Saturday, June 10, 2006

Vegetarians Like Fun Stuff on Their Salads Too!

The month of June is basically one giant greens festival at our CSA. Consequently, we eat a lot of salads in June. We try to keep it interesting by varying what's in the salad along with the greens. This time of year typical vegetable add ins are cauliflower, broccoli and kohlrabi. I love salads and could eat one everyday without much variation but I think the rest of the family might revolt.

Yesterday, I heated up a small cast iron pot over medium low heat and tossed in:
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp garlic powder

I kept stirring it to get the garlic powder well mixed and to prevent the nuts from burning. Once the whole mixture is browned, transfer the mixture to a bowl and let everyone sprinkle this mixture on top of their salad. This was a delicious treat! It also solved the double challenge of finding a vegan crouton and one that doesn't have partially hydrogenated oils in it.

My daughter, Leenie, likes this so much that she has taken several salad concoctions topped with it to school in the last few weeks. The nuts give the salad some protein and fat which makes it more of a meal rather than just a side dish.

My youngest son was looking through my cookbooks and found a recipe for frozen banana pops that really intrigued him. Its just a peeled banana, brushed with maple syrup, coated in coconut and frozen. We'll probably make a few after karate this morning. BTW, for those of you with picky eaters, let your kids pick a recipe and get involved in the cooking. It can really help improve their willingness to try new things.

Monday's post will be up late in the day. I'll be sharing the end of school year gifts that I made for a very special group of coworkers.

No comments: