Elena's Creative Salads

My kid has become tired of our tossed salads which I don't understand (I make one hell of a salad) but it is true. She has recently become a fan of the Food Network watching Chopped  and  Food Network Star sometimes over and over. These shows have introduced her to the idea of a different type of salad. She has been inspired to try different ingredients and to make the salad look a certain way on the plate.

Her first creative salad was inspired by a commercial she saw during a cooking show. The commercial was  for grapes and the chef stands the grapes up in a design. Elena took this idea and ran with it. She cut the tops of organic, green grapes and stood them up in rows. This was the bed for the salad. She then topped the grapes with spinach, red onions, walnuts and olives. She made her own dressing of olive oil, lemon and herbs which she drizzled on and then a dash of ground flax seeds.

Elena's Grape Salad

Her second salad was inspired by a recipe in Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. The salad in the book is the Grapefruit, Yellow Pepper and Avocado Salad. The recipe calls for (obviously) grapefruit, yellow pepper and avocado and other ingredients including red onion, romaine and agave nectar. Elena strayed a little by using green pepper and stevia. She placed guacamole on the romaine lettuce beds and then added the mixture of grapefruit, peppers, onions that have been soaking in a dressing made from grapefruit juice, lemon, olive oil, stevia and herbs. I made a soup to go along with our salad. I used a no chicken broth and added celery, onion, beans, pasta and chard. I love cooking with my lil vegan.

Grapefruit salad on bed of romaine and guacamole

Veggie bean soup and bread to accompany the salad

Lettuce Eat Salad,
Christy