A Life in Balance

Having read Becoming Whole a book written by Meg Wolff documenting her battle with Cancer, I was in awe of Meg's tenacity to overcome her illness and her journey using the Macrobiotic Diet as a Healing tool to support her recovery. 
Meg has blessed us with a new book titled, A Life in Balance: delicious Plant Based recipes for Optimal Health. This book is chock full of recipes from some of Meg's favorite restaurants such as Rosti for One from VBites, Heather Mills Restaurant in the UK; Tempeh Hash from The Good Egg Cafe in Portland, Maine and Masao's Blueberry Cake from Masao's Kitchen in Waltham, Massachusetts. 

Meg shares Breakfast Ideas like Big Treat Waffles; Soups like Cannellini Bean, and a  Basic Miso Soup which is perfection! There is a recipe for Poached Pears with Ginger Almond Cream that is, well, Divinity! There are tips on Sea Vegetables, Cutting Techniques, Family Reactions to Diet Change and much more.
I have chosen two of Meg's Salad Recipes to share with you. The first recipe was created by Meg's Daughter Cammie who is studying at The Natural Gourmet cooking school in New York City. I Love it because it is simple, elegant and unexpected! The second recipe is a Salad of Fennel and Orange, and with my Italian Heritage how could I resist!


Strawberry Shiitake Salad
Ingredients:
1 Head of Romaine Lettuce torn into bite size pieces
A few Handfuls of Baby Spinach
1 pint of Fresh Organic Strawberries thinly sliced
10 Shiitake Mushrooms stems removed and thinly sliced
3 Tbl of Olive or Sunflower Oil
4 tsp of Golden Balsamic Vinegar
Pinch of Sea Salt or a few drops of Shoyu/Soy Sauce
Mix all Ingredients in a Bowl and Toss
Enjoy!


Salade de fenouil à l'Orange
Ingredients:
2 Fennel Bulb
1 Tbl of Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 Orange
6 Tbl of cold-pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbl of FreshlySqueezed Orange Juice
1/2 Tbl of Rice Syrup or Honey
Fleur de Sel or Regular Sea Salt to taste
Freshly Ground Pepper to taste
1 Tbl Dill 
5 Mint Leaves


Method:
Remove Stalks from Fennel Bulbs, cut in half and core
Slice Bulb as thin as possible, use a Mandoline if you have one
Place in Bowl, add Lemon juice and toss to coat
Grate the Zest of half of the Orange avoiding the Pith add to Bowl
Slice off top and bottom of the Orange to stabilize on Cutting Board, slice around to remove skin exposing flesh
Cut along side the Membrane to remove segments
Add segments to Fennel
Squeeze out any remaining Juice from the left over Membrane onto the Fennel and Orange segments
To make the dressing in a separate bowl, whisk Olive Oil with the 2Tbl of Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, add  Honey or Rice Syrup 
Add to Salad and sprinkle with Fleur de Sel and Freshly ground Pepper and Toss
Sprinkle with chopped Fresh Dill and Mint
Enjoy!


This is just a glimpse of the Meg's vegan recipe selection from, A Life in Balance: Delicious Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health, distributed by Down East Publishers. 
If you can't find it at your local bookshop, they will order it for you. You can also find it at Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes and Noble. Get your hands on a copy today, you will not be disappointed! 

Visit Meg at: www.megwolff.com and read Meg's story in her Independent Publisher Award Winning Book: Becoming Whole, the story of my complete recovery from Brest Cancer