No words can describe how refreshing and sabroso this delightful salad is.  It will make you want to dance, jump rope, yodel, and make sand castles all in the same day!  Of course it will… the dressing has honey in it.  I recently found out HONEY is a natural energy booster that will help sustain your energy levels through out the day!  YAY!  I stuck that information in my pocket and thought “I’m going to start making my own salad dressing with honey in it!”  Paired with beets, cucumber, my favorite sweet watermelon, and pistachios it’s sure to be a palate thriller.  It’s time to get summer started.  Go ahead – Dance yourself silly.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

This recipe will make 4 salads.

Ingredients for honey lime dressing:

1 1/2 – tablespoons honey

1 – tablespoon Nakano rice vinegar

1 – tablespoon olive oil

2 – tablespoons fresh lime juice

In a small bowl add honey, rice vinegar, olive oil, and lime juice.  Mix well and set to the side.

Ingredients for salad:

3 – beets (I used both red and golden for this salad)

1/2 – seedless watermelon

1 – cucumber (peeled)

2 – tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

1 – tablespoon chopped pistachios (I use Wonderful Pistachios)

1 – tablespoon fresh mint (chopped- about 4 to 5 leaves)

a pinch of black pepper

In a medium pot filled halfway with water, place over a high flame and bring to a boil. Add beets and let boil for 30 minutes or until fork can easily pierce through.

Once cooked, take off flame and drain water.  Rinse under cold water allowing beets to cool, and drain again.  Then take a beet and cut off ends, and slowly peel off skin either with your fingers or under running cold water.

Once all skin is removed, slice into quarter inch slices.  If using red beets, slice them last. They will stain your fingers and all the other veggies/fruit.  That’s the reason I photographed the golden ones. 🙂

Now slice up the watermelon into a 2 x 4 rectangle about an inch thick, and slice the cucumber into a 1/2 inch thick vertical slice.

Then assemble.  I started with 3 red beets on the bottom, then added a slice of watermelon.  Topped the watermelon with a slab of cucumber and placed a golden beet up on top.  So pretty and color drenched.

Let’s get the dressing on this stack!  Pour one tablespoon of honey lime dressing right on top and let it drizzle down.

Lastly sprinkle with blue cheese, pistachios, chopped mint and a pinch of black pepper! EAT IT UP YUM!

I remember the first time I tried pesto pasta salad, and who I was with.  My uncle Ron, the most exciting person on the face of this earth.  Not only does Ron make me feel like I could walk on the moon, he is also a wealth of information, and a experimental food lover/taster/cook.  His character is very playful and lives to push the envelope on all aesthetic levels.  Everyone who meets him is immediately taken by his talent, wit, and kindness.  Oh I wish you could meet him, or maybe your lucky enough to know him.

It must have been more than two decades ago, he was having a birthday party at his home in Silverlake.  Amongst all the beautiful tasty dishes sat a big bowl of pesto pasta salad.  The food was definitely a hot topic of the night, and had everyone in a social chatty mood, as it always does in his home.  But the pesto pasta salad was also the first to go, I recall being truly disappointed that a second serving wasn’t in the stars for me.  By the following weekend…. I was making my own version.  Thanx for the inspiration Ron!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for pesto:

6 – ounces fresh basil leaves (about 3 packed cups)

4 – garlic cloves (peeled)

1 1/4 – cups olive oil

1 1/2 – cups toasted pine nuts

5 – ounces shaved parmesan cheese

1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

In a food processor or blender add basil, garlic cloves and 1 cup olive oil. Pulse/blend until smooth.  Then take a spatula and scrape down the sides. Add pine nuts and pulse/blend some more until smooth.

Next add shaved parmesan cheese, black pepper, and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil pulse again till smooth.

Set to the side.

Ingredients for pasta salad:

1 – pound campanelle pasta (cooked according to box, and drained) (I use Barilla)

1 1/2 – cups pesto

1 – tablespoon chicken or vegetable bouillon (I use Knorr)

1 – cup sun dried tomatoes (cut into small strips)

1/2 – cup toasted pine nuts

2 1/2 – cups grilled asparagus (cut into 2 inch pieces)

1/2 – cups shaved parmesan cheese

In a big mixing bowl add cooked and drained pasta, bouillon, and pesto. Mix well.

Then add sun dried tomato strips, pine nuts, and grilled asparagus.  Mix well.

Mix in parmesan cheese, and garnish with a basil leaf and a sun dried tomato! That’s it your done! Enjoy!

It’s so easy being GREEN!

Not only is this salad rapturous to my tongue, it’s complete fantasy to my eyes.  With a kaleidoscope of color that allures me to the bowl.  It looks like food that should appear in a Hayao Miyazaki film (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle), and heaven knows I’m a fan.

Radish and cauliflower in the same salad?  Sign me up!  I make this salad for my family and friends that are hard to please, and they always walk away CHARMED!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for Charming Cauliflower Salad:

4 – cups cauliflower (heads only)

2 – cups baby heirloom tomatoes (sliced in half)

3 – cups persian cucumber (sliced)

1 1/2 – cup radish (sliced)

2 – cups feta cheese (crumbled)

3 – cups pita chips

To your liking – Trader Joe’s Greek style feta dressing (Optional)

In a large pot  bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower heads and boil for 4 to 5 minutes. Then take off flame, drain and place in an ICE bath or run under cold water.

Drain cauliflower from ice bath and set to the side.  Meanwhile slice the other vegetables.

In a big mixing bowl add all ingredients.

Then mix with your hands or a spoon, until combined.  That’s it…you’re done.

I like to use feta dressing on top, but my mom likes to use Italian.  Either way, here’s a photo of the dressing I use. 🙂

Nice to meet you!

With summer creeping it’s way into our weather…  I thought it would be the perfect time to start my salad series.  Once a week I will be posting salads I make for my family in the hot months, when all you want is something fresh, delicious, and light.  Let’s start with Coleslaw.  I’m on a constant hunt for yummy coleslaw, and to be honest, rarely do I come across a good one.  Usually it doesn’t have enough crunch or it’s drenched in something tasteless.  You know the old saying, “If you want something done, do it yourself.”           SWEET.  CRUNCHY.  TANGY.  MINE.

Ingredients for slaw:

2 – cups red cabbage (thinly sliced)

1 – cup grated carrot

1 – cup grated green apple

1/2 – cup dried cranberries

3/4 – cup blue cheese dressing (I use Bob’s Big Boy)

1/2 – cup coarsely chopped almonds

In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, carrot, green apple, and cranberries.

Then add in the blue cheese dressing, and mix to distribute evenly.

Lastly add chopped almonds, and mix well.

Serve this coleslaw as a side at your next bar-b-que, or just eat it all on it’s own!

Mmmmmm!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley