March 11: Watercress and Herbs

The last time I tried this "herb salad mix" it was very short on herbs, so I decided to spice it up a bit with some watercress and a dill dressing. This was one of my busiest salads, with a lot going on, but it was also pretty good if you can judge by how quickly I downed it. I was a little iffy about the watercress when I tried it on its own, but in the salad it was lovely.

Tonight while I was making this, I was babysitting my youngest grandchild, who is developing quite the personality. I convinced him that he likes carrots, but that's as far as we got with vegetables tonight. He's just cut his second tooth, so he's not ready for salad yet. My eldest grandchild makes up for that; she not only likes her salads, she's made them a cool trend at her high school! She took fresh salads every day, no matter how much her friends laughed at her, and before long, she had them all converted. That's my girl!

Recipe:
Toss a purchased herb salad mix with watercress leaves. Add bacon bits, yellow grape tomatoes, cubed kohlrabi, and toasted whole natural almonds. Toss in a creamy dill dressing.

Dressing: Whisk together amounts of brine from garlic dill pickles and  mayonnaise (if you can tolerate milk products, this would be excellent with sour cream/yogurt). Add a bit of dried dill for an extra flavour boost.

March 10: Fruity Spinach Salad

Today's salad was inspired by my son's lunch. My daughter-in-law packed him the most beautiful salad for lunch, and I couldn't resist making my own version of it. His had a few more ingredients, but I know there is no way it's better than mine!

My son works in a cheese factory, where the employees have milk and chocolate milk on tap. Luckily, he's not lactose intolerant, so he gets to enjoy it. He tells me that in years past they threw away all kinds of bi-products of the cheese making process, but nowadays, they don't waste anything. They sell whey to makers of protein drinks, and lactose to makers of pig food, and they refine the waste over and over until all that is left is a product called "cow water," which they use as a coolant for their machinery. Now that's pretty cool! It gives me hope that industry has finally figured out that we need to stop wasting so much.

My son's fridge is full of cheese choices, although they don't come from work. He and his wife have higher tastes in cheese, like the lovely soft goat cheese I found in their fridge and added to my salad today. It's always a good choice with fruit. The lemony dressing was the perfect finishing touch.

Recipe.
On a bed of fresh baby spinach, sprinkle fresh raspberries and seedless grapes. Scatter on some crumbles of soft goat cheese, and drizzle with a creamy lemon dressing.

Dressing: 1/3 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 packet Splenda (or 1 teaspoon sugar). Whip it all together until it's foamy.

March 9: Sashimi Salad

 I'm spending the weekend with my second son and his family in the Fraser Valley, where Spring is finally happening. They are all foodies, so I love raiding their fridge and cupboards for my salads. (Today I found this beautiful Spring Mix to use as a base, and a strawberry-kiwi applesauce for my dressing.) They also make a special effort to make me feel welcome-- actually, come to think of it, all of my kids do that. I'm a pretty lucky mommy.

Lunch today was sushi with my #1 granddaughter, made even more exciting because for the first time ever, she got to drive me around town! She's a pretty good driver too; the only thing she needs is a bit more confidence, but then, don't we all? We ordered a huge plate of assorted sashimi, so of course I had to take some home for salad, because I just love a good sashimi salad! This one has an applesauce dressing, which is absolutely divine with sushi, although I found out today that I prefer just plain applesauce in this dressing.

Of course it goes without saying that sashimi must be refrigerated and treated with care. I prefer to do everything else first and add the the sashimi at the very last minute, so that it is in the fridge for as long as possible. I have never made my own sashimi because it makes me nervous, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has, whether or not you've had any success with it. Maybe I will get brave enough to give it a go.

Recipe:

For dressing, mix together 1/2 cup applesauce, 2 teaspoons light soy sauce, 1 teaspoon rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon honey.


Toss together Spring mix with shredded daikon. If your sashimi is in large pieces, you will want to slice it into smaller ones using a very sharp knife. Toss in the sashimi (I used red and white tuna, salmon, red snapper and octopus) and top with dressing. Garnish with pickled ginger and lemon slices.

March 8: "Everything's better with basil"

My daughter has a huge basil plant growing in her windowsill, and she invited me to raid it today. In fact, this salad was entirely her idea, which is proof that I raised some pretty smart kids! This was my lunch, but it would make a perfect starter, or even a dessert, if the strawberries are as ripe and sweet as these.

