Apple Romaine Salad with Lavender Honey Vinaigrette

The end of summer, doesn't have to mean the end of salads.  Crisp tart apples and sweet pears and later winter squash and even cranberries all make excellent additions to fall salads. 

The idea for another salad occurred to me when I spread lavender honey on a warm biscuit one morning and thought: what else can I do with this fantastic honey?  I had found lavender honey at the Hillsdale Farmers Market, just a few weeks ago. If you can't make it to Oregon,  try making your own lavender honey by adding a bit of crushed culinary lavender to wildflower honey.

Lavender season is over anyway, for the most part, but you can always use dried lavender for culinary purposes. Remember to always confirm that you've got culinary lavender because some lavender varieties are too strong for kitchen uses.

We usually have a lot of lavender in the pantry.  I wasn't always so fond of this herb but  this little cookbook teased my interest. It was written by my wonderful friend Kathy Gehrt who passed away last spring.  Every time I inhale the fragrance I think of Kathy, whose infectious love of lavender converted many who had no idea how versatile this herb could be.

Kathy Gehrt at Sky Nursery in 2011

I wasn't sure what else to put in the salad until I spotted Pink Pearl apples at the market on Saturday.  Yes, it's apple season.  I love when the weather turns cool, days are cloudy, and rain is on the schedule more often.

Someone else likes fall too.

Apples and pears make perfect transitional fruit.  My Cooking Assistant can't get enough apples.  He sometimes finds school kid's discards.  Mothers: do more shopping at farmers markets and more fruit will get eaten.

My Cooking Assistant is not afraid to let me know when he's been short-changed in the local food department.

Pink Pearl apples are pink inside.  The name fits. They're a perfect blend of tart and sweet.  

I don't think they are sold in stores, so check your farmers market.  Pink Pearl apples make salads more fun.

My favorite vinegar comes from Rockridge Orchards.  These are the old style of bottles.  The newer bottles have clamp-on lids.  It's all good from Rockridge Orchards.

You don't need much oil, just enough to make the dressing cling to the lettuce leaves.

If you can't find Pink Pearls, use your favorite variety of apples. That is the beauty of salads--you can always make it your way. For an easy whole meal add chunks of marinated tofu, or garbanzo beans.

Apples and Greens with Lavender-Honey Vinaigrette

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 to 1 1/2 cups diced apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 cups torn lettuce

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1 cup diced carrots, cauliflower or celery

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon lavender honey (or use plain honey with 1/2 teaspoon crushed lavender buds)

1 clove garlic, pressed

1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard

Sea salt and pepper to taste

1 avocado, seed removed and diced

1/4 cup pistaschos, cashews or chopped pecans

1. Combine apples and lemon juice.  Set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl combine lettuce, onions, and cauliflower.  Gently mix.

2. Whisk together cider vinegar, lavender honey, garlic, and mustard in a small bowl.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste.  Mix avocado into the dressing.  Just before serving mix apples into salad and gently toss the dressing and avocados into the mix.

3. Top with pistaschos before serving.

Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salad

My recipe this week, Black Bean Salad, is an ode to the end of summer.

WIth the bounty of market vegetables, it's hard to pick favorites as the seasons overlap. Beans, corn, tomatoes, eggplant and stone fruits are being replaced by apples, pears, hearty greens and winter squash. Grab your fading summer favorites while you can. 

I skipped a week of posting recipes because my friend from Arizona was here, and I went to Portland and Victoria, British Columbia.

The hounds weren't in agreement about our so-called vacation. They stayed home.

They didn't make it easy to leave.

My friend spent a week on the Oregon coast and I drove to Portland to meet her.  The drive isn't so long if I listen to a book and I listened to this great mystery on the way down.  

We drove to the Columbia River Gorge not expecting the huge traffic jam, but apparently everyone in Portland had the same idea of seeing the waterfalls before summer ends.

When we finally saw the view, it was amazing.

The next day we visited the Hillsdale Farmers' Market before heading back to Seattle.

Wood-fired bagels and the best ever longanberry preserves.

What good is a wood-fired bagel without Ayers Creek loganberry jam?

I barely got all the berries in the freezer before we were off to British Columbia.

We drove to Port Angeles and caught the ferry to Victoria.  So many choices for which route to take--clipper ship, Anacortes ferry, BC ferry and by air.  Since I haven't been that many times I chose the Port Angeles route, which I seriously underestimated the time it took to get from Kingston to Port Angeles, but we made it.  

The ferry coming into Victoria early in the morning.

A trip to Victoria usually involves a trip to Buschart Gardens. 

The gardens were lovely but the best part for me was the street art.  Check out this art find along the marina walkway.  Check out the link and read the story behind this art.

All this sightseeing made me hungry.  So when we got back, we feasted on artichokes, green beans, tomatoes and corn.

Here is an easy, end-of-summer whole meal salad that doesn't require any cooking at all.

