My Favorite Salad (Right Now) Mango Kiwi Salad

Ingredients:

Spinach, or romaine lettuce, or a mix of your favorite greens.

2-3 mangos peeled and diced

3-4 kiwis peeled and diced

1/4 c dried Cranberries

1/2 c chopped almonds

Lemon Dressing

Place clean greens in a large bowl Pile remaining ingredients on the top and drizzle with dressing.

Serve and enjoy.

To make chopping the mango easier, if you are like me and terrible at it, peel them first. Then set them on your cutting board and cut down lengthwise about 1/3 in from the side.  Continue to make small slice in from the side to get as close to the seeds as possible.  Then flip and repeat for the remaining 3 sides.  The pieces that have been cut off are then easy to slice cleanly.  I then scarp all that I can from the seed/pit with my teeth and throw it in the compost heap.

Mexican Squash Soup

This is yummy! I made it a few years ago and we all liked and I forgot I had the recipe. We made it tonight and loved it, the kids even ate it.

Spiced Mexican Squash Soup

1 ½ T Olive Oil
2C chopped Onion
6 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tsp Oregano
1 Butternut Squash (peel and dice into ½ inch cubes)
3 C Water
1 tsp Salt
¼-1/2 tsp. Cumin
1 ½ tsp chili Powder
2 C fresh Tomatoes (diced) or 1 can
2C Red or Green Peppes (chopped)
2 C Corn Kernels
1 can black Beans (15 oz- drained and rinsed)

Saute Onion/Garlic with Oregano
Add in Squash with the water and remaining spices. Simmer 5-10 min, add tomatoes and peppers and simmer 10 more minute.
Stir in corn and black beans and simmer few more minutes until corn is tender.

Serve with Tortilla chips and avocado dices
(optional: serve with sour cream and shredded cheese)

Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients:

1 Medium Zucchini

1 Large Carrot

1 Walla-walla onion along with 2 inches of the stem

Chard (I used 2 stems, you could use more)
4 cloves Garlic

1/4 c bread crumbs

2 eggs (If you don't use eggs, this would work great with 2 T ground flax seed soaked in 1/4 c water)

Basil

Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Grate Zucchini and Carrot, place in Medium mixing bowl

2. Roll Chard into a bundle with Herbs and chop roughly, Add to bowl

3. Dice onion add to bowl. *

4. Mince Garlic and add to bowl. *

5. Add bread crumbs and eggs to the bowl along with salt and pepper. Mix.

*If your family has issues with onion blend the onions, garlic and even the herbs together in the blender.

Red Onions would make this even prettier, but it wouldn't taste quite as sweet.

Take 1/4 cup at a time and fry in a lightly oiled frying pan (Non-stick really works best). Let cook 3-5 minutes then flip and cook through.

Serve- These would be great with a little tahini warmed and drizzled over the top, some Aioli, or just plain.

This would be great with a little tahini warmed and drizzled over the top, some Aioli, or just plain.

The Vegetable Sandwich

This recipe is for Liz, by special request.
Thank you to Courtney for introducing me to these.

Step 1: Cut up your fresh veggies. Whatever you like. (as long as it

is a vegetable. - sorry no bacon here.) Almost any veggie will work. Be sure to add the avocado, with it, you won't miss the cheese and meat. As a grown up, if you don't like some veggies, slice them super thin and put them on anyways, you won't know they are there - but your kids will and eventually they will eat it too, if they see you eating it.

We like spinach or lettuce, sprouts, carrots (grate or use your vegetable peeler to make thin slices,) cucumber, tomato, peppers -red yellow or green, avocado, onion, zuchinni (again with the vegetable peeler), and fresh herbs (cilantro or basil.) Try to get as many different colors as you can - then you will be getting a wider range of nutrients.

Step 2: Pick a sandwich spread --mayonaise, vegenaise, soy mayo substitute, pesto; spread it on a couple of slices of whole wheat bread. Layer on the veggies. Everyone gets to pick what they want on their sandwich. If they don't want it on their sandwich, they get to try it anyways-just one bite. Just make sure they have something to dip it in. Top off your sandwich with some salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lime.

Step 3: Eat it. yumm.

Then make another one and eat it too. Its ok, its just vegetables.

My girls really do actually eat this, they call it the "begetable sandwich". Its funny though because the vegetables they want usually changes each time we have it. And sometimes they want to pick their sandwich apart and eat it bit by bit seperately, thats ok too.

Also, we like veggies in a tortilla or pita with hummus. Delish!

Eat more fresh veggies! They supply your body with enzymes that help you digest your food, anti-oxidants to stop cancer causing free radicals, lots of vitamins and minerals, and fiber to maintain a healthy digestive system.