Shredded Apple and Carrot Green Salad

I love cooking, but I don't usually want to be doing it all day.  Some of my favorite recipes are the simple ones, where you add a few unexpected ingredients to a classic dish.  In this case, I added shredded apple and diced cashews to a simple green salad, and tossed it with a pepper vinaigrette.   The apple adds a sweet flavor to the salad.  Simple is always good!

Shredded Apple and Carrot Green Salad

1 large carrot
1 small apple or 1/2 of a larger size one
4 cups or chopped romaine lettuce
1/3 cup chopped cashews
1 stick celery (optional)
1 avocado (optional)

Prepare lettuce, celery, chopped cashews, avocado and set aside.  Grate apple and carrot.  Arrange all ingredients in a bowl, starting with the lettuce, then the grated carrot and apple then the celery, avo, and cashews.  Serve with your favorite dressing or this spicy alternative:


Pepper Vinaigrette

2 TBS seasoned rice vinegar
2 TBS olive oil
dash of honey
1/2 clove of fresh crushed garlic
pepper to taste, add more for a spicier flavor

Mix all ingredients thoroughly before tossing with salad.

Edamame Green Salad with Lime Dressing

Edamame Green Salad with edible Nasturtiums (above, Version 1 with lots of beans)

Edamame Green Salad, Version 2 with lots of carrots (pictured above)

Lime and Olive Oil dressing, pictured above

I just love edamame beans. I buy them in the frozen section of the grocery store and heat them in a pan with butter and salt. They are actually delicious just like that! They also add some ummph to a salad. In this recipe you can use any good produce that is in-season at your farmer's market or in your own garden, the latter of which I did. Here's how I did it:

Edamame Green Salad
1 cup fried edamame beans (green soy beans), salted
5 cups of fresh lettuce, try mixing different types and colors
2 carrots, grated
5 +/- yellow cherry tomatoes, whole & halved

Place washed and spinned lettuce in a nice earthy-looking bowl (for presentation). Place the beans, carrots, and tomatoes on top.

Lime & Olive Oil Dressing:
1/2 lime, squeeze out juice
1/4 cup olive oil
5 TBS soy sauce or tamari
3 TBS honey
salt & pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients vigorously with a fork in a shallow dish. Toss with salad. You will have dressing left over unless you use more lettuce.

Serves 4, as a dinner side dish

Fresh July Green & Red Salad

This salad is really beautiful because of the many fresh colors that contrast each other. Choose light green lettuce and deep red lettuce, mix equally and break into bite-size pieces. Wash lettuce and spin in a salad spinner. Add:
whole baby carrots, preferably just picked from the garden
fresh snap peas
nasturtium flowers, any color, I used red
salad dressing of your choice
Mix entire salad with salad dressing. I used Annie's goddess dressing. It would also be good with a Vinegarette.

Luc's Clam & Garlic Tortilla Pizzas: Wheat & Gluten Free

Here is a fun wheat free pizza that Luc created. We love getting the clam and garlic pizza in Langley at the Pizzaria, and this is a healthy at-home alternative. Our 3 year old daughter Marina LOVED it! She kept taking garlic-clams out of the pan and eating them before they even made it on to the pizzas. She enjoyed them on the pizza too! If you are ever in Langley and looking for dinner, try the Langley Pizzaria. This recipe is an approximation. So enjoy making it with your own twists and creativity.
We used 100% corn tortillas, small size, put tomato pizza sauce as the first layer then clams (canned or fresh, chopped & Sauteed with lots of garlic). Next cover sauce with a light layer of grated melting cheese (not pictured). The bottom layer of tortilla pizzas (pictured above) has pesto and pizza sauce, which I really liked. Butter a baking tray and place tortillas on top. Bake until cheese is melted & bubbly and tortillas are hot. Serve with green salad.

Green Kale and Lemon Salad

I have a lot of over-wintering kale in my garden. As the weather has warmed up tender green leaves have emerged and they make a wonderfully delicate and mild salad. The lemon dressing is just the right complement to the kale.

Dice as much kale as you and your family want to eat, then toss with this dressing. You will most likely have extra dressing left over.

Dressing:
3 TBS fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
5 TBS olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1-2 TBS honey (optional)

Red Stroller Pasta

After a hour of errands in town and an hour of my car's lights on, my car would not start. My daughters and I filled up our red stroller with groceries and walked home. This began my process of creating this rich red pasta sauce. I like to pair the pasta sauce with a quinoa-corn noodle blend. This is an easy and quick recipe!

36 oz tomato sauce
1 medium onion
2 TBS olive oil
4 cloves garlic
10-15 mushrooms
4 TBS red table wine
1# ground turkey or 1# your choice sausage
several pinches of fresh or dried thyme
salt or tamari to taste

Saute onion with olive oil on medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms to onion when onion is softened. Add red wine to mushroom-onion when mushroms are softened. Cook for 1 more minute then add to lightly boiling tomato sauce. Add turkey or sausage meat in small balls (or sliced, in the case of the sausage) to tomato sauce. Start cooking noodles of your choice.

Serve pasta sauce with thyme on the top or side and a green salad. Pour yourself a glass of red wine and enjoy!

Walnut Sardine Salad

Lots of healthy oils, and very satisfying for a salad.

Small handful of walnuts
1 can of skinless boneless sardines
several pinches of sheep or other feta
Romain and Red-leaf lettuce, equally mixed
Salad dressing, my preference is Annie's Goddess Dressing

Toss salad with dressing and place sardines on the side or top of salad.

Sweet Artichoke Chicken Soup

For a sweetness that lingers in your mouth, try this recipe. It is nourishing and delicious!

4small artichokes
4 quarts of chicken stock (make by boiling 1-2 leftover whole chickens for 3-6 hours on low, strain out bones
2 cups soaked lentils
1 onion diced
2 small zucchinis, sliced small
4 carrots cut small
4 stalks celery cut small
4 or more cloves garlic (press through a garlic press of dice small)
several handfuls of diced kale
salt to taste
Add artichokes and lentils to lightly boiling chicken soup stock. In 10 minutes add carrots, celery, onion. When the artichokes are soft enough to easily stick a fork through the base, take them out and serve on the side. When carrots are softened add zucchinis and garlic. In five minutes add diced kale and salt to taste.
Artichokes are excellent with this dipping sauce:
1/4 cup vegetable oil mayonaise
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce, tamari or braggs liquid aminos

Serve soup with with polenta, feta, and a green salad.