The basil plant is living in a high window, out of the reach of baby Tommy, who is almost one-and-a-half. When I came in last night, the first thing I noticed was that the dining area looked huge. This is because the table, which was always in the centre, is now pushed up against a wall to keep Tommy from climbing up it and trying to climb onto the chandelier. He's as that great age, jut like his cousin Delilah, when babies discover the vertical. It keeps their moms hopping, and today it's keeping me hopping too.

How-to: pinch basil leaves off a plant and arrange in a dish (this is one of my daughter's corn-cob dishes; I liked the shape for this salad). Slice strawberries over top and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar.

March 7: Herb Garden Salad

Today I wanted something simple and fresh. I found a nice spring herbs mixture and some tiny gold tomatoes (they are a lot more yellow than they look here) and tossed it with a few snap peas and some seed. Add a little oil and vinegar, and that's all it takes. You don't need much when you've got some nice herbs to work with. That said, this particular mixture was kind of short on herbs; I would like to find one with a better balance, but I will probably have to create my own.

How-to: Start with a mixture of baby lettuces and herbs, along with tiny sweet yellow tomatoes, halved, and chunks of sugar snap peas. Add some pumpkin and sunflower seeds, a splash of white vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and sugar.

March 6: Chinese Barbecue on Spinach

I am nuts about Chinese barbecue- I like it as much as I like dim sum. What I love most is soy sauce chicken, but barbecue pork, or sui chow, is a pretty close second. It's sweet, with a hint of ginger, and kind of chewy. I bought it at the Richmond Public Market, which is an experience in itself. I lived just a few blocks from the market for a few years, so it's got a sort of homey feel for me. When you go into a barbecue shop, or to a stall in this case, there are chickens, ducks and half-pigs hanging in the front window. The barbecue pork (different from barbecue pig- that's the one hanging up) is usually in huge trays underneath, in big chunks or slabs. It's boneless and covered in yummy sauce. You choose the piece you want, and the server takes a huge cleaver and chops it up for you. they are pretty amazing with those cleavers, and not a little scary when they chop into a chicken or duck. They put it into a container and ladle in some more sauce, which is what I used for dressing on this salad.

I used kohrabi today, as and it provided a lovely crunch and sweetness. In fact, this salad was all sweet; the pork, tomatoes, snap peas, kohlrabi and especially the sauce. Another time, I would mix a little vinegar with the sauce to give it some tang. The tomatoes, by the way, are not under-ripe; they are an heirloom pink tomato, and they were pretty good.

How-to: On a bed of  fresh baby spinach, sprinkle diced kohlrabi. Top and tail snap peas and cut in half, and quarter small tomatoes. Arrange the veggies on top and finish off with slices of hot Chinese barbecue pork. Drizzle the sauce from the pork (I'd add a little rice vinegar to it first) on top as a dressing.

March 5: Tak Kao Choy Salad

This is tak kao choy. It's not something that is usually served raw, but being a salad addict means seeing every vegetable as a potential salad. 

This is my tak kao choy salad, and it's pretty much as scrumptious as it looks, although the greens were a tiny bit on the chew side. This may have been because they were not quite as fresh as they could have been.

Tak kao choy is related to bok choy and sui choy, and a lot of other choys. Since my success with sui choy salads, I've been dreaming of trying  other Chinese greens in salad. Since I'm visiting Richmond for work, I dropped into my favourite Chinese market, where there are always eight to ten types of interesting greens, and most of them are called something with "choy"  (which according to my sources, means green). 

This morning when I popped into my very favourite dim sum place in Richmond, the waiter saw me and immediately went to the kitchen  for a plate of choy sum. This is my favourite choy to have cooked. It is quite a lot like swiss chard, but with a fuller flavour. They serve it steamed and stacked in uniform rows on a plate, like little soldiers. The stems are always on top, with the leaves underneath, because stems are considered the best part. I however enjoy both equally, especially dipped in the oyster-flavour sauce they always bring with it. I've tried most of the dim sum places in Richmond (which is actually a pretty amazing accomplishment) but my fave is called South Ocean Seafood. The food is not necessarily better than anywhere else, but the prices are good, and the people are wonderful. They treat you like you are a guest in their home, and they are there just to please you. One thing I really like about this place is that they don't make you order by ticking boxes on a little card with incomprehensible names (some don't even have English translations, which is how I ended up eating jellyfish salad and chicken cartilage one day). Instead, they wheel around little steam carts or carry huge trays full of goodies and you can choose what you like. If you ever go there, be sure to try the shrimp spring rolls, the stuffed eggplant and the mushroom rice rolls. I'm drooling again just thinking about it!

