Herbed Cucumber Salad

July 19, 2022

We love this summery, cooling cucumber salad. It is herbaceous, bright, and fresh. It is great to put in wraps, stir into hummus, or eat as a side. Quick to make, it adds a real punch of flavor to our summer meals.

Makes: enough to top 6 sandwiches

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup diced cucumber

1 small tomato, optional

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

salt

1/4 cup minced parsley

1 tbsp minced green part of green onion

1/4 cup minced mint

Wash and finely dice the cucumber. If using tomato, first cut it in half. If it is meaty, finely dice and add to cucumber. If it has a good bit of water, scoop out the water and seeds before dicing to decrease the liquid in salad. Finely mince the herbs. Toss the herbs, tomato (if using), cucumber, salt and lemon juice in a bowl. Refrigerate before enjoying!

Early Spring Salad with Orange Dressing

June 21, 2022

We’re still seeing late season citrus in our local grocery store and we love to add that late citrus to spring veggies that are in season here in the Pacific Northwest. Delicious asparagus, spring peas, and purple radishes with freshly picked greens. We didn’t include amounts of asparagus feel free to use as much or as little as you have or as you want to eat. We use the crispy fava beans as protein in this salad, however if you don’t have them boiled eggs or fried tofu would both be good substitutes.

Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the Salad:

Leafy Greens - early spring options include arugula, mustard greens, baby chard, spinach, radicchio, and pea greens

Asparagus

Radishes

Snow peas

Crispy Spring Onions

Good Bean Sea Salt Crispy Favas and Peas

For the Dressing:

1/2 cup orange Juice

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Move an oven rack to the top shelf in your oven, and turn the oven to the broil setting. Rinse and cut the ends off of your asparagus. Toss in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Layer the asparagus in a single layer on a cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes. Flip the asparagus and broil for 5 minutes on the other side. The asparagus is easy to burn on the broil setting, so we recommend using a timer and watching them closely. Remove from oven and make the crispy spring onions.

Chop the remaining vegetables and cut or tear the salad greens (if you want to). Put all of the salad dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake until it’s emulsified/fully combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl (except the spring onions). Toss with salad dressing. Top with spring onions and enjoy!

Harvest Salad with Creamy Dressing

June 29, 2021

I’ve been making a version of this salad every week with my CSA. The first week we had radishes, but by the time I wrote up this post radishes were gone and cucumbers were here! I recommend making the salad with whatever veggies you have on hand. We used agave to balance the sweetness of the salad dressing because that’s what we had on hand, feel free to substitute other sweeteners like honey, sugar, or maple syrup.

Serves: 2-4

Time: 1 hr (15 minutes active time)

Ingredients

2 - 4 eggs (depending on how many you want to eat)

1/2 lb - 1lb salad greens

1 bunch radishes

1/2 cup sliced pecans (option to toast these)

5 small potatoes, we like carola’s or a waxy kind

1/2 tub Kite Hill ricotta (optional)

For the dressing:

1/3 cup mayonnaise, we like the vegan versions of this best

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp almond milk

2 tsp mustard

1 tsp agave (or substitute sugar)

salt + pepper to taste

Note: you can always make the boiled eggs and roasted potatoes ahead of time and then the whole salad only takes about 15 minutes to assemble. Often I will make triple of the eggs and potatoes so that I can eat this for the next few days with little work or re-purpose these cooked ingredients into different meals.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Clean and thinly slice the potatoes (no need to peel them). Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for about 1 hour or until golden brown flipping every 20 minutes.

Place the eggs in a lidded pot with cold water. (We tried it with salted and unsalted water and it made no difference in the texture or taste of the eggs.) Bring this water to a rolling boil and then turn off the heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and cool them immediately by running them under cold water or putting in an ice bath.

Hot tip: if you aren’t sure if your eggs are still good (if you’ve had them a while) when you put them in the pot of water if they sink or are near the bottom they are good to eat, if they float to the top they are not good, do not eat them.

Create the salad dressing by whisking all the dressing ingredients together. Feel free to double or triple and use over multiple days and or for other meals.

