gratitude

How grateful I am for this:

 

The first lovely, delicate lettuce of the season, purchased yesterday from a charming, elderly gentleman farmer. Gratitude for the beauty and freshness of these greens, gratitude for the farmer. Gratitude for the first farmer's market of the season, gratitude for Spring!

And, gratitude for this tiny beauty growing in our garden:

 

It's a beautiful sight to see.

I love berry salads but am not a fan of the thick, sugary, goopy dressings that are often served with said salads. Recently, I decided to experiment (fancy that) and see what I could do with the bare minimum to dress a strawberry salad. Let me tell you, the result is bliss.

Meg's Spring Strawberry Salad

1 bunch of the freshest Spring greens you can find (or grow your own!)
1 bunch gorgeous strawberries, sliced thin
Raw pecans
Fresh chevre (Oh, how I love a really fine goat cheese! Buy the best you can afford. Cheap chevre tastes like wet goat fur.)
Extra virgin olive oil
Raspberry wine vinegar

Gently wash your Spring greens and give them a spin. Tear into bite-sized pieces. Watch out for kittens on the prowl. (As I was preparing my fresh -as in still graced with fine Kansas dirt- greens this evening, my kitty pounced on the counter, snagged a piece of lettuce, and ran off to devour it. That was certainly a first! She knows good greens when she smells them!)

Lovingly arrange the greens in your favorite salad bowls and generously sprinkle with sliced strawberries, pecans, and tiny dollops of chevre.

To dress, drizzle with very small amounts of both olive oil and raspberry vinegar. That's all. No goop needed. The amazing flavors of Spring will shine through!

Take a look at this beauty of a salad:

 

We ate our salads on the patio this evening, amidst the scent of lilacs on a gentle breeze. The house finches who are nesting in the evergreens around our patio watched us dine. It was a beautiful Spring night, a beautiful Spring meal. I am truly grateful!

PS - fix this for your Mama for Mother's Day and she will be dazzled!

lemon love

Can you tell that I'm in love with lemon? Just about everything I'm creating these days involves fresh, zesty lemon. Look - I think my lemon loves me, too!

 

There's something so beautifully refreshing about lemon - just like the season of Spring. And, the combination of lemon, feta, and oregano is simply one of my all time favorites. I like to call it the trifecta perfecta.

Anyway, this week I cleaned out the freezer to make way for new creations. For me, and only me, there was quite a moment of excitement when a few leftover falafel balls were discovered in the back of the freezer. To my sweeties, the verdict on falafel is yuck. But, I love them, especially because they are lemony and cute. Plus, it's fun to say falafel. :)

I wish I could say that I created the falafel myself, and perhaps I will learn to do so sometime soon, but for now, my source for falafel is Costco. These babies are happily non-fried and so darn good. I decided to defrost and pop them in a salad. YUM! If you like falafel, give this chilled salad version a try. It made my heart happy.

 

Falafel Salad

3 - 4 chilled falafel balls, quartered
large bunch organic spinach
1 cup chopped celery
bunch of alfalfa sprouts
sprinkles of feta
juice from 1/4 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
oregano sprinkles

Toss the spinach and celery in a bowl. Top with the falafel and sprouts and dot with feta. Drizzle on the lemon juice, olive oil and sprinkle with oregano (aka Simple Deliciousness dressing). Enjoy your lovely, lemony salad!

If you do not have a source for falafel, you could also easily make this salad with chilled chick peas. I also think this salad would be especially good paired with hummus and warm pita bread. And, a tall glass of sparkling water with lemon, of course.

celebration salad

Here's what was cooking in my kitchen today:

 

And the end result, thanks to Mom, Miranda, Martha (in absentia), and experimentation with electrical tape:

 

I think the Easter bunny will be proud. It sure was fun!

More fun is on the way for our family's special holiday dinner. Mom is cooking (yum!) and I have the pleasure of just bringing the salad. That's one thing that I get asked to do a lot as a veggie girl - bring the salad. And, I have just the salad to bring for Spring: my version of Tom and Beth's Mandarin Salad.

Tom and Beth are perhaps the most delightful couple on Planet Earth. I had the pleasure of taking yoga classes from Tom for about 10 years and our friendship grew and flourished during that time. His heartfelt, humorous, and deeply wise insights into life are a true blessing in my life. Plus, he's a total nut. In the best way possible. :) And, Beth is a treasure of gentleness and warmth. Together, they are the picture of love, which they so generously radiate into the world.

