Fresh From the Garden Salad with Feta Cheese and a tangy dressing

My parents have an incredible garden in their backyard, this week my Mom gave me cucumbers, yellow and green beans, beets, and yellow cherry tomatoes.  Fresh vegetables are so incredible and packed with nutrients lost in travel.  So my salad is inspired by the freshness shared with me

Fresh From the Garden Salad with Feta Cheese
serves 4
Prep time 15 minutes

-1 cup fresh raw green and yellow beans, washed and sliced into bite size pieces
-1 small purple onion chopped
-1 cup of fresh cherry tomatoes (yellow, red etc) sliced in half
-1 cup fresh cucumber sliced
-2 tablespoons hemp seeds
-1/4 cup sun flower seeds
- Feta cheese crumbled

-Combine the veggies in a bowl, add the hemp seeds and sunflower seeds and top with feta cheese.  Serve with salad dressing.

Tangy Dressing

-2/3 cup avocado oil
-1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
-pepper
-juice of half a lemon
-1 teaspoon smoked mustard

Mix all together and taste.  Add some maple syrup if to tangy or honey.

Baked Pear, Fresh Fig, Roasted Almond and Arugula Salad

Baked Pear, Fresh Fig, Roasted Almond and Arugula Salad
serves 4 to 6

-1/2 cup blanched, sliced almonds
-2-3 pears, cut in half and cored
-cinnamon
-ground ginger
-arugula
-fresh figs, washed and sliced in half

Salad Dressing

-2 tablespoons grainy Dijon Mustard
-2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-1-2 tablespoon maple syrup
-juice of half a lime
-pinch of salt
-fresh pepper

Cut and core pears, in a baking dish place the pears and sprinkle with ginger and cinnamon.  Bake in oven at 350 unit soft.  You can add a small amount of butter on the pears if you wish.  (about 20 minutes).  In a frying pan gently roast the almonds on medium low heat, Stir frequently.  I do this with no oil, there is enough oil in almonds.  Place arugula in a bowl, add almonds, figs and place the baked pear on top.  Make the salad dressing by mixing the ingredients and taste, if to tart add a little more olive oil, or maple syrup.

Golden Beets in an Apple Cider Vinegar Ginger Glaze

Golden Beets in an Apple Cider Vinegar Ginger Glaze

-4-6 golden beets
-1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
-2/3 cup water
-1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
-2 tablespoons maple syrup
-1 tablespoon sesame oil
-1 tablespoon tamari (soya sauce)

In a large pot boil the beets, cook until you can pierce with a fork, depending on size of beets about 30 minutes.  In a small pan boil the vinegar, apple cider vinegar and ginger.  As this cooks it will start to thicken and once it has boiled down add the maple syrup, tamari and sesame oil.  Peel the beets and slice, then place beets in a large bowl and coat with the glaze.  Allow to sit for a few minutes for the flavours to infuse.  Roasted sesame seeds would be fantastic over beets.

Poppy Seed Veggies with Pomegranate and mustard sauce

Poppy Seed Veggies with Pomegranate and Mustard Sauce

-1/2 red onion sliced

-1 zucchinni sliced

-1/2 sweet potato

-3 beets cooked and sliced

-2 tablespoons poppy seed

-different greens (kale, beets greens, collards etc)

-1/2 pomegranate

In a frying pan and add olive oil, once warm add onions and sweet potatoes, zucchinni.  Cook until they are browned.  (already have the beets cooked, peeled and sliced).  Once they are all browned, add poppy seeds.  Then add the greens and continue to stir.  Place in a bowl and top with pomegranate.  

Mustard Maple Sauce

-3 tablespoons of olive oil

-1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 

-1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

-salt and pepper

-1 tablespoon maple syrup

-juice of half a lemon

Mix and top on salad.