Rinse and dry the lettuce. Break into bite sized chunks. Clean and slice the radishes. To assemble put greens, radish, sliced pecans, feta cheese, sliced boiled eggs, and roasted potatoes in a bowl and pour the dressing over. Enjoy!

Chickpea Caesar Salad

August 18, 2020

August heat brings us delicious sweet tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers. One of our favorite ways to eat these are in this delicious Caesar salad. If you don’t want to cook the crispy chickpeas you can purchase these. Many natural food stores sell some sort of chickpea snack often found near other small snacks.

Serves: 2-4 as a meal; 6-8 as a side

Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

1 head lettuce

1 medium cucumber, chopped

2 cups crispy chickpeas

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 bell pepper, cored and sliced

1/2 cup sliced radish

2 medium carrots cut into thin coins

6 tbsp capers

salt

For the dressing:

3/4 cup soaked cashews

1/2 cup water

3 tbsp olive oil

4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp mustard powder

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp caper liquid

2 tsp capers

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Optional garnish:

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Wash, spin or drip dry, and chop the lettuce. Rinse and slice all the veggies. Camille likes to remove the cucumber seeds by slicing the cucumber in half and scooping them out with a spoon before chopping the cucumber up into small bits. This can keep the cucumber extra crunchy, but if you love the seeds feel free to leave them in.

Scoop out 6 tbsp of capers and remove the liquid from them. Don’t throw this liquid away, as you will use some in the dressing. Heat a small pan with 1 tbsp olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the capers to the hot oil. Then salt generously. Stir constantly for about 7 minutes until they are dark and slightly crispy but not blackened. Remove from oil and set aside.

If you are using the optional garnish, blend the sesame seeds and nutritional yeast together in a dry blender until it is powdery. Set aside. Do this step before mixing the salad dressing ingredients to save on dish washing and because once the blender is wet it is impossible to blend the dry garnish.

Next, put all the salad dressing ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

Anne’s favorite way to serve this salad is to put the lettuce and salad dressing in a bowl and toss until completely coated. Then add the toppings and enjoy!

Curried Chickpea Salad

June 30, 2020

We’re grieving the loss of summer potlucks, picnics, and days at the beach with friends. Normally we would bring this chickpea salad, a bag of local cherries, and some chips to the river and just relax all day. With COVID, we’ve been traveling less but we still enjoy eating this delicious salad. I like to toast bread, cover it with mayo and then add this salad for a chickpea salad sandwich!

Serves: 4 as side

Time: 20 minutes + chickpea cooking time

Ingredients

3/4 cup halved red grapes

2 cans chickpeas (1 1/3 cup dry*)

for the sauce:

1/2 med onion (1 cup) chopped

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 cup vegan mayo (soy-free option)

1/2 tsp salt

juice of 1/2 lemon (2 tbsp lemon juice)

Slice grapes in half and chop the onion. Saute the onion in oil until it’s starting to be translucent, about 10 minutes.

While the onion is cooking, mash the chickpeas in a medium bowl. When mashing, the texture is important. You are looking to crush the chickpeas into a meaty texture but you do not want to over-mash as you could end up with hummus! Toss the chickpeas with the lemon juice and salt and set aside.

Once the onions are translucent, add the curry powder, stir for an additional minute and then remove from heat. In the pan you cooked the onions in, add the mayo, stirring to combine. Pour sauce into mashed chickpeas and stir to coat. Fold in the grapes and enjoy!

*Cooking Chickpeas from dry:

In the Instant Pot:

To cook the chickpeas, in an Instant Pot, add 1 1/3 cup of dried chickpeas to the pot. Cover the beans with water (in the small Instant Pot this is about 6 cups of water), season with 1 tbsp kosher salt, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, and 1/8 tsp cayenne. Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 35 minutes letting depressurize naturally. Drain and rinse before adding to the dish.

