dice red bell pepper and add to sunflower seeds.
In a separate bowl, mix sesame oil, miso, and garlic.
Spoon over sunflower seeds and bell pepper and mix to evenly coat.
Prepare spinach and zucchini pasta. Start with a layer of spinach, then add the pasta.
Spoon on sunflower seed and bell pepper mix.
Top with avocado slices and cherry tomatoes.
Drizzle on a little balsamic vinegar.

I keep coming back to this quote from my book, Temple Food: "To seek and find the perfect diet is to know oneself. This search is an exploration of the deepest roots in the garden of our being. Food. Love. Life. Such small words with enormous implications, applications, and practices—words that are often intertwined and synonymous with how they make us feel."

For me, eating and consciousness go hand in hand, and discovering the best foods for my body is a beautiful process and experience with results that can show up within a few days or even hours. It has so much to do with getting to know who I am at my core level, and what drives me to take certain actions. Each day can be a learning process, and I've found there's no one way to eat all the time because my body always feels a little different each day, with different nutritional needs. Each meal builds upon the previous one, and if I choose the very best foods the accumulative effect can be a stunning surprise. Since everything is linked together in a glorious connection, what I choose to eat has an immediate effect in my body.

Working with this inner process has the benefit of revealing areas of weakness, as well as bringing out the very best within me. This is always what I want to share with you. Our higher selves will lead and guide us to that which is for our good. The positive aspects of life work together through states of harmony, compassion, awareness, and love.

Coming Next: The Healing Feast Five year anniversary celebration, and a very special announcement about the 2nd edition, expanded version (over a hundred recipes!) of Temple Food. Stay tuned!