I picked up a couple of other things at the market to give my salad some interesting flavours. Daikon, that giant white Japanese radish, adds a nice little bite, and sugar snaps balance it with sweetness. Even sweeter are the roasted chestnuts on top. Peeled and roasted, sealed in a little foil bag, these things are a lovely snack. They are quite soft, with a texture a little like a bit of roasted potato, and a very mild, sweet flavour. The dressing was really good, and I wish I'd taken time to toss it with the greens and let it marinate.

Recipe: slice tak kao choy in 2-inch pieces. Top and tail sugar snap peas and cut into 1-inch pieces. Quarter cherry tomatoes and dice a chunk of daikon. Sprinkle roasted chestnuts on top. 

Dressing: 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon apple-lime juice, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons soy sauce. Whisk it all together until the sugar is dissolved and drizzle over salad.

March 4: Sweet Medley

On my daughter's kitchen counter there is a box marked "Horse Apples."  Happily, it is not full of the kind of horse apples that horses leave behind wherever they go. These are apples for feeding horses-- very lucky horses! They are tiny, locally grown golden delicious apples. They are unwaxed, sweet and juicy. As far as I can tell, they are only being sold as horse apples because they are under-sized. I figured the horses wouldn't miss one, especially since we don't have any horses. 

After I raided the fridge and made my salad, I noticed this box of cereal. My son-in-law is trying a gluten-free diet, and my daughter has been shopping for him. It looked pretty appealing, so I decided to add a little to my salad. It was serendipitous. I wouldn't buy this cereal, because I'm really trying not to eat grains at all, but I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a healthy cereal. 

The strawberries were a bit blah, so I added some sugar. I almost never do this for fruit salad, but if your fruit is not as ripe or juicy or tasty as you'd like, a light dusting of sugar can salvage it. 

How-to: Core and slice one small or half a medium golden delicious apple. slice four or five strawberries and add a handful of seedless green grapes. Sprinkle with a scant teaspoon of sugar, toss, and let it sit at room temperature for ten to twenty minutes, tossing occasionally. When the sugar is melted and a syrup begins to form, scatter 1/4 cup granola or crunchy cereal on top and serve immediately.  

March 3: Seeing Red

I realized today that I've collected quite a lot of red salad ingredients, so I thought it would be fun to make an all red salad. It was perhaps not the most amazing thing I've ever done, but it was pretty (prettier than it looks in this rather unfortunate picture), and it was deliciously refreshing. I didn't think the cranberries were all that good in this. They tend to disappear, and I think it would be better with fresh raspberries.

This is my last Vancouver Island salad for a while. Tomorrow I'm hopping on a ferry to spend a couple of weeks on the mainland. I'll be staying with family and friends in Richmond and the Fraser Valley, and apart from seeing all of them, what I'm most looking forward to is visiting the Chinese Market to get some interesting ingredients for salads.

If it seems like I'm a bit of a drifter, it's because I am. I've had all of my possessions in storage for so long that I'm wondering what on earth I need them for. If  I've got people I love, a good book to read, and ingredients for a salad, I really don't need anything else (except maybe a change of underwear). Maybe someday I'll settle down, but as my new tattoo says, "it is not this day!"

How-to: Toss together baby red leaf lettuce, red radicchio, fresh pomegranate seeds and dried cranberries in a raspberry vinaigrette.

March 2: Castle Salad Fiasco

It's not every day that you get invited to brunch in a castle. I suppose that's my excuse. I was so excited about going to my Uncle's birthday party at Spencer Castle in Victoria that I forgot to shop for my salad.
As a result, I showed up at the castle with a plastic bag holding the only items I'd found in the fridge that looked good enough to use: lettuce, tomatoes, almonds, and lemon poppy seed dressing. Stellar? Not even close. Embarrassing? Quite. But only briefly. Because of the four salads served today, mine was probably second best.
In my defense, I also took a quite wonderful and complicated Brazilian dish called feijoado, (a black-bean stew with several kinds of meat) which I had never made before, but which turned out very well.


Before I go on, I have to explain that Spencer Castle is not really a castle. It's a lovely old mansion built in 1912, and sold to a condo developer in the 70s.  There is a stone turret that is very castley looking, and it has an impressive marble staircase and a lot of crystal chandeliers, so it does feel a bit like being in a castle. The developers who bought it from the Spencer family agreed to their terms; they had to retain and keep up the "castle" and grounds. (By the way, the condos they built there are extremely ugly and not castley at all! I hear that they are nice inside, but outside they are just brick boxes.) Nowadays the main floor is used for weddings, funerals, and such, while the upper floor bedrooms are used as hospitality suites for the owners of the condos. This is how my Aunt and Uncle came to be staying there for the past month.