On the stove:

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, you can easily cook chickpeas from scratch with a little planning. First you will need to soak the chickpeas which can be done one of two ways. 1. you can soak them overnight making sure they have enough water and space to double in size or 2. you can put them in a pot and bring to boil, then turn off the water and let soak for one hour. Again, make sure you have enough water and space that they can double in size.

Once you have soaked your beans, rinse them and then put in a pot with salty water. These will be cooking for about 2 hours so you don’t want as much salt as you would use for pasta, but you do want to add enough that you can taste the salt. The best way to get good at this is to practice. Each time you salt the water, taste it and when the beans are done taste them to see if they are well salted. A well salted bean should taste flavorful but not salty. If it tastes like you are eating salt, you added too much. If the bean lacks flavor then you didn’t have enough salt.

For this recipe, also add 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, and 1/8 tsp cayenne to the chickpeas as they cook. Cook the chickpeas until they are soft but not falling apart (this will take 1.5-2 hours). We recommend checking the beans at about an hour and then every 20 minutes until they are soft but not disintegration. Make sure your pot has enough water as I have definitely cooked all the water off before and burnt the beans! This may seem like a lot of work, however once you get the hang of it the work is almost all passive and the reward is high: chickpeas cooked from scratch taste much better and are much cheaper!

Winter Bounty Kale Salad

February 18, 2020

My dear friend Meredith shared this recipe with me. It is perfect in the fall or winter when what you have in abundance is root vegetables, apples, and kale. I love all the colors in this salad; it’s a treat for the eyes and on the palette! We usually don’t peel the vegetables (sweet potato and apple are left un-peeled) however we recommend peeling the carrot because peeled carrot tastes sweeter when you roast it. You can totally leave the carrot peel on, however it will add a bit of bitterness to the dish.

Serves: 2-4

Time: 1 1/2 hrs (45 minutes active time)

Ingredients

1 medium sweet potato (1 lb), 1/4“ diced

2 root vegetables (3/4 lb), peeled and 1/4” diced (we used carrots but parsnips and beets are also nice)

4 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 medium green apple, diced

1/2 cup raw un-salted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds

for the chickpeas:

1 15-oz can chickpeas or 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas*, drained

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp garlic powder

for the kale:

1 generous bunch kale, chopped into thin ribbons

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 pinch of salt

for the dressing:

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup tahini

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp hot water

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/8 tsp turmeric

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Dice the sweet potato and root vegetables. Toss in a bowl with 4 tbsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Spread on baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes. This should be about 45 min. Toss chickpeas in a bowl with 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp curry powder, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp turmeric, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. Spread on baking sheet and cook until golden brown and slightly crispy, stirring every 15 minutes. This should be about 45 min.

Wash and de-stem the kale. Cut into tiny strands (chiffanade). Pour 1 tsp apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt over the kale and massage until the kale turns a bright green color.

Combine all ingredients for the dressing and whisk until smooth. Toast pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds in a dry pan on medium heat until fragrant. Raw seeds can burn quickly, so remove from heat if starting to brown. Dice the green apple.

Combine kale, chickpeas, roasted vegetables, apple, and pumpkin seeds. Dress each serving of salad before eating. Enjoy!

Hot tip: If you end up with extra dressing, it makes a great sauce to use in wraps.

*Cooking chickpeas from dry:

In the Instant Pot:

To cook the chickpeas in an Instant Pot, add 3/4 cup of dried chickpeas to the pot. Cover the chickpeas with water (in the small Instant pot this is about 6 cups of water), season with 1 tbsp kosher salt, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne. Set the Instant pot to pressure cook for 35 minutes letting depressurize naturally. Drain and rinse before adding to the dish.

On the stove:

For this recipe, also add 1 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne to the chickpeas as they cook. Cook the chickpeas until they are soft but not falling apart (this will take 1.5-2 hours). We recommend checking the beans at about an hour and then every 20 minutes until they are soft but not disintegrating. Make sure your pot has enough water as I have definitely cooked all the water off before and burnt the beans! This may seem like a lot of work, however once you get the hang of it the work is almost all passive and the reward is high: chickpeas cooked from scratch taste much better and are much cheaper!