crunchy bits

Welcome to the Saladbration — a week-long ode to the salad. We’ve already posted some of our favorites over the past few months, and you can find them all, as well as our other recipes by clicking on the new Recipes tab at the top of the page! Don’t miss kale salad in our kickoff, golden cabbage, and cucumber arame salad.

I was housebound this weekend with a sick child who didn’t want me to leave his feverish side. Craving something quick, light and tangy, and I came up with this filling salad after scrounging in the fridge and cupboard. It took me about 10 minutes to throw together, and I had leftovers for the next day.

Tangy Carrot Salad

• 4-5 carrots, shredded
• 1/4 large onion, sliced
• 3-4 leaves romaine, sliced
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 sunflower seeds
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 avocado
• small handful of dill, chopped
• juice of 1-2 lemons or 1/4 cup ACV
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• 1-2 Tbs nutritional yeast
• salt to taste

Shred carrots, add to bowl with rest of ingredients. Mash avocado and mix salad. All done!

This is definitely one of those that benefits from an overnight in the fridge, allowing the flavors to mellow and meld. I used leftover baked local potatoes, scooped out the inside, put them under the broiler to crisp them up a bit and stuffed this salad inside for dinner tonight. But if I had more fresh produce on hand, I would have stuffed this into a red pepper, or rolled it up in a large collard leaf for a light sandwich wrap lunch! The avocados and seeds/nuts make it really satisfying.

You need no special equipment — I did use the food processor shredding blade for the carrots, but you could use a peeler, grater or mandoline. It’s really flexible — I used what I had on hand today because we planning to be away for the weekend and didn’t have much produce in the house. Next time I will add the nuts just before serving to preserve their crunch.

Today’s question:  What are some of your  favorite salad ingredients?