Meatless Monday: Late Winter Salad

It’s been over a month of Mondays since I last managed a post.

I thought I’d get back in the groove by sharing a simple idea with you.

It’s in the teens outside today. But the warm weather last week had me thinking about salad. Native tomatoes are months away. The very tasty ones grown in Maine greenhouses that I found at Nica’s up the street are selling for $5.99 a pound! The other ones with good flavor come from south of the border and are pretty pricey, too.

But California oranges are another matter. Ditto for Florida grapefruit. Most of the stores are offering bargain prices for bags of citrus. [Note: A word to the wise. Check to verify that the fruit is firm. Remove from the fruit from the bag and put in the fridge as soon as you get home.]

I have discovered that citrus paired with spinach greens is a perfect solution for my late winter salad cravings.

Here is the recipe for the salad pictured here.

Elaine’s Late Winter Salad

INGREDIENTS

Salad

• Fresh Spinach
• Arugula
• Radicchio
• Red Onion
• Blood Oranges
• Dried Cranberries
• Sunflower Seeds

Dressing

• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

• Wash the salad greens and spin dry.
• Tear into reasonable sized pieces.
• Thinly slice red onion to your taste.
• Peel and break a blood orange into sections. Cut each section in half before adding to the salad.
• Add a few dried cranberries for color.
• Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top.
• Whisk the dressing ingredients together
•  Top your salad

Notes

• Cara cara oranges, naval oranges, grapefruit, and clementines are also delicious.
• You can use any combination of salad greens you wish. 
• With the addition of cheese you have a one bowl meal.

Enjoy! “See you” again soon.

On Mondays I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”