Salad Inspiration!

Simple Salad Toppings----

Make a large colorful salad every day! Choose spring greens from your CSA or farmer's market.  Add some of these toppings:

1) chopped carrots, celery, and Kalamata olives
2) roasted sweet potatoes and raspberries
3) a scoop of hummus and red onions
4) tomato salsa, black beans, avocado and roasted corn
5) lentils, roasted peppers, and portobello mushrooms
6) sliced pear and dried cranberries
7) roasted beets and walnuts
8) strawberries and almonds
9) roasted garlic, pickled eggplant and marinaded mushrooms
10) apples, roasted butternut squash, and carmelized onions

What salad creations do you LOVE?!  Post below!

Simple, local ingredients with BIG flavor!

I'm a cook who rarely measures ingredients.  I follow my intuition as I add a little of this and a pinch of that.  My cooking philosophy is to use simple, local ingredients with big flavor!  Join me on my cooking adventures as I navigate through farmers' markets, share recipes with Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, grow my own food, and finally prepare simple, plant-based dishes.

Here's a new spin on PESTO:

¼ cup walnuts, pine nuts, or almond butter

2 shallots, peeled

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup veggie broth

4 cups greens (any combination of basil, Italian parsley, Chard, arugula, spring greens)

Process ingredients in a food processor or blend in a blender until finely minced. Too thick? Add extra veggie broth. Too much liquid? Keep adding greens! Feel free to make this pesto in large batches, because it freezes well for up to 3 months or refrigerate for up to 5 days!

What to do with this deliciously forgiving pesto? Mix it in a pasta salad like the one above, spread on a sandwich, mix with hot pasta and roasted veggies, spread on fish before baking, add to a baked white or sweet potato, use as a dip with tortilla chips or veggies.  The possibilities are endless!