Chicken, Sweet Potato and Kale Salad. Photo by: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
What happens when something you used to love is no longer good for you? Rachel Riggs found out the hard way. Her medical journey and its relation to her diet are what led to Riggs’s debut cookbook, “In Good Health.”
“I was a specialty food shop owner, had all the best ingredients at my fingertips, and then I got suddenly ill with something unexplained,” Riggs said. She finally found answers to what was ailing her: multiple chronic conditions, including chronic fatigue, that have left her mostly housebound for the past 12 years. Her quest to find solutions led to an elimination diet at the suggestion of an integrative medicine doctor. “At the beginning, I thought, well, I’ve got this, right? Like, I know my way around the kitchen.”
Unfortunately, the process was much more difficult than she’d imagined. It involved stripping down to a bare-bones diet, then reintroducing items one at a time to see how her body responded. The tricky thing is that sometimes her reactions are not as immediate or obvious compared with someone like me with a fish allergy, where I almost instantaneously start to feel itchy if I accidentally consume it. “They might not be overt, and they might be delayed,” Riggs said. “I might get a rash, or I might actually have brain fog. … Before I changed my diet and figured it all out, there was a time I could barely spell my own name.” At times, it can also come down to quantity or frequency of consumption.
Roasted sweet potatoes and red onion can be prepared whenever you have the energy so that the salad only needs to be assembled come dinnertime. Photo credit: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
Ultimately, Riggs found that cutting out gluten, grains and pseudo-grains, dairy, soy, nightshades (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and potatoes), legumes, squash, spinach, shellfish, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, cashews, and peanuts worked best for her, which is reflected in the recipes in her cookbook.
She didn’t set out to write one, but none of the resources she found spoke to her. “I started developing recipes simply to feed myself and my husband in a way that didn’t feel punitive,” Riggs said. Over time, she accumulated a collection for every meal and occasion so that she could share with the world the same kind of resource she was looking for when she began her journey.
The recipes in the book are built on seasonal produce, nutritional powerhouses and her love of chocolate. She thought through the first dishes in bed, “knowing that when I went into the kitchen that I only had a few minutes to make it happen because I was that sick,” Riggs said. With efficiency in mind, she includes recipes for vegetable mashes in which the produce is simmered with coconut milk, then blended right in the pot instead of the traditional method with mashed potatoes that involves a colander and draining the cooking liquid (and some nutrients).
There are also recipes, such as this Chicken, Sweet Potato and Kale Salad, where the various components can be prepared whenever you have the energy to do so (a.k.a. meal prepped) and quickly assembled at mealtime. The nature of the dish also makes it prime for customizing to your own dietary needs, such as swapping out the walnuts for seeds if you’re allergic, or using tofu or cooked beans if you’re vegetarian.
Riggs is a fan of cooking proteins and storing them in the freezer, which in the case of this salad means that the chicken simply needs to thaw. (“Always have protein in the freezer. Especially for a day where I’m super low-functioning, where I just gotta essentially slam something on a plate. Like, I’m not okay, but I have to eat.”) The maple-ginger vinaigrette can be combined and the sweet potatoes and red onions roasted days in advance. There are also toasted walnuts for crunch, which can be stored at room temperature for up to two weeks or in the freezer for even longer. Lastly, Riggs calls for baby kale instead of the mature variety to eliminate the need for stripping leaves and massaging them, and the greens can be washed in the morning so they’re ready come dinnertime.
The salad is “really ginger-forward. It’s bright. It’s got all the fall flavors,” Riggs said. “We love it.”
Though she has some answers, the road ahead is not smooth. “Sadly, I’m still figuring things out because one of the things I have, which is called mast cell activation syndrome, is very fluid. So I am constantly having to refine my practices and cut things out,” she said. “The kind of immune situation that I have, I can be essentially allergic - it’s not a traditional allergy - to anything at any time.”
Her ability to endure comes down to the idea of radical acceptance. “For years, I thought that when we figured out what was wrong with me, we would fix it,” Riggs said. “And [I had to come] to the realization that that is not true and that my life is going to happen primarily indoors. I just cannot be pining away for something that isn’t going to be.” Thankfully, she has cooking to help get her through. “My kitchen is my sanctuary.”
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Chicken, Sweet Potato and Kale Salad
This hearty kale salad is filled with roasted sweet potatoes and red onions, shredded chicken breasts, and toasted walnuts. It's dressed with a maple-syrup-sweetened vinaigrette that packs a nice punch from ginger and garlic. (Use any leftover vinaigrette to flavor lean proteins, roasted vegetables or additional salads.) The recipe comes from an allergy-friendly cookbook, "In Good Health" by Rachel Riggs, and can easily be adapted to suit a number of dietary needs.
Servings: 4 (makes 10 cups)
Active time: 15 minutes. Total time: 40 minutes.
Substitutions: Red onion >> yellow or white onion, or shallot. Chicken breast >> chicken dark meat or beans. Baby kale >> arugula, baby spinach or other salad greens. Walnuts >> almonds, pecans, or other nuts or seeds. Unseasoned rice vinegar >> white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Maple syrup >> honey or agave.
Make ahead: The sweet potatoes and onion can be roasted and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Storage: Refrigerate the vinaigrette for up to 4 days.
INGREDIENTS
For the salad:
2 medium sweet potatoes (1 pound total), scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 small red onion (3 1/2 ounces), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed
1 pound cooked chicken breast, shredded (3 cups)
One (4-to-5-ounce) package baby kale
3/4 cup toasted walnut halves, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
For the maple-ginger vinaigrette:
1 garlic clove, minced or finely grated
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons minced or finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Roast the sweet potatoes and onion: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
Add the sweet potatoes and onion to the prepared sheet pan, drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with the salt, toss to combine, and spread the vegetables in an even layer. Roast for 20 minutes, then stir the vegetables and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and start to brown.
Make the maple-ginger vinaigrette: In a 2-cup Mason jar, combine the garlic, oil, vinegar, maple syrup, ginger, salt and pepper, and shake until an emulsified dressing forms. (Alternatively, combine the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to incorporate.) You should have about 3/4 cup.
Assemble the salad: In a large bowl, gently toss together the roasted sweet potatoes and onion, chicken, kale, walnuts, and half of the dressing. Taste, and add more vinaigrette, a little at a time, until the salad is dressed to your liking. Taste again, and season with more salt and pepper, as desired. Divide among shallow bowls or plates, and serve immediately.
Nutritional information per serving (2 1/2 cups), using 5 ounces of kale and half of the vinaigrette: 578 calories, 30 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 37 g carbohydrates, 393 mg sodium, 96 mg cholesterol, 41 g protein, 6 g fiber, 13 g sugar.
This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.