Okay, back to the salads. There was, of course, the ubiquitous Caesar salad. A good old standby, but boring (not to mention that it's full of gluten and dairy, and enough salt to choke a horse. Although come to think of it, I've never seen anyone feed Caesar salad to a horse.) And there was a very complicated salad that seemed to have every kind of nut, vegetable and fruit you could name on it, but which had no dressing. My salad was a bit of a relief for people; it was simple and fresh and you knew what you were getting.
The best salad today was a lovely California style salad made by a young lady named Jessie. I took pictures of it so that I can use her recipe, so you'll see it here before too long.

How-to:
Toss together red bib lettuce with sweet tomatoes (remove seeds and pulp and cut into bite-size pieces), and natural almonds, chopped and toasted, in a lemon-poppy seed dressing.

March 1: Rise and Shine

Yes, it's yet another breakfast salad. Once you get into the habit of eating salad in the morning, you just can't stop. It's a great way to start the day, full of energy and nutrients, instead of the empty carbs and fat typical in most tradition western breakfasts. I like my breakfast salad sweet, so I always start with at least one kind of fruit. I also like to add some crunchy nuts, since they remind me of eating granola. If it is a fruit salad I don't dress it, but when it is a green salad, I go for a sweet dressing like this honey citrus poppy-seed one. Super yum!

How to: Tear green curly-leaf lettuce to create a bed for chopped Royal Gala apple and sweet naval oranges. Chop natural almonds and toast on a cookie sheet (place in a cold oven. Set temp, and remove nuts as soon as oven reaches 385 F).  Add a generous drizzle of your favourite sweet and creamy dressing.

February 28: Maple Bacon Salad

This is not the best breakfast salad I have ever made, but it was definitely not a fail. It had a lot of crunch, biggish bits of freshly cooked bacon, and the apples, nuts and lettuce were all good. I guess I just wasn't thrilled with the maple dressing on it.
Now, I know that a lot of people like to dump maple syrup all over their pancakes, and many of these same people don't mind extending it to their bacon and eggs. I know people like this, but I'm not one of them. I'm more the obsessive "don't let the syrup touch my eggs or meat" type. And being that type, I should have known better than to use a maple dressing on this salad. Ah well, live and learn.

I love this plate I found in the back of one of Mom's china  cabinets. It has hand-painted birds and dragonflies, and gold trim. I don't know who made it, and I'm too lazy to go and look, but I know that I like it, and that's really what matters isn't it?

How-to: On a bed of green baby leaf lettuce, scatter chopped apples and walnuts and home-made bacon bits. Drizzle with a maple vinaigrette: Apple cider vinegar, canola oil and maple syrup.

February 27: Yummy, Yammy Salad

This was pretty adventurous, but it paid off big time! This salad is a triumph, deserving top marks. The dressing was perfect on it, and the combination of flavours and textures was scrumptious.

Today I was thinking about potato salad, and how much I used to enjoy it before my tummy started to hate potatoes. Luckily, I can still eat yams, and since Mom roasted some for dinner last night, I decided to invent a yam salad with the leftovers. The first thing I realized was that this could not actually be anything like a potato salad. Yam and eggs? You don't have to be a genius to know that is not a winning combination, and luckily, I am not a genius. So, I investigated the fridge and came up with this combination. I couldn't believe how well it turned out! The sui choy was crisp, but not hard, making it much better for this dish than celery, which was my first inclination.

I'm still visiting my parents, and this little soup dish and saucer are part of Mom's everyday china; Glen Auldyn from Royal Dalton. They're not antique, and they are dishwasher and microwave safe, but they are still very dainty, and according to my dad, as pricey as they are pretty. Mom is not impressed by this assessment; she has a different internal scale for china, one that takes into account important several factors. Things like how pretty it is, and who made it and when. And even more important factors like how much she wants it and how much she can get for it on that mythical day when she decides to actually part with even one piece of china.

Recipe:
Roasted Yams- Cut yams into one-inch slices. Place on a cookie sheet and brush both sides with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a hot oven (425 F), turning once so that both sides brown.
They take about 20 minutes to cook. Test with a fork and remove from oven when they are tender right through.
Salad- after the yams have cooled, pull off the peels and cube them. Cut ham in cubes, and dice sui choy, including the stems. Use equal amounts of the three ingredients. Add a drizzle of vegetable oil, a splash of balsmic vinegar and a little sugar. Toss carefully, as the yams are quite fragile. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Salad-

February 26: Brat Wrap

   

This started out as "finger salad" (eaten with, not made from), but by the end, I needed a fork. Part of the problem was that I used the wrong kind of lettuce. I think a romaine would be better. Also, there was a lot of slippery stuff in there, and it all kept trying to escape!