Tom and Beth are creating a beautiful retreat center, Timber Creek Hearth House, which you are welcome to learn more about here. We had the pleasure of visiting their gorgeous land and enjoying a lovely meal together in August 2002 in which we were served a most delicious salad. (How do I know the date? In a rare moment of archiving brilliance, I saved the email they sent with the recipe I requested and made sure that I noted the date. I wish I did this with all of the recipes shared with me by friends! What a fun history that would be in my recipe box. I will start today.) And, so, receiving that recipe has led me to make this delicious salad over and over again, for countless celebrations, remembering each time the kindness of Tom and Beth. That's how I think of this salad - in celebration. In friendship. Together, pure deliciousness. I hope you enjoy.

Celebration Salad
based on Tom & Beth's Mandarin Salad

In your favorite large salad bowl, generously toss together:
organic leaf lettuce
organic baby spinach
2 cups chopped celery
4 organic green onions, thinly sliced

Drain 2 - 3 cans of mandarin oranges (in juice, not water), reserving 1/2 cup of the juice. Gently sprinkle the oranges on top and enjoy their glowing loveliness!

 

Mix the dressing in your favorite cruet:
1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
1/2 C mandarin orange juice
4 tbsp. red wine vinegar
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (or dried if not in season)
dash salt and pepper

Shake well and serve with toasted almonds on the side. I have also topped this salad with gorgonzola, or strawberries, or sugared almonds. Make it your own for your own celebrations!

road trip ~ four

No diners, no dives today. We went a bit more upscale with a lovely lunch at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. I love art. I love beautiful cafes. So the mix of art and cafe all in one makes me a very happy girl.

 

A fresh, beautiful strawberry salad with spicy pecans and blue cheese was a welcome treat for this traveler. Plus, the Frist was a jewel of a gallery with a fabulous hands-on art studio for kids. If you are in the Music City, go!

shala

I am a lucky, lucky girl. When Miss M and I arrived at her piano lesson on Monday evening, her lovely teacher greeted us with three of these, fresh from the oven:

 

Homemade egg tarts. Oh, what a treat! A couple of years ago, my sweet family took me to eat dim sum for my birthday. What we didn't know was that dim sum is definitely not vegetarian friendly. I enjoyed the experience, however, of seeing all the little dishes on carts roll by and being a part of the incredibly lively atmosphere. But the best thing of all were the sweet and savory egg tarts - perhaps the one vegetarian item available that day. I think I ate ten. Happy birthday to me!

So with a gift like that for inspiration, it was time to whip together a little shala feast when we got home. Shala (pronounced shah-lah) is the Chinese word for salad.



My version of a Chinese salad does not involve those little ramen noodles all smooshed up. Sorry. Instead, I have fun with veggies (thank goodness I had a salad bar waiting for me in the fridge!) and top with one of our family's all-time favorites to add crispy deliciousness and excellent protein: Morningstar Farms Chik Patties. These babies sizzle up quickly and beautifully in the oven and can be used in a multitude of ways.

Shala Feast

While the chik patties are baking in the oven, create generously-sized individual salads with freshly chopped veggies:

Bibb lettuce
Baby leaf spinach
Bok choy
Edamame
Carrots
Red and yellow peppers
Pea pods
Baby pea sprouts

Be creative and use what's fresh and organic and strikes your fancy. Sprinkle with peanuts and/or sesame seeds and top with cubed chik patties, still warm from the oven. Drizzle an Asian inspired dressing on top to finish. We really like Maya's Miso Sesame or Brianna's Ginger Mandarin dressings.

 

I served our shala with side dishes of brown rice, steamed broccoli, pan-fried vegetarian dumplings, and mandarin oranges. We all had seconds it was so yummy! The egg tart waiting for me at the end made this a very delicious meal, indeed. Thank you again for the inspiration, Si-fou!

superstar

That's what you are. (You know it, too.) I've got that funky song in my head because I was trying to think of a phrase that rhymes with salad bar. Superstar seemed to assert itself instantly in my head, so I'm going with it. :)

Ahem . . . Yes! You too can be a superstar with this incredibly easy meal idea! You can get a whole bunch o' veggie prep done at once and simplify your meals for the next week. Plus, it's a great way to move some vegetable merchandise that's just sitting in the crisper. And, it's perfect for folks who are entertaining vegetarian / vegan friends and have no idea what to make. (Let me tell you, any time friends serve me a wide selection of veggies, I'm really happy.)

