National Salad Week

I know it's Wednesday, but I just found out that it's National Salad Week. (Just a week?)

Dennis has been taking voiceover classes in NYC on Tuesday evenings, and I don't really like cooking for just one, so I made myself a really big salad last night. With the exception of the olives and chickpeas, all the ingredients in this salad were bought at the farmers' market. And also with the exception of the chickpeas and olives, this meal is all raw, so it's cooling and perfect for summer. Since it's loaded with color, I know it's packed with nutrition. I also had a piece of raw bread with cashew cheddar with it.

But the real reason I'm posting yet another photo of a salad, is because I wanted to show off this gorgeous tomato. Isn't it beautiful? I'm so in love with heirloom tomatoes that I really can't eat "regular" tomatoes any more. It's tomato season here in NJ. There are so many different varieties of tomatoes, out there - give something new a try!

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Farmers' Market Salad

I was able to make it to the Farmers' Market again this weekend! When it's open, I do the bulk of my grocery shopping there since I eat so many veggies. After shopping, I love coming home and making a giant salad!

This salad has two types of lettuce, red cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes. I also added some chickpeas, avocado, sprouts and olives, which weren't from the farmers' market. I made a simple dressing using olive oil, lemon juice, a tiny amount of stone ground mustard and dried dill. The veggies are so flavorful that they don't really need much dressing.

Remember to make sure you get at least four colors of plant foods on your plate at every meal! Since the nutrients are actually in the plant's color, you can be sure you're getting all of the nutrients you need if your meals are colorful.

I could have gotten some more color in this salad if I had added some carrots, but sadly I put them in the fridge when I got home and forgot to put them in my salad!

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Sunflower Burger

Summertime's all about burgers and barbecues, right? Well, I thought it was time to give a raw burger a try. The recipe is another one from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The burgers are made with sunflower seeds, flax, celery, peppers and onion, and they're dehydrated for about three hours. I served them on Ani's Sunflower Sesame Bread with raw cashew cheddar, lettuce and tomato. They were quite delicious, and Dennis was really happy to try something new and tasty. I think this is probably the perfect summer burger, because it doesn't require turning the oven on or heating up the grill - both of which would overheat me!

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