 It was quite tasty, but this is not the brand of bratwurst I usually buy, and I wasn't altogether fond of it. Also, I'm not a big fan of Dijon mustard, but I decided to give it a try. Still not a fan. I did enjoy the tomatoes with it, although I kind of overdid the may.

So, not top marks on this one. I ate it all, but I think it could have been a lot better.






How-to: slice a sausage in half lengthwise and grill along with sliced mushrooms. Wrap it up in a big lettuce leaf with some tomatoes and condiments of your choice. Eat carefully; it's slippery!

February 25: Sunshine Salad

I was at my son`s house today, and I still had some brocolli in their fridge, so I decided to try another brocolli salad. I called it sunshine salad because it made me think of summer, as did this big powder-puff  mum that was leftover from Valentine`s day (my son bought flowers for his wife and each of his three girls- what a sweetie!) I put it in a little Mason jar to serve because I was thinking of my youngest daughter, who loves using Mason jars for all kinds of things. She also makes me think of sunshine.

Although I like it, I wouldn`t give this top marks, because I overdid the lemon juice. Also, I don`t like candied nuts done this way as well as the others I make, but that takes a lot longer.

Recipe: Carefully cut brocolli into small florets. Peel mandarin oranges with a knife and cut in small pieces. In a small saucepan, melt a little butter and add an equal amount of oil (this helps keep it from burning). Add pecan halves and brown them using medium heat. Sprinkle with a little white sugar and continue to cook, tossing them constantly (be careful not to break them up). When the sugar is caramelized, remove them from the heat, turn them onto waxed paper or foil to cool, and add to salad. Squeeze a lemon over salad and add a sprinkle of sugar and some walnut oil. Toss and serve.

February 24: Stuffed Tomato

I`ve been thinking about stuffing a tomato for a while now, and when I finally did it, I was not impressed. The salad was good, but it didn`t look great in the tomato, and there wasn`t room for much at all. So, I stuck a cucumber rose on top and put the rest of the salad around it.

This as a light, refreshing tasting salad, nice for an afternoon nibble. The basil is growing in the dining room and it`s really starting to produce. I just loved fresh herbs; there is nothing like them for a flavour booster. I raided mom`s china cabinet (well, one of them) again for this very pretty dish.

Recipe:
Cut the top off a tomato, cutting into the flesh and avoiding the peel, cut a grid pattern and scoop out the cubes with a spoon. Dice an avocado and add the tomato cubes, as well as another half tomato, also cubed. Snip fresh basil into small pieces. Squeeze the juice of half a lime over all and toss lightly.

Again, I would just chop all of the tomato instead of going through the first part another time.

To make the cucumber rose, see yesterday`s post.

February 23: International Cabbage Cousins

Kale is the new wonder food, but this year it seems like it`s always sad-looking and expensive. I guess it`s just the wrong time of year. However, today I found this purple kale in my local Country Grocer. It is beautiful, and I just had to try it out. I was going to get green kale to go with it, but as I said, it looked pathetic. So, I bought a head of sui choy instead. Now, I`ve never eaten sui choy raw, but I was willing to give it a try, and it was lovely; delicately flavoured, and crisp, a perfect foil for the purple kale.

I love my carrot roses! Now, I imagine that everyone in the world but me knows about this cool little tool for making your veggies into flowers. I got it at the dollar store (and it really was just $1). It`s basically just a really big pencil sharpener, and it works great! I made the flowers about with about half a medium size carrot, in about 30 seconds. Fabulous!

By the way, I broke up the flowers and mixed the carrots into my salad before I ate it.


Recipe:  Remove stems from sui choy and purple kale (I saved the sui choy stems for stirfry), and tear into small pieces. Add chopped walnuts, a sprinkle of rice vinegar, vegetable oil, and a pinch each of salt and sugar. Toss and serve.

February 22: Citrus Breakfast Salad

Right now, the grapefruit and oranges are incredible sweet and juicy. It's the perfect time for a citrus fruit salad, and breakfast is the perfect time to eat it.