Black bean, Corn and Tomato Salad 

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

3 ears of corn, corn removed from husks

1/2 cup small dice red pepper

1/2 cup small dice sweet onion

Juice of 1 lime

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 jalapeno, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

4 cups Romaine lettuce

1/2 avocado, diced

Broken tortilla chips (optional)

1. Place beans, corn, red pepper and onion in a mixing bowl.  Stir to blend and set aside.  In a small bowl combine lime juice, apple cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, cumin, chili powder, garlic and jalapeno in a bowl.  Whisk to blend and stir into the bean and corn salad.  

2. Gently blend in tomatoes.  Layer beans and corn over Romaine lettuce.  Top with avocado and tortilla chips, if desired.

A perfect end to a long busy Northwest weekend.

This salad is fit to be a meal with or without tortilla chips.  I like to serve them on the side.

I know a hound or two who are really happy dinner is served on time.

Summer Berry Smoothie plus 9 Summer Favorites

This started out to be a blog about favorite links, and then I decided to add my favorite smoothie recipe, so this week it's a little of both.  I'm late posting this week, and last week, well, it was a lost cause.  I've plenty of excuses. Mostly it has to do with writing other things.

A few months back I finished this article about antibiotics.  As I did the research I got sucked into the microbial world, a world I'd never really given much thought to before.  A friend of mine, a retired UW biology professor, loaned me this Field Guide to Bacteria. I like it so much I'm buying my own copy. I'll put it next to my Kafka collection.

Maybe I'll put a microscope on my wish list.  We're giants in a microbial world.

I worked on anther article last month--bees and neonicotinoid pesticides and got sucked into that topic too. I watched this podcast twice.  I got caught up with what's going on in Australia with bees.  No bumblebees in Austrailia.  What? My favorite bee of all.  

I was also working on a salad article for Vegetarian Journal.  I love Vegetarian Journal!

What I wasn't doing was posting on my blog. Maybe you noticed. And maybe I was overdoing it with the long, long dog walks. 

Hey, it's summer, the best time of year in the Northwest.

I actually wrote most of this blog last week.  All I needed was pictures and a short recipe.

It had to be about berries.  The thing about berries is the price varies in the Northwest so much and I can't figure out why exactly.

The berries from the garden are my favorites.

1. A berry smoothie on a hot summer day. (A berry smoothie on any kind of day.)

Berry Smoothie
(Serves 2)
Packed with phytonutrients, this smoothie goes down easy on a hot summer day.

1 1/2 cups berries
1/2 to 3/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 ripe banana
1/4 cup coconut sorbet
1 tablespoon almond butter (optional)
2 tablespoons protein powder (optional)
Ice (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender.  Turn on high or pulse for about 30 seconds.  Pour into glasses, garnish with a mint sprig if desired.


2.  Hummingbirds in the garden.

3. This ultimate Northwest garden.  Can't wait to go this summer.

4. Tiny houses are all the rage.  Love, even though we don't exactly qualify.  Dream on--a  long library list for this great read.

5. Dreaming about the sand castles at Long Beach.

6. I just got this book for the garden.

7. This great summer reread.

8.  Can't get enough summer salads.  I noticed cabbage is coming back in at the market, so here's my favorite coleslaw recipe.

9.  Reading too about honey bees. They must be the most written about insect ever. I found this cool column called The Curious Beekeeper from the National Honey Advisory Board.  Check it out.

10.  Anything to keep my Cooking Assistant happy. He loves homemade dog biscuits: 

Buckwheat-Peanut Butter Treats.  As soon as it cools off, we'll be back in the kitchen.

Kale Salad with Lemon and Avocado

The heat makes me crave salads. This kale salad is one of my all-time favorites.  I vary the basics--kale, lemon and avocado--with whatever is in season. When I found red peppers at the market, I knew kale salad was in my future. Just for fun, I checked other recipes for kale salad. Here's a version from 101 Cookbooks.  Here's a different version from Oh She Glows.

My favorite kale is Dinosaur or Tuscon, Black  Lacanato--whatever you want to call it,  this kale has  deep green fairly flat leaves with a strong kale flavor and just a hint of bitter. 

I'm not really picking kale at the exact season because this kale likes cool better than hot, but some farmers grow and sell it in summer months.

Prices are different everywhere, but it's so nutrient-packed, it's always a bargain from $2 to $3.50 a bunch.  

Here is the recipe I posted last kale salad-- it's basic and I'd just added apples.  This time I also tossed in toasted pumpkin seeds.

Who doesn't love pepper season at the market?

Even my Cooking Assistant loves Lacinato kale.

Kale Salad with  Peppers and Avocado
(Serves 4)

1 red peppers, seeded and diced
1 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon agave nectar, or to taste
1 avocado, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon, chopped Mama Lil's Peppers
Smoked sea salt to taste
1 bunch of kale, leaves removed from stem and thinly sliced


1. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add half the olive oil and peppers.  Stir and cook until peppers begin to brown.  Set aside.

2. Combine lemon juice, agave nectar, chopped Mama Lil's Peppers and sea salt in a small bowl.  Add avocado, making sure all chunks are coated with lemon juice.

3. Place kale in a serving bowl and drizzle remaining olive over the leaves.  Massage into the leaves.  When peppers are cool, gently toss with kale, peppers, and avocados in lemon juice.  Adjust seasonings.



Enjoy the scents and flavors!