A Vegetarian for One Year: A 17 Ingredient Salad

Most people don’t count the number of ingredients in their salad but here we sometimes compete to see who can add the most ingredients. Honestly, the person who is better at foraging in the fridge and pantry usually wins.

This is my first week of semi-retirement, I like it! Leaving work at 12:30 and then walking with my neighbor Shari is a great way to start the free afternoon. Right now we’re walking the trail that runs by our house but we’re thinking a tour or two around the lakes (after all we do live in a state that boasts “Land of 10,000 Lakes”) will be just the thing we need from time to time.

I’ve also been working in the garden and have plans to get some of those closets and other areas cleaned out - that’s actually for winter, summer is a time for enjoying and I plan to do a lot of that now that I have time. Also looking forward to spending more time with friends and family and drinking a little wine :-)

Salads are a staple at our house and actually they were a staple when I was growing up. My mom was a fan of the protein, veggie and salad dinners and that’s obviously carried through in my life. Although there was one time as a teenager my mom asked me to make a salad and as teenagers do I stomped my foot and announced that if I had to make one more salad I was leaving home. That didn’t happen and in time I came to like them although the ones I make today do not contain iceberg lettuce, which as you know contains no nutritional value - it is good in tacos tho - it’s the crunch.

One advantage to having more free time is that I can try more recipes - complicated as well as simple. In addition to the 17 ingredient salad I made last night, I made a chickpea salad with tatziki dressing and a salad with zucchini, asparagus and a lemon vinaigrette - all were delicious.

Raw Ingredients

1 small head of romaine lettuce

1 handful of spinach

1 stalk of kale

1 handful of snap peas - chopped

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 cup raspberries

1/4 cup blackberries

2 T hemp hearts

1/2 cup chickpeas

1 tomato - chopped

1 avocado

2 green onions

Roasted Veggies

1/2 red onion - chopped

1 sweet potato cubed

1/2 red pepper - chopped

1/2 yellow pepper - chopped

4 ounces of mushrooms - quartered

Dressing

1/4 c olive oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

juice from 1/2 lemon

2 - 3 garlic cloves minced

splash of agave, honey or maple syrup (I used maple syrup)

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Chop roasted veggies, toss with 1 T olive oil and spices (I used Penzy’s New Orleans). Roast for @ 30 minutes, turning half way.

While veggies are roasting, chop all raw ingredients and place in a salad bowl and make dressing. When veggies are done, dress raw ingredients and serve,

Here are a couple of photos of our other cooking adventures - some before end some after I semi-retired.

Chickpea Salad and Tatziki dressing