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Sunday, January 2

A Farmers' Market Chopped Salad


A farmers' market inspired salad is what I bring you today.  Besides finding and scouring through cookbooks, strolling through farmers markets is my absolute favorite pastime.  I haven’t visited one in a couple months, so I was way past due for a good long meander through my local market.  Today was glorious.  The sun was shining and the air, though chilly, was fresh and post-rain clean.  I got my cash ready and mozied along the street stopping at various booths that grabbed my attention.  Organic and local produce was prevalent and I couldn’t get enough of breathing in the earthy smell and tasting the sun-ripened sweetness.  Now, if you’ve never understood the draw of local or organic, let me explain.  


Basically, the more local your produce is the longer it’s on the vine, branch, in the ground, etc.  This means it’s not harvested until it is perfectly ready to explode with ripe goodness.  The taste, appearance and texture of the produce will be at its prime. If it’s organic this means the produce received nothing of a chemical nature that could alter the fruit or hurt the consumer.  A nice benefit for those of us that tend to forget about washing the produce before inhaling…like me…is that all we have to worry about is dirt. 


Now compare this to the chain grocery stores’ chemically-induced, oversized, pre-picked, poison-covered produce and perhaps you’ll join me and start visiting the local farmers' market! 


Because of my little trip I was able to create one of my tasty and nutritious chopped salads for lunch! This simple salad is made up of the ingredients I found there with a little help from Trader Joe’s brown rice and black beans.  Salads are not meant to be calculated or exact like some people’s approach to baking, so feel free to reduce or increase the amounts of any ingredient I include. 


{Farmers' Market Chopped Salad}

Kale
Chard
English Cucumber
Fuerte Avocado
Heirloom Tomatoes
Cooked Brown Rice (cooled)
Cooked Black Beans (cooled and salted)

{Fresh Dressing}
~for 2 1/2 – 3 cups of salad

1 TBSP Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
1 TBSP Eden’s Organic Red Wine Vinegar
1 TBSP Raw Organic Blue Agave
Sprinkle of Pink Sea Salt

Wash and chop the lettuce creating one-inch strips both horizontally and vertically.  This will help your body better digest the fibrous salad!  Slice the Cucumber, Tomatoes and Avocado.  Combine these with the Brown Rice and Black Beans and toss with the lettuce.  Drizzle with Fresh Dressing and toss again.  For a creamier dressing, pour in the Fresh Dressing and then mash the Avocado in a separate bowl (instead of chopping), mix it with a sprinkle of Pink Sea Salt and toss throughout salad. 

Enjoy!


{Shared and linked up with some favorites of mine}

6 comments:

Brittany said...

This post makes me so happy. I LOVE that we are on the same page today. I would LOVE one day to venture to a public market with you :)
Thank You SO much for submitting this to Seasonal Sundays.
And Ps.. I finally added you to the blog roll (LONG overdue)
xo, Brittany

{Sweet and Salty} said...

You are the sweetest! Perhaps we will have to venture to one sometime ;).

Linda said...

I like winter and cold weather, but you have me longing for warmer weather with all your fresh produce. There will be no farmer's markets around here for a few months yet.

{Sweet and Salty} said...

I am truly spoiled... you're time will come soon though! :)

Iris said...

Aww beautiful salad! I love how you arranged it. And homemade dressing is always the best.

{Sweet and Salty} said...

Thank you Iris! I love the simple dressings :)

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