Last week I got lucky. I got to follow Alli Beck home from The French Press and eat dinner at her house! Alli lives in a cute & minimal studio off the 192 in Montecito with her husband. Alli is a photographer, nutritionist and food blogger. I discovered her via instagram a few months back and was instantly girl fanning. I think if you saw her gorgeous food pics, you would be too! And so when she invited me over to her house for a salad I was so stoked!

Alli’s love for food began at a young age. You’d often find her outside making “meals”out of pieces of nature, or making creative snacks and baked goods in the kitchen. Struggling with her own health and relationship with food in high school led Alli to study nutrition in college and create a business, Fresh Roots Health. Alli’s goal is to help people discover the power and joy of real food, and to find freedom and healing through living a healthy life. She does this through teaching classes, blogging, and nutrition counseling.

While I sat in her kitchen and watched her make her salad we talked nutrition, recipes life and bread. Alli believes that every person is different and there’s not one way of eating that works for everyone. However for her and most people, she says the best diet is one that is centered around eating primarily whole, unprocessed foods. Alli eats a little bit of everything with a lot of fresh, seasonal vegetables at the core of her diet. She tries to get as much of her produce, eggs and meat as local and organic as she can which is why she signed up for her farm box. One of Alli’s favorite go-to meals is homemade whole grain sourdough, avocado and pasture-raised scrambled eggs. She also loves big salads and batches of roasted veggies from her farm box.

Alli’s salad was GORGEOUS and really hit the spot. Tuesdays are brutal days for me and I’m not going to lie, I go off coffee, muffins and rarely eat a meal. So after a long day this salad was truly perfect. After that, we ate sourdough avocado toast from sourdough that she made. Alli has been working on her sourdough recipes and is perfecting a gluten free sourdough When she perfects that I’m hoping to offer it as an add on ;) Alli can also make sourdough many different whole grains, I’ve tried them and they’re great!

Alli continues to blow me away with her delicious looking recipes, knowledge for food and passion for nutrition. She’s so fun to follow on Instagram and I hope you all get inspired from this little lady! Follow her @freshrootshealth and perhaps attend one of her cooking classes. We love you Alli Beck!

Spring Salad

serves 2-4

- 6 c. arugula

- 2 small zucchini, shaved

- Large handful of sugar snap peas

- 1/2 c. strawberries, sliced

- 1/4 c. pickled red onion

- 1/8 c. sunflower or pumpkin seeds

- 1/8 c. chopped fresh basil

- 1/8 c. chopped fresh mint

- 2 oz. goat cheese

Instructions:

Using a vegetable peeler, shave the zucchini into long ribbons. Open up each sugar snap pea lengthwise along the seam. Slice the strawberries and chop the fresh herbs. Assemble all of the ingredients in a large salad bowl, and top with goat cheese and seeds. Dress with desired amount of dressing.