I can’t believe how much I’ve enjoyed this salad. Yumm just doesn’t describe it. Layered at the bottom of the bowl is a layer of mixed sprouts (alfalfa-red clover-fenugreek sprouts). Next, a generous scoop of the salad I mentioned yesterday — shredded purple cabbage, mung bean sprouts and lentil sprouts, tossed in our favorite dressing. Then, crumbled raw goat cheddar cheese from Azure Standard and raw pumpkin seeds. Then on the very top, generous wedges of local, heirloom tomatoes. The finishing touch is a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper on the tomatoes. This salad is infinitely flexible, according to what is in season in your area. Other things that could be added: sliced cucumbers, sticks of kohlrabi, sliced zucchini or squash. The more flavors, the better!

Related: The thrift store glass jar I found to store my pumpkin seeds!

© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.

With the weather warming up, we sure feel like having lighter, cooler foods. This is a deliciously simple chicken salad. We like to eat it with Quinoa Dinner Cakes. Yesterday when we were out clearing brush and cleaning up our property, I brought out a bowl of this chicken salad and a bunch of the dinner cakes. Yummy lunch — or dinner!

Yummy Chicken Salad

• 1/4 to 1/2 onion, finely diced
• 2 to 3 cups cooked chicken, diced
• sea salt and pepper
• few pinches of dried basil
• generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• few splashes of balsamic vinegar
• finely grated goat cheddar cheese (optional)
• chopped olives (optional)

Toss all ingredients. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve atop greens, in a sandwich, or alongside Quinoa Dinner Cakes.

© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.

The next time we have this dressing, I would back off the water to about 1-1/2 cups. I feel that as written, this recipe results in too thin a dressing.

modified by Wardeh Harmon from “The Guilt-Free Gourmet”

• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 3 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Blend first 6 ingredients in blender until smooth. Add olive oil. Blend to incorporate. Transfer to glass jar. Mix in parsley, basil and poppy seeds. Refrigerate unused portion. Mix well before serving.

Undoubtedly, my favorite grain is quinoa. We use it in place of rice, for variety. I think it is beautiful. The pearls turn translucent when cooked and the pretty little spiral threads that curl off the grains are enchanting. This summer, I’ve discovered cold grain salads — and quinoa makes delicious cold salads. This is a very flexible and forgiving recipe that you can really make your own.

Cold Quinoa Salad

I hope the fact that this is a “to taste” recipe won’t discourage you from giving it a try. See what tastes good to you and give it a go!

• 4 cups cold soaked and cooked plain quinoa*
• 1 cup cooked and cold pinto beans (or other bean of your choice)
• 1/4 cup shredded goat cheddar cheese
• other add-ins of your choice — diced or shredded veggies or sliced olives
• oil of your choice — extra virgin olive oil, red palm oil**, or grapeseed oil
• dash of toasted sesame oil
• vinegar of your choice — balsamic, raw apple cider or rice
• sea salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or to taste

Put quinoa in a big salad bowl. Use a wooden spoon to separate the grains. Add the beans, cheese and add-ins. Toss, taking care not to smash the beans. Add oils, vinegar, sea salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Adjust to taste.

*To cook quinoa, see these instructions.

**If using red palm oil: If red palm oil is solid at room temperature (depending on the season), mix it with the quinoa while the quinoa is still warm. Then chill the quinoa thoroughly before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon

Onion-Dill Croutons

• 1 loaf of whole grain bread, 1/2″ cubes
• 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dill weed
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Combine all ingredients and toss together thoroughly, so none of the seasonings are concentrated in one area. Taste; adjust seasonings.

Spread out on 9″ x 13″ baking pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon

When we first married, Jeff told me how much he loved salads and how he would love to eat salad every day. I’m sorry to admit that I didn’t take him at his word until about five years into our marriage. After repeated encouragements from him and a desire growing in me to provide healthier foods for our family, I started serving salads at every lunch and dinner. Now it has been another five years that we have eaten salad daily. There are perhaps a dozen days a year when we do not have salad. Those days we don’t have it, we miss it.

Our son, Mikah, is looking forward to his 6th birthday. When I asked him what he wanted to eat on his birthday, he said — pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and cabbage salad for dinner. He frequently eats more than one helping of salad. But he is not the only one in our family who loves salad; we all do.

Read more about A Healthy Salad Habit…

I take my glass salad dressing container with a plastic removable pour spout (or a pint size jar with lid). In it, I put a little sweetener (raw honey usually), about 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and onion powder, along with 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. I also add dried herbs, but more liberally, about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of each. Usually I pick dill because that is my favorite herb flavor for salad dressing. Over all this, I fill the container 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up with raw apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar (or some of each). I put the lid on and shake it all up. I remove the lid and fill the rest of the container up with extra virgin olive oil and a dash of toasted sesame seed oil. Replace lid and shake well before each serving.

This salad gets its name because it is so good with summer garden produce. The salad we enjoyed yesterday contained patty pan squash from our garden; perfectly ripe tomatoes from our friend’s garden; and local cabbage and bell peppers from a farm stand.

Summer’s Bounty Cabbage Salad

• 1/2 head green cabbage — thinly sliced
• 2 bell peppers — cored and thinly sliced
• 2 patty pan squashes — quartered, then thinly sliced
• 2 ripe tomatoes — sliced in wedges
• 1/4 cup raisins
• juice of one lemon
• drizzle of agave syrup
• liberal amount of extra virgin olive oil
• few dashes of toasted sesame oil
• sprinkling of fresh or dried dill
• seasoning salt — to taste
• black pepper — to taste

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and toss to coat. Adjust seasonings. Serve.

© Copyright 2006 by Wardeh Harmon.

• 1 or 2 heads Napa cabbage or green cabbage, thickly shredded
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 4 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
• other veggies as desired: cherry tomatoes, small pieces of broccoli or cauliflower, etc.
• balsamic vinegar — start with 1/8 cup
• extra virgin olive oil — start with 1/2 cup
• salt & pepper
• 2 to 4 tablespoons of raw honey or raw agave syrup

Toss all vegetable ingredients — cabbage, green onions, carrots, raisins, nuts and other vegetables. Add dressing ingredients — balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, pepper and honey or agave. Toss. Adjust seasonings to taste. It is best to add dressing ingredients shortly before serving to keep cabbage crisp. Serve or chill.

© Copyright 2006 by Wardeh Harmon

Judy, Jeff's mom, taught me how to make this Chinese Chicken Salad recipe while she visited us. This is how we did it.

Judy's Chinese Chicken Salad

1 whole chicken, deboned and cold
1 to 1-1/2 heads shredded cabbage (Napa or green)
4 carrots, shredded
1 bunch green onion, sliced thinly
1/2 to 1 cup slivered almonds (we had chopped)
chow mein noodles
mandarin orange chunks (we used regular oranges)
good Asian or favorite dressing (we used Amy's Papaya Poppyseed)

Toss the chicken, cabbage, carrots and green onion in a big, big bowl. Serve up the tossed salad and top with garnishes and dressing. Optional: Add dressing to the bowl and toss well.

When we enjoyed the salad the next day, there was no more of the Amy's dressing left, so I tossed the salad with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a dash of toasted sesame oil, salt and pepper. It was really yummy. We think it would really be good to add small bits of broccoli, cauliflower and cooked beans, too. Haniya has already requested this for her birthday dinner in July.