Simply gather together what veggies you have on hand + whatever looked good in the produce section and start choppin'. Put everything in separate storage containers and line up on the counter for your family and friends to make their own beautiful salads. Whenever your meal is done, simply pop the tops on the storage containers and stack up in the fridge. If you are like me, I hate to waste good food, so the likelihood that you will eat more veggies in the days ahead climbs significantly higher.

Yesterday, I chopped like crazy while chatting with my super-funky cousin Julie. Here's the little bean sprout just a few years ago, before she became one of OP's finest:



We had fun and I prepped enough veggies for a week's worth of meals ahead. Here's what made up our salad bar - and I used organic goodies as much as possible:

Superstar Salad Bar

Bibb lettuce
Leaf baby spinach
Carrots
Edamame
Bok choy (the chopped stems taste like a sweeter version of celery)
Sweet peppers
Green onions
Broccoli
Pea sprouts
Brown rice
Feta cheese
Parmesan cheese
Pine nuts
Peanuts (roasted, unsalted)
Sunflower seeds

I also had out dressings and the fixin's for simple deliciousness dressing.

We all enjoyed our own salad creations paired with easy peas pizza. When I'm in a hurry, it's great to pull out of the freezer Bellatoria brand cheese pizzas from Costco and top with our favorite stuff. I created my pizza with red peppers, feta, and Italian seasoning. Yum. It was a great, simple dinner. And, we had fun with the Joo!

just as they are

So, I'm sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office yesterday and in walks this elderly woman. I actually should say, in marches this elderly woman. She was an eye-catcher: red velvet pants, red high heels, black leather jacket, red furry earmuffs over platinum blond hair, teased way up. Wow! But, it gets better. She plants herself in front of the reception desk and belts out her name with a volume that woke everyone up - and there actually were two people snoozing in the lobby. (It was a great name, too. Fit her perfectly!) Once checked in, she took a chair up front and began rummaging around in her giant red (of course) purse. It sounded like she had pots and pans in there with all of the clanging going on. Then, she pulled out a huge bottle, whipped off those earmuffs, and began spraying herself with a fog of some perfume that I couldn't identify, but smelled thickly floral with perhaps a hint of cotton candy. A carnival-scented cloud hovered over the entire lobby.

I was riveted with this entrance. Everyone else was staring, too. How could you not?!? My first thought was, "Am I in the middle of some sort of performance art?" But as I watched her settle in to wait, seemingly unaware of the attention she had drawn to herself, I realized, this is just who she is. She's just being herself. Dang. It made me laugh inside and also marvel at her moxie. Wouldn't it be refreshing if we ALL showed our true selves to the world, velvet pants (if that's your thing) and all?

Okay, you've read this far. Probably you are wondering what this has to do with vegetarian cooking. I honestly do have a connection here and it has to do with salad dressing. Really.

I love veggies. Organic ones especially. I love their taste, scent, texture, and multitude of colors. And, I especially love them just as they are. Being themselves. Not covered up with globs of salad dressing (akin to stinky perfume, in my opinion) that masks their true flavor. Now I grew up with a wide selection of dressings in the fridge and still do enjoy a nice balsamic vinaigrette. But, for fresh salads that just shine with simple deliciousness, this is my dressing recipe:

Simple Deliciousness Dressing

drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
squirt of fresh lemon juice
sprinkle of herbs, fresh or dried** (I love basil, oregano, dill, thyme, you name it)

Create your dream salad. Put everything you love, or like, or are willing to give a try, into your favorite bowl. Make it pretty. Then, drizzle, squirt, and sprinkle right on top and enjoy.

I dare you to to enjoy vegetables just as they beautifully are, without covering them up. Put on some something red and channel the chutzpah of the woman above if you need a kick to get started. :)

 

**And, if you are seeking excellent dried herbs to flavor your meals, let me recommend Penzey's Spices. This gem in downtown OP is a sensory treat to visit. You can sniff away from glass jars and find all kids of great recipes, too. Plus, with their inexpensive prices, you can go a little wild trying new things.

 

Have fun!