Chelsea Harrison2 Comments

Tropical Herb Chopped Salad with Lime Cilantro Dressing

Chelsea Harrison2 Comments
Tropical Herb Chopped Salad with Lime Cilantro Dressing

With all the fresh herbs available this time of year, I can't resist adding them to everything.  From baked goods, to salads, to smoothies, herbs add flavor and complexity to the simplest of dishes.  Plus herbs are some of the most nutrient rich foods out there.  Herbs can soothe your stomach, freshen your breath, boost your immunity, and so much more.  So don't underestimate or under-use them!   For this salad, I decided to let herbs be the bulk of the greens AND the dressing, giving it an incredibly fresh and bright flavor. 

One disclaimer I feel I should make is that I HATE cilantro.  Really and truly.  Sometimes the smell alone will make me sick to my stomach.  But...I love you guys and I know you all love cilantro so I made this cilantro dressing.  I had Sam try it and he said it was great, but I won't go near the stuff.  For my fellow cilantro haters, you can make the dressing with basil, mint, or both.  I made it with both and it was amazing. So don't feel left out if you are anti-cilantro.  You are not alone.

Tropical Herb Chopped Salad with Lime Cilantro Dressing

Ingredients:

1 endive frisee (or a handful of any leafy green)

1 handful parsley

1 handful mint

1 handful basil

1/2 bell pepper

1 mango

6 radishes

1/2 cucumber

1 avocado, sliced or cubed

1/2 cup cashews


Dressing:

Juice of 1 lime

1 handful of cilantro (or basil/mint)

2 tsp honey

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp salt


Wash and dry the greens and herbs.  Chop them into small pieces and add to a large bowl.  Julienne the mango and bell pepper and add to the greens.  Thinly slice the radishes and cucumber and add to the bowl and toss to combine.  Toast cashews at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until fragrant.  Top the salad with avocado and toasted cashews and dress just before serving.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a small bowl combine all of the dressing ingredients.  Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender.  I find the immersion blender works better when you are using small quantities, so I would recommend you double the recipe if you are using a standard blender. 

Makes 4 servings.

Chelsea Harrison7 Comments

Quinoa and Avocado Veggie Bowl with Lemon Tahini Dressing

Last week marked the autumnal equinox, the end of summer and the beginning of fall, a day when sunlight and darkness are equal in balance.  As this day approached I was feeling completely out of balance.  In an effort to "reset" myself, I decided to try a juice cleanse.  I had tried one five years ago, but I wasn't as invested in my health at that point in time, so I decided to give it another shot.

While I know that many people benefit from juice cleanses, I can now safely say that juice fasting is not for me.  As someone who typically has a good relationship with food, I suddenly felt obsessed.  I was so hungry that I was craving junk foods that have never interested me.  I don't normally have any "rules" about what I eat.  I simply eat what appeals to me while trying to make the most nourishing choices I can.  But as soon as foods were off limits, they were all that I could think about.  Half way through the third and final day I decided to break the cleanse.  I was so hungry that I knew if I kept it up I'd end up eating something unhealthy.  By stopping early I was able to make a more sensible yet delicious choice: quinoa and avocado veggie bowl with tahini lemon dressing.

Chelsea Harrison7 Comments
Quinoa and Avocado Veggie Bowl with Lemon Tahini Dressing
Chelsea Harrison6 Comments

Mediterranean Lentil Salad with Fresh Figs

This recipe came to me out of sheer chance.  Funny how sometimes I brainstorm to try to create a "perfect" recipe and it turns out just "ok." Other times the perfect recipe just presents itself to