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Brussels sprouts salad with pear, apricot, almonds and spiced-maple dressing

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Slaw with Maple-Spiced Dressing

This salad, which helps balance blood sugar and reduce overall inflammation, highlights nutritionally impressive but under-appreciated Brussels sprouts. If you find cooked Brussels sprouts smell strong, even smelly—you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that Brussels sprouts are sweet when enjoyed raw. You’ll also get plenty of vitamin K and C this way! Cruciferous vegetables like Brussels sprouts are also high in fibre, which helps our bodies shuttle out any excess estrogen that may be hiding out.

Ingredients

For the salad

  • ½ cup raw almonds or other nut of your choice
  • 1 lb . of fresh Brussels sprouts
  • 1 large preferably organic, ripe pear
  • ¼ cup dried apricots preferably organic

For the dressing

  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • ¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 ½ teaspoons maple syrup or omit, honey or 2-3 drops plain, liquid stevia
  • ½ teaspoon ground cayenne this dressing is noticeably spicy; you can reduce this to 1/4 teaspoon if you don’t like spicy dishes
  • ¾ teaspoon Celtic or other unrefined sea salt
  • 6 tablespoons high-quality olive oil or you can substitutive any oil you like, such as pumpkin seed, hemp, flax, walnut, coconut, etc. Please avoid “vegetable” oil, canola and sunflower oils though, which are high in omega-6 fatty acids, because we want to minimize these as much as possible in our diets

Instructions

  1. Place almonds in a bowl and cover with warm water to soak. Soaking our nuts and seeds helps increase their digestibility and makes it easier for our bodies to absorb their nutrients.
  2. Wash your Brussels sprouts and trim the ends. Using a food processor, mandolin or sharp knife, slice the Brussels sprouts finely. Note: If you use a food processor, you can use either the “fine slice” or “shred” discs; I prefer the fine slice (on my machine, this seems to shave the Brussels sprouts perfectly). If you use a knife, cut the Brussels sprouts as thinly as possible and if using a mandolin, follow the same advice and be sure to watch your fingers! I haven’t tried this myself, but you could also try grating the Brussels sprouts with a box grater. If you do, let me know how it worked! Add the Brussels sprouts to a large serving bowl.
  3. Core the pear, slice thinly and chop into 1-inch pieces. Chop the apricots into small pieces. Add the pear and the apricots to the bowl.
  4. Drain and rinse the almonds. Roughly chop them and add them to a saucepan. Over low-medium heat, toast the almonds, stirring frequently, for 3-5 minutes or until dry and fragrant. Try not to rush this—burnt nuts are the worst! Add the toasted nuts to the serving bowl.
  5. To make the dressing, whisk the vinegar with the spices and salt in a small bowl. Once the spices are well incorporated, add in the olive or other oil of your choosing and whisk again. I recommend this because salt and spices distribute better though vinegar or water than oil, so preparing the dressing this way helps properly season it. However, you can also just mix everything together and it’ll still taste great!
  6. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Because Brussels sprouts are so hardy, this salad keeps well in the fridge for several days.