Pollinator Power Salad

We originally published this salad recipe four years ago. We’re republishing it today as this is the start of Pollinator Week 2019!

There are many ways to celebrate and show our appreciation for the hard-working pollinators that help to keep nature in balance and play a key role in providing 75% of the food we eat.

  • plant a pollinator garden
  • stop using pesticides on your lawn
  • buy organic produce (to reduce large-scale pesticide and herbicide use)
  • encourage your neighborhood to become Pollinator/Bee Safe

If you’d like to learn more fun-facts about pollinators (and see an awesome video of a nectar-drinking bee-fly!), click here.

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Today we have a recipe for a salad that is jam-packed with good ingredients, and every single one, from the mustard in the dressing to the pumpkin seeds, required pollination to help them grow and reproduce. As you’ll see, the salad looks absolutely beautiful and represents everything that is good about summer. But before you dig in, say thanks to every pollinator that played a role in bringing this food to your table.

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As we mentioned on Monday, about 75% of the food we eat required pollinators to grow and produce seeds. That seems like a lot, but when you look at this salad, it’s so easy to see how that’s possible. In making this salad, I used information from this USDA document to determine which foods required pollination. As you’ll see, I got a bit creative with this salad, but if you have a family of cautious eaters, you can look at Table 1 in that document and find ingredients that suit your household. For example, I didn’t even put tomatoes, which are such a common salad ingredient, in this dish, but they are on the list!

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Lemony Chicken and Broccoli Salad

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Happy Monday! If you’re anything like me, Monday may bring about the stress of having to feed yourself delicious and healthy lunches each day in order to fuel yourself. Some weeks I’m utterly overwhelmed with the chore of feeding myself, other weeks I somehow scrape by, but the best weeks are when I prepare this Lemony Chicken and Broccoli Salad or fresh Shrimp Salad to keep me going each day.

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Shrimp & Avocado Salad

This week, I’m sharing half a dozen recipes from the Crafting Ritual and Cultivating Mindfulness retreat.  Our personal chef, Jami, prepared all our delicious meals from basic, whole ingredients.

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Is this the summer of shrimp salad? For me it is. I’ve had three varieties in just as many weeks. I can’t remember eating much of it in the past, but that’s changed, I love this citrusy Shrimp and Avocado Salad recipe by Jami. It’s perfect eaten alone or on toast. A crunchy cracker like this Trader Joe’s whole wheat pita variety would work well too.

The Shrimp and Avocado salad is easy to make, especially if you buy your shrimp pre-steamed and a fresh pre-made mango salsa. If you can’t find a freshly made mango salsa, you’ll have to make your own. It’s super easy and I highly recommend using frozen mango so that it’s of peak freshness. I promise it doesn’t degrade the quality, I actually prefer it to what we consider ripe mangos in the states.

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Chickpea & Spinach Salad

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This week, I’m sharing half a dozen recipes from the Crafting Ritual and Cultivating Mindfulness retreat, including this chickpea and spinach salad.  Our personal chef, Jami, prepared all our delicious meals from basic, whole ingredients. Jami demonstrated how little preparation some of these yummy veggie dishes take. The garlic, cumin, and paprika are super tasty in this nourishing chickpea and spinach dish.

We served the chickpea and spinach salad alongside lemony salmon, yum. Eat this dish as a straight up side or add it to a lunch bowl, maybe overtop brown rice and alongside roasted beets or under a few blackened shrimp. Do you boo.

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Easy Italian Pasta Salad

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This is the salad. The salad I will make for every party this summer. There is NO chopping involved. You read that right. Pull out your sharpened kitchen shears and cut every single ingredient in this recipe. I even bought triple rinsed baby spinach so basically, I just snapped my fingers and there was a pasta salad sitting in front of me.

Mix up a light oil and vinegar based dressing while the pasta cooks and you’re practically done. Toss it and throw it in a favorite travel party bowl. What? Don’t you have one of those? Anyway, snap that lid on tight and refrigerate it overnight to really let the flavors meld. Check it in the morning to see if it needs a splash of dressing and you’re off! Prepare for the praise.  Continue reading

Dandelion & Quinoa Salad

If you like this post, you may want to add some dandelion greens and petals to our pollinator power salad, or make your own dandelion blossom fritters!

Eat your greens. Dandelion greens!

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But don’t worry, if you’re not one for foraging or don’t have a yard, you may be able to find dandelion greens at a market near you, we did!

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Independence Day Eats & Treats

Happy Fourth Y’all! This post was originally published in 2015, but we think it’s still relevant 😉 Now I gotta go blast a Bruce Springsteen album while I consume and entire watermelon and light a bunch of sparklers.

JULY

As shown from top to bottom, left to right:

Watermelon Mint Salad     Mint Agua Fresca     Homemade Pizza Four Ways

Mint Simple Syrup Mojito     Cashew Fruit Dip

Watermelon Gazpacho     Mint Ice Cream     Rosemary Infused Bloody Marys

 

Red Cabbage and Apple Salad with Tahini-Ginger Dressing {Vegan + Gluten Free}

liveseasoned_sp15_cabbagesalad-3During a hectic week (like this one), I prepare a few cold salads to satisfy my lunch and snack cravings.  I’m not very good at taking breaks once I get into the groove of photo editing. Instead of starving, rely on a few quick and nutritious salads made ahead of time, like this Red Cabbage and Apple Salad with Tahini-Ginger Dressing.

Our friend Nicole sent me home with a big batch of red cabbage and apple salad a couple months ago.  I knew I had to share it on Seasoned after I devoured the entire container in less than six hours.  The Tahini-Ginger Dressing is SO tasty that I drank a bit of it. Yup. Right from the jar. It’s that good.

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Garlic + Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas

liveseasoned_winter14_chickpeas-5I’m a big fan of crispy, salty snacks, but I feel pretty bad about myself when I eat an entire bag of kettle cooked chips.  Maybe you don’t, which I applaud you for, and that case go open another bag while you read this recipe.  I think these garlic and parmesan roasted chickpeas are the perfect substitute for potato chips because they provide the crunch and the salt that I’m craving, but they also pack some protein.  They’re baked, not fried like chips, and really you could season them however you see fit.  I recently kicked my chips and dip habit (thank you, thank you very much) and I found I’m baking these up quite often to satisfy my salt tooth. Is that a thing? It is for me at least.

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