Now that the hot weather is here, I’m more active (running and kayaking more; working in the yard, etc.) and I’m looking for foods that are filling and nutritious, but still light enough to allow me to move without being weighed down. The best food solution (for me) is salad: cool, crunchy, light , satisfying, guilt-free, and infinitely variable. In Summer I practically live on salads. The best is (like now) when local farms introduce the fresh lettuces.
But even during the colder months, good salads are available to us. My perennial favorite is a salad with a base of one of several pre-cut cole slaws mixed with a little taboule. The cole slaw by itself is a bit plain, but the taboule (fresh parsley, chopped tomatoes, cracked wheat germ, olive oil and lemon juice) is just the thing to liven the cole slaw up. I often add a little viniagrette…’tho you don’t need much with the taboule. Tightly sealed, I find both the cole slaw and taboule last all week-long.
With the addition of extras to this salad base, I can have a different salad each day of the week, so this salad never gets old. I often add some combination of fresh veggies, olives, garbanzo beans, cottage cheese, and nuts. The salad pictured above is cole slaw, taboule, red peppers, and pecans. As dressing, I used a few drops each of Blood Orange Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar from the Saratoga Olive Oil Company. A fine collection of salad condiments from Saratoga was given to me by my friends Christopher and Sara, who shortly will fly from the Yankee-land of snow and ice to grace their company on the The Lone Star State.
To Chris and Sara, much luck on your new life. Your intelligence, good company, generosity, guidance and inspiration (not to mention entertainment…both personal and professional) will be sorely missed by all your fans here in the cold, cold, North.
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