Winter Salad {Local Greens from Local Roots Food Co-op}

Daylight savings time is on Sunday. The calendar says March. And green (edible) things are growing within a 10 mile radius of my being (your being, too) because of a stupendous green house that producers from the Local Roots Food Co-op are tending day and night. It's really fantastic. Today for lunch I created a Winter Salad with a mix of beet greens, tat soi, radish greens, red sail lettuce, young spinach and young kale all freshly harvested by Dan who owns the Farm of Minnesota. Read on for the recipe and a fun shot from inside the greenhouse.  Would you leave me a comment on what you'd like to see grown inside the greenhouse? The producers want to know! 

Plants bring joy, no? See that beautiful hang-ey plant in the background? Dan let me take a cutting home in attempt to transplant and allow my own green hang-ey plant to take over a corner of the house. My cutting is slowly but surely sprouting little legs into the soil! Now…to pick a corner! And drill a hole in the ceiling for said hanger - shhhh - don't tell Travis. 

And this salad! Really. So fresh. So healthy. So ridiculously simple I'm not even sure how this post qualifies as a recipe! Let's all give ourselves a break and make lunches, dinners, all things simple.

In this version of Winter Salad any tender, young greens will do, but why not get them from the co-op because the quality and flavor will be a bazillion times better, mmmmk!? Atop the greens I placed grated carrot, sliced green onions, a chopped apple (or pear would work), diced Jarlsberg cheese, sunflower seeds from Buffalo Valley Grains and dried fruit. Creamy dressings have no place here, their heaviness will never do. You want to taste the springtime flavor of the greens, so only a simple squeeze of lemon and a slight spatter of olive oil will do the salad justice. Season it up with a pinch of crunchy grey sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Feel healthy. 

Printable Recipe Here

Winter Salad

Yield: 4 Side Salads

4 heaping cups of tender young greens, chopped
2 large carrots, grated (about 1 cup)
3 green onions, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1 small apple or pear, diced (about 1 cup)
1 cup mild cheese, diced (such as Sunnyside Creamery Cheddar, Jarlsberg or Swiss)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, golden raisins)
1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons juice)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Grey sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Working either in a large salad bowl or on individual salad plates, arrange the greens as a beautiful bed for the rest of the vegetables. Scatter the grated carrot, sliced green onions, chopped apple or pear, diced cheese, sunflower seeds and dried fruit atop the greens. Squeeze the lemon over the greens. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Feel healthy.