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I drove to SLO today and decided to drive the scenic route through the Nipomo Mesa, wind my way along the coast through Arroyo Grande and then through the Edna Valley. The drive is beautiful and peaceful and one always encounters roadside produce vendors.
My tomatoes aren’t quite ripe yet so I purchased a couple of pounds of delicious, vine ripened and sweet tomatoes along Los Berros. I love to visit this little stand in the small, warm valley below the mesa where juicy, ripe, tomatoes are piled in baskets for one to choose and pay on the “honor system”.
Caprese is a remarkably easy to prepare salad and should be made of only the very freshest ingredients! Vine ripened tomatoes, Mozzarella Bufala, fragrant Basil Leaves and copious amounts of the best olive oil are the foundation for one of the tastiest salads available!
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As Summer approaches I get in a salad mood again. Mia and I love salads of all types from the fresh, leafy greens with a light vinaigrette to a heavier potato or pasta salad. Salads are great Summer food and generally easy to prepare.
Mia brought to our recipe box a lovely, and oft requested Sweet and Sour Bean Salad, a gift from her grandmother. This salad heralds from the days of pot luck dinners and church socials and is perfect for such an event as it makes plenty, satisfies and is generally appealing. I always loved her salad however I decided to make a few changes. [...]
 As Spring nears I am aching for Spring foods; and salads are definitely on my short list!
At a potluck party recently, a friend of ours, Pamela, brought her Kale Salad. Mia had tasted the salad a couple of times and each time remarked about how very delicious it was, and now it was my turn to experience it. I am not being gracious when I say it was delicious!
Kale is a wonderfully healthy vegetable related to other brassicas such as broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower. As a leafy green it excels at providing beta carotene, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium and cancer fighting anti-oxidants. Chopped, kale is thought to have powerful anti-cancer properties. How much better to chop and then bruise it to release all of the available Sulforaphane! [...]
 I love to make egg rolls, Spring rolls and similar appetizers and wanted to replicate the Thai style dipping sauce served along with Spring roll at our local Thai restaurant. The sauce was somewhat thinner than other dipping sauces usually accompanying egg roll and had a wonderful sweet and sour taste. In the usual Thai style it was very fresh tasting and while little clings to the egg roll the intensity of flavor makes it perfect. [...]
I recently enjoyed an Angel Hair Pasta Salad at a Mediterranean restaurant, and was inspired! Tender, thin pieces of pasta drenched in a light dressing was a perfect lunch for my lazy afternoon.
I decided to try to replicate the salad but ended up with a version I liked a lot more. I started with Capelli d’angel “Angel Hair” and drenched it with a mixture of fruity olive oil, lots of fresh garlic, and deliciously ripe lemons; stuffed with ripe tomatoes and scallions and crowned with rich, double cream, Hungarian Feta my salad was more than I hoped it would be.
This salad is very easy to put together and can be ready for a taste in about 15 minutes but the flavors need to meld together so make it a few hours ahead for best results. Don’t be tempted to use anything but the best olive oil and only Capelli d’angel; any other pasta will be too heavy and the light, fresh flavors of the dressing will be lost. [...]
 Fresh beets are a delicious, naturally sweet, and very good for you vegetable that should be a part of any diet. High in folates and betacyanin, the stuff that give them their intense color, beets are powerful for fighting cancers, reducing cholesterol levels and fighting heart disease and reducing inflammation. Anyone of these benefits should make them a must have part of a healthy diet. [...]
 Long before there was Thousand Island Dressing there was Russian Dressing. They really are very similar dressings and I like to combine the best of both worlds.
There are many, many ways to make a Russian or Thousand Island Dressing. Some are tomato heavy and some rely on lots of vinegar and classic thousand island uses lots of pickle relish My approach is to stay clear of the pickle relish (can’t be more than Hundred Islands) in favor of herbs and spices. Fresh herbs and full-bodied spices make a delicious dressing. [...]
Thai flavors are tantalizing, crisp and fresh. Thai food depends mainly upon the very freshest ingredients and balancing the flavors hot, sour, sweet, salty, and bitter in each meal if not dish. The tongue is alive with freshness, the taste buds are opened with heat and caressed with sweet and salty. Each dish, if properly prepared, will entice you to experience another. Simple or complex, the flavors of a Thai influenced dish are delicious. [...]
 Greek Salad – yum! Nothing but the freshest ingredients comprise a Greek Salad. Tomatoes, ripe and fresh, red onions, cucumber, kalamata olives, feta cheese, olive oil and fresh herbs. Fresh and fabulous flavors that make you feel great just looking at the salad.
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Tabbouleh is an awesome salad! I visited my garden and clipped a pile of fresh parsley and another of mint, a few tomatoes and I was ready for an excellent salad. Tabbouleh is wonderfully satisfying, good for you and easy to prepare. Serve it as a part of a mezze for a completely satisfying and delicious meal. [...]
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