I've been using a lot of walnuts lately because I have just discovered that I like them. All of my life, I`ve hated walnuts and loved every other nut, but my mom had these in her pantry, and they looked so nice I just had to try them. To my surprise, they are delicious! I don`t know if I`m changing, or if it`s just that these are really good nuts, but I think maybe it`s both.

I`m loving my mom`s china collection. This is a Mikasa (no idea whether that`s the right spelling) soup cup can saucer.

How-to (because I really can`t call this a recipe!) : I just peeled a pink grapefruit and a navel orange with a knife and cut them into chunks,  mixed them together and sprinkled a few walnuts on top.

February 21: Sweet and Petite

I often fix myself a little side-salad like this, and lately I've been using my mom's collection of antique china to make them special. This little dish is English china, and is a bit smaller than a saucer, but deeper. Mom has several pieces in the set, and uses them for every day. I know that some people save their china for special occasions, but I think that's a waste. Why not enjoy it? I am certainly enjoying my mom's, and if I ever get my own things out of storage, I intend to use my china and crystal (all presents from mom) every single day!

This petite little treat was simple but yummy, and made a perfect afternoon snack. I actually cut up the spinach, which I never do. Leafy vegetables are very volatile, and in order to retain as much flavour and freshness as possible, I leave them whole or tear them very gently.

Recipe:
Chop a little fresh baby spinach, ripe tomatoes and English cucumber; add a few sliced almonds and toss it all in a lemon poppy seed dressing.

February 20: First Spring Herbs

I come from the interior of BC, where there is still snow, so it's incredible to me that in my mother's garden the herbs have already begun to grow. There are flowers in my daughter-in-law's garden; tiny, perfect snowdrops, and more pushing their way up, getting ready to put on a show. Next to the herb garden in mom's back yard, the heather is blooming, pink and white. It's a marvel to me, coming from a land of long winters.

Today I picked thyme and Italian oregano and laced my spinach salad with it. What a great way to celebrate the coming of Spring!

Recipe:
Prepare fresh herbs by removing and discarding the stems. Toss the leaves in a creamy dressing with fresh baby spinach, cubes of cold, cooked chicken breast, sliced mushrooms and carrots, dried cranberries, toasted almonds and soft goat cheese.

For the dressing, use a little mayo and whisk in some red wine vinegar, water, and a bit of sugar.

February 19: How to Cheat

Want to make yourself look like an amazing salad chef in record time, with far less fiddling? I totally cheated on this one and it was delicious! Instead of buying all those nuts and seeds and raisins you see here, I bought trail mix. The down-side is that the nuts are already roasted, so you don't get the fresh-toasted flavour, but the up-side outweighs it. This mix had cashews, almonds, peanuts, raisin, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. It was lovely.

I also cheated by using broccoli crowns and bagged baby carrots, which my daughter-in-law just happened to have in her fridge. you don't have to peel then, and you barely have to cut them. Altogether, this one is a breeze-- just be careful that you don't buy a trailmix that has chocolate chips in it!

Recipe: Cut 2 crowns of broccoli carefully into small florets. (I also dice up the stems and add them). Cut 10 baby carrots into chunks or coins, and add 1/2 cup of  your favourite trail mix. Toss with dressing

Dressing: whisk together 1/4 cup mayonaise, 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1/4 cup grapeseed oil with a teaspoon of sugar.

February 18: Finally, The Perfect Asian Coleslaw!

I keep coming back to this because I know that I've had great Asian Coleslaw in the past, and the ones I've made this year just haven't measured up.  Then I realized that the problem was that I was using bagged coleslaw, and it's chopped or shredded too fine. Something about this type of dressing makes those tiny bits seem to disappear into nothingness, and you lose all of the crunch.

I also used fresh ginger this time, instead of powdered, and it made a tremendous difference. I haven't bought ginger root in years, because I never used enough and it always went bad. My mom has a different philosophy; after she's got her 56 cents worth of use, she doesn't care if the rest ends up in the compost. Once again, I'm learning how smart my mom is, and feeling mortified about my brash, younger self who thought she knew so much more than her parents. I wonder if my kids will ever come to this place in life? Most of the time I think they see me as a candidate for the short bus. Sometimes I think they're right, but today I feel pretty smart because I have conquered the Asian Coleslaw.

Before my gluten-free days, I used to love this with crispy noodles. My favourite were the deep fried ones, but my cousin Joan makes a killer version using raw soup noodles. If you are adding noodles, do it just before serving, so that they are nice and crunchy. If you have leftovers and don't care for cold, soggy noodles, it's pretty good cooked.

