Day Four - Salad and Fruit

I wanted something pretty different today--and this was it!.
I started with some fresh cut salad greens and added strawberrys, pineapple, banana, yogurt (plain mixed with a little sweetener), poppy seeds and pecans. The Wasa Fiber Crispbread with Havarti cheese and organic turkey slices added a nice counterbalance to the fruit. I debated adding some tomato or celery to the mix but decided not to push my luck because as my art teacher often lectured, "more is not always better." I think it was just about perfect just as it was! (Although I still think grapes and celery would have been fantastic in there). While I was putting it together the strawberries smelled so good! I ate 3 of them before I ever got the salad plated!

I went by the greenhouse today and got another flat of lettuce greens and asked a few questions. As it turns out, it takes 21 days for the lettuce I've cut to grow back out and be ready to re-harvest. So if I plan to eat some of it every day I guess I will need to have 3 flats and keep switching them out. That seems pretty do-able... on the other hand maybe I should just buy their fresh cut & bagged lettuce! I'm certainly going to try it and see.

Day 3 - A Wrap

Today, instead of a salad I went with a wrap. To the salad greens I added shredded cheese, diced turkey, chopped green pepper and a little dressing. A few "side" items and ta-daaa...

Second Salad

Aaaahhhh!

Now THIS is an awesome lunch!

Everyone here at work was eyeing it and asking all kinds of questions. I kind of felt sorry for them with their burgers in fast food bags or their "tv dinner" freezer-to-microwave lunches.

The hot picante sauce really added a kick to the salad. I found myself plucking pieces of the salad greens out and eating them plain--they're really really good. Nothing is fresher or tastier than this and I'm lovin' it!

Salad To Go

Today I packed a salad to go. It took just a couple of minutes to snip a few more greens from the tray, rinse, dry, and put them into a container with some tomato, green pepper, radishes, and cilantro. (I love fresh cilantro! I saw that Earthganic Greenhouse will be selling cilantro plants this spring and I'm already planning to get some of that as well as some basil--I can't wait!)

Since I'm pressed for time, I will be using bottled salad dressing (probably Ranch) on this. I'm packing a few walnuts in another small container to take along. I've decided to kick it up with a little hot picante sauce (don't knock it 'til you've tried it).

I am really looking forward to lunch today!

First Salad

To quote a certain Food Network star, "Yummo!"

This is my first salad from the tray of lettuce I bought yesterday. I clipped the greens from a corner of the tray. The Earthganic Greenhouse manager said that about a third of the tray is a serving but that's a LOT of lettuce! I harvested less than 1/6th of the greens in the tray, rinsed and drained them, and put them on the plate. Then I added tomato, green pepper, carrot and radishes. I made my own salad dressing (see below). For a finishing touch, I included some pecans, havarti cheese, and crackers on the side. It was delicous! I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's salad!

This is what the greens looked like before I added all my other vegetables and 'toppings.'

I made my salad dressing (a vinagerette) out of items that I happened to have on hand. As usual, I just threw some things together--no measuring for me! Splosh, splash, stir... and there ya go!

The "Recipe"

Ingredients:
~white wine vinegar
~extra virgin olive oil
~Splenda (3 packs)
~poppy seeds

I put all of that into a jelly jar. To stir it all together really well, I used a frother gadget that we froth milk for our latte drinks (coffee for him, tea for me).

You have to use the dressing right away--if it sits still, it separates out.

It tasted great, actually and I am pretty impressed with me. But to be truthful, I've watched enough cooks on t.v. to have a basic idea.

Getting Started

I broght home a tray of organically grown salad greens from Earthganic Greenhouse today. They sell the 1'x2' tray of salad greens for $15. All proceeds from the greenhouse go to support the operation of Crossroads Shelter, a non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter and services to the homeless in Southwest Virginia. I love it that I'm buying locally, eating healthier AND supporting an agency that provides shelter and services to the homeless. It's good for me, good for my community and good for the planet. That's awesome in my book!

The salad greens are beautiful! The plants are healthy and are a variety of shades of green with a bit of red in some of the varieties. According to the instructions, to maintain it I just need to water (actually "mist well") every 2 or 3 days and keep the plants in a sunny yet cool location.

I can begin harvesting (and eating) any time now. To harvest, I will just use a pair of kitchen scissors to snip off the upper part of the leaves, about 1/2" above the soil, leaving the roots and part of the lettuce stalk to grow out again! He said I will get 3 to 5 harvests out of the tray. The greenhouse manager said that about 1/3 of the tray equals a serving. I think that 1/3 of the tray will be enough salad for two people...but I will wait until I'm actually harvesting to see. After about the 5th harvest, I can return the tray and the soil to Earthganic Greenhouse and for just $8 they will re-seed and germinate so that in 21 days I will be able to start all over again. WOW! That's quite a deal!

I've pinched off a couple of leaves and tasted them. They're really good and I'm very excited about having a salad--but I'll wait until tomorrow.