Chia Seeds

Chia seeds are a "super food,"  one of those foods that is ridiculously healthy for you.  1/4 c of these tiny little seeds provides 25% DV calcium, and they are a better source of Omega-3 than salmon.  They can be easily added to all sorts of dishes.  Since they are so small, you can mix them into things and not even notice them there.  

I tried them for the first time tonight, and just mixed them into my salad.  It was rather too much chia seed and not enough salad, but I believe I can make them more appealing if I find something else to mix them into, or simply add less seeds to a salad of that size.  They absorb 10 times their weight in water, so they get rather gelatinous when you chew them up.  It's quite an odd feeling.  I think they would be better off getting mixed into yogurt or a smoothie.  

I had some delicious pasta and meatballs with my chia salad.  

Cranberry-Mustard Dressing

INGREDIENTS

3/4 c fresh or frozen cranberries

two small chunks of fresh ginger

rice vinegar

mustard

olive oil

DIRECTIONS

rinse the cranberries

grate the ginger

put them in a food processor along with:

a large squirt of mustard 

some rice vinegar

a whole bunch of olive oil

blend it up

pour it on some salad

yum

arugula, carrot, radish, zucchini

add pork

add salad dressing

add some tortilla chips for crunch

Cucumber Salad

a cool and refreshing summer salad

1/8 c chopped onion

3/4 large cucumber, chopped

1/2 avocado, chopped

enough yogurt-avocado dressing to coat veggies

delicious next to a burger

Salad w/ Fresh Greens

The 7/8 grade class at my school grew salad greens in their raised bed, and today we had a big salad buffet at lunch.  Then I got to take some leftover greens home...so I had another salad for dinner!  But my dinner salad was way fancier than my lunch salad...   The greens are/were fantastic!

This salad has: mezclun mix, arugula, zucchini, radish, carrot, avocado, strawberry, shrimp, and my homemade dressing.

One Tasty Salad

I'm not a huge salad fan...but every now and then I manage to make one that tastes pretty darn yummy.

Lettuce blend: Spring Mix/Spinach

Zucchini

Carrot

Strawberry

Avocado

Ranch