I'll give the proportions I used, but I think I'd like it better with more bean sprouts (I ran out because I had egg foo yung for breakfast).  I usually use a red onion because I like the colour and it's easier to pick out,  but I didn't have one. I was pleasantly surprised by the difference in flavour with a sweet yellow onion.


Recipe:
1/2 a medium-small head of green cabbage, sliced in 1/4 inch strips (Sorry, I really don't know what that is in metric. Maybe my kids have a point); 2 carrots, peeled and grated; 2 stalks of celery, sliced; 2 cups fresh bean sprouts; 1/2 a large sweet onion, sliced; 1 cup sunflower seeds.

Dressing: 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, grated fine, about a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger, 2 teaspoons sugar, pinch of pepper.

February 17: Healthy Ambrosia Salad

Ambrosia salad is my guilty secret. I have to admit that even though it is full of sugar and fat and Cool Whip (an edible oil product) I just love it. So, I decided to take some of the best elements of ambrosia salad and make a healthy alternative.

The results were pretty good; this is a dessert salad I would definitely repeat. The best part of course it the toasted coconut. Toasting it made the house smell like macaroons, which are my fave gluten-free indulgence. I didn't have any pineapple, so I will definitely want to add that next time. Other than that, I'm very happy (and full).

Recipe:

On a bed of oak-leaf lettuce, pile sliced cucumbers. peel a sweet orange with a knife and cut into bite-size chunks arrange on top of salad. Drizzle generously with a sweet, creamy dressing. Toast coconut (flaked, not shredded) on a cookie sheet at 375. Watch it very carefully and remove it as soon as it starts to brown. Cool and sprinkle on your salad.

Dressing: I use olive oil mayo, because I am lactose and soy intolerant, but this would be very good with cream. To 1/2 cup mayo or cream, add 1/4 cup white wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar (or Splenda). Whisk it until it's foamy. If you use mayo, you may want to add a little water to make it pourable.

February 16: The Un-Stirfry

While I was prepping veggies for a stir-fry tonight, I found myself sneaking bites of everything, so I decided to set some ingredients aside for a salad. The veggies were cut more coarsely than I would normally do them for salad, but after marinating for a few hours, they were perfect. I had also toasted some almonds for my hot dish, and I set some aside so that I could add them to the salad just before serving it.  I did this because I like them very crunchy, but my mother told me she likes them better when they've softened in the marinade, so I guess it's a matter of taste.

What I like most about this salad is that it somehow made me think of summer, even though it seems to have been raining forever.  The thermometer says it's a lot warmer here than it is in the Cariboo, where I spent most of the winter, but somehow the wet makes me feel colder than ever. The grey sky doesn't help either. Not that I'm complaining . . . oh, wait, yes I am. Sorry. No more whining, I promise.


Recipe: Combine broccoli and cauliflower florets with coarsely slice carrots and celery. Add some olive oil and a little red wine vinegar, stir, and marinate for at least 2 hours. Add toasted raw almonds just before serving.

February 15: Old-fashioned Cucumber Salad

This salad is straight out of my childhood, and my mother's, and my grandmother's. It always makes me think of my aunties, of whom I have a plethora. In this day and age, not many people can say that they have 10 aunts and 10 uncles, but I do, and that's just on my Mom's side of the family. Mom is the middle child of 11, with 7 sisters and 3 brothers.

My aunties have had a huge impact on my life. From them, almost as much as from my own mother, I learned much about what it is to be a mother and a daughter. They are strong, independent women who never stop working, but they are women who enjoy their lives fully. They are all different, and all beautiful in their own ways, but they share a common love of family and a willingness-- even an eagerness-- to help others. I don't see them often anymore, but there is no doubt in my mind that any one of them would drop whatever she was doing and come to my aid if I needed her.

Cucumber salad appeared regularly on my grandmother's table during the summer. For the last two or three decades of her life, Grandma's garden and table were tended by her daughters, and occasionally by her granddaughters. It was not a very big kitchen, but my aunties and mother were used to working together, and it always seemed big enough.

Usually, this was the smaller of at least two salads, a quiet, unobtrusive little dish that we just couldn't do without. It's refreshing and light, and completely fat-free.

Recipe: Peel and slice fresh field cucumber in coins . Slice white onion and separate into rings. Layer in a shallow dish and cover with a marinade of white vinegar, water, salt and pepper.

