Simple Lunch Salad

I love fresh veggies! I also love salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This I made for lunch today and it totally hit the spot. Now the trick is, I am the only vegan on the planet who doesn't like the taste of raw tomato... Weird, I know. I keep trying them and I keep not liking them, but I am assured I will get there some day. Putting that aside, I try to put tomato in whenever I can, in this case, fresh salsa! Yeah, I put salsa on my salad. Sure did.

You will need:

~Spinach
~Carrots
~Favorite onion
~Fresh Cilantro
~Favorite fresh salsa
~Lime juice
~Apple Cider Vinegar
~Olive oil

Cut all that stuff up and throw it in a bowl. Put the salsa then the cilantro and then the lime juice, vinegar and oil. A little pepper on top is delicious. I also like to have a really spicy salsa to put on top. It makes for a neat combination for the taste buds!

Today I topped it off with a nice bowl of fresh fruit! Cherries, blueberries and some dried plums! The plums have a little too much sugar for my liking, but I don't eat them very often so what the hay!

Avocado and Carrot Salad with a Citrus twist

Avocado is so good for your body and a really delicious fruit which is generally stuck in one dish! You can do so much with an avocado and this is one of many recipes I plan on posting proving just that! This is an easy salad to sue as a starter for a luncheon or a nutritious snack!

You will need:
(Feeds four to six)

2 large Avocados (chilled)
1 large, shredded or finely chopped carrot
1 lime
kosher salt
Tbl. freshly minced garlic


Peel and chop avocado into 1 inch chunks. Use 1/4 of the lime and juice over the avocado. Mix in carrot and garlic and wedge the rest of the lime. Salt the top and serve immediately with lime wedges available for extra citrus taste!

Spicy, Asian Inspired Salad

I love the idea of using oils without cooking them, allowing to gain all of the nutrients I can from them. I also love using dark green veggies and brightly colored veggies, which are the ones that give us the most vitamins, minerals and proteins. Another thing I added was the spicy aspect which I love applying to things that are, here in the states, not generally found spicy.

You will need:

Salad~
Spinach, washed and drained
Purple cabbage, washed and sliced
White onion, washed and sliced

Dressing~
Olive Oil
Apple cider Vinegar
Lemon Juice
Basil
Garlic
Black Pepper
Cayenne


Add all the veggies into a bowl and toss to taste with the dressing ingredients. I usually never measure with anything but my taste buds, so it is always hard for me to tell someone how much of what to put in. Especially when it doesn't matter! It should be up to the cook and the eaters as to how much of what they eat. So for the dressing, until you get practiced and just drizzling straight into your bowl and knowing it will be great, use a seperate bowl and taste test and if you want, document it.

Let's Change the Idea of A Salad, Shall We?

Who uses a recipe for a salad? I had never heard of such a thing until I was instructed to help my grandmother make the salad for dinner. She had set out already the spinach and asked me to finish cutting up the vegetables and add them in. So I set out for the refrigerator and grabbed the carrots, some onion, celery, purple cabbage and whatever else I could find. I am cutting up the carrots directly into the salad bowl, consisting of just spinach, when my grandmother walks over and hollers, "What are you doing?" Stunned, I asked her,"What?" She preceded to tell me that carrots don't belong in a spinach salad... Huh? I had ruined dinner. The recipe she has always used called for nothing but spinach, celery greens, fresh chives and button mushrooms. Ok, cool. So lets put in some orange, purple, yellow, red, and more green! I have been stung by that my whole life! Who limits their salads to recipes? Remember to never restrict yourself to a recipe. They are guidelines and idea engines. Measurements are sometimes important, but in salads and many other dishes, put everything you can in there. Nuts, veggies, fruit, spices, breads, rubber duckies. It doesn't matter. And, yes, salads can be a main course! You can put them on a sandwich, in a pasta, on the grill, in a soup. You can char the greens, toast the nuts, grill the fruits and veggies. Puree half of it for the dressing! I aim to show so many different types of salads so as to break the mold. Use your imagination and don't follow the rules unless you are driving.

~Enjoy

Blueberry and Celery Salad

This is a summer favorite!

You will need:

~ Celery, chopped

~White Onions, sliced

~Purple cabbage, chopped

~Carrot, chopped

~Fresh Blueberries

~Balsamic vinegar/ olive oil

~s/p

Mix all and chill. Serve with toasted pita and hummous for a great lunch!