February 14: Melon and More

There is nothing like a great pile of fruit for breakfast! It's the perfect way to start the day, especially when it's served in a watermelon bowl. (This watermelon wanted to roll off the plate, so I cut a bit off the bottom so that it would sit flat.)
All of the fruit I used today was perfectly ripe, sweet and delicious. I added just a bit of raspberry dressing to give it some zip and keep the apples from going brown. Mom and Dad were out, so I got this all to myself. I have to admit though, I couldn't eat it in one go. I ended up finishing it off for dessert tonight.
Apples and melon are not a combination you normally see, but they compliment each other well. When I made it, I was thinking of another fruit salad I had, on a small horse farm in the interior of Sao Paolo state. My hostess took me on a little tour of the grounds and along the way she plucked a ripe papaya from a tree. The salad was simply diced papaya and apple, with a little sprinkle of sugar. I've never cared for papaya, but with the apple, it was delicious.
You might not be able to pick fruit in your backyard, but at this time of year, the citrus fruits from California are beautiful, and our Canadian apples are still firm and crisp. Watermelon is a bit of a gamble right now, but these mini ones are usually pretty good, regardless of the season. I think they are grown in greenhouses in California. Not on the 10-mile diet, but personally, I don't even want to think what that diet would include in the midst of a Canadian winter!

Recipe:
Use half a mini, seedless watermelon. Cut into the melon, stopping short of the rind, in a grid pattern, and use a spoon to remove the cubes of melon. Peel and chop an apple and an orange, add to watermelon and toss with raspberry vinaigrette. Pile it all into your watermelon bowl and enjoy!

February 13: It's the Works, Popeye!

I have to apologize for the quality of this photo. I took it with my tablet, which is a first, and I'm obviously not very good at it. Today was one of those days. I was famished by the time I got this salad done, and then my camera battery was dead. I tried to take a picture with my phone, and it immediately died too. I was getting quite grumpy by the time I finally got this rather fuzzy shot. 

Staying with my parents is pretty sweet. Now that they are retired, they don't stick to any firm schedule, and it's very laid back at their place. They've recently left the big house where they lived for 20 years to move to a smaller, more manageable place, and it's lovely and cozy. Besides, it's only a half hour from my son's house, and four of the cutest kids in the world. One of the best things about my parent's house it that they let me raid their pantry and fridge, so the only things I bought for this hefty salad were spinach and tomatoes. 

I would rate this one high on the yummy scale, but that's partly because I was really hungry, having skipped breakfast. It was very satisfying. The only thing that was a bit off-putting was that the ham was slightly maple flavoured. (I don't get it. I know that they sell a lot of maple-flavoured bacon and ham, but it is just weird to me.)  The ham was browned and hot, which made it seem much a much more substantial meal for some reason. 

Recipe: On a bed of fresh baby spinach, layer sliced mushrooms and baby carrots, chunks of tomato and crumbled goat feta. Drizzle with a cream balsamic dressing (mayo and some balsamic vinegar with a smidgen of sugar and a bit of water).

February 12: Sweetness and Light

I know it's a bad idea to eat before bed, but sometimes I get a craving for something sweet in the evening. If you are thinking that chocolate would be more appropriate, believe me, I do that too-- far too often! This dessert salad may be high in calories, but it is also very high in nutrition, and it satisfied my sweet tooth. I'm not a huge fan of rasins in salad, but these golden ones are particularly good. This cheese is not sweetened, but it was a perfect complement for the sweet dressing.
The only thing I was not really happy with was the peanuts, which were a bit stale. I think pecans would have been much nicer.

Recipe:

On a bed of red and green frisee lettuce, sprinkle crumbled soft goat cheese, golden raisins and freshly toasted chopped  nuts or peanuts. Drizzle generously with a lemon poppyseed dressing.

February 11: Family Day Salad

Today is British Columbia's first Family Day holiday, and so it was appropriate that we had a family dinner. My sister's family were at Mom and Dad's house for the weekend, so my kids and I headed over their at noon. There were five kids and seven adults, but we all squeezed in around the kitchen table and thoroughly enjoyed Family Day.

My contribution was, of course, a salad. It was so loaded with goodies that it felt a little short on lettuce!  To my surprise, I've been enjoying walnuts a lot lately. This is a surprise to me because I have always hated them. I love every other nut I've tried, but something about walnuts set my teeth on edge.  I don't know if my tastes have changed, or if these are just really good walnuts, but I really like them. The pears were not as ripe as I would have liked, so it could have been better, but all in all, it was a darn good salad, and there wasn't a speck left over.

Recipe:
Toss together red bib lettuce, sliced cucumber and pear, walnuts halves and soft cranberry-cinnamon goat cheese in a raspberry vinaigrette (The one I used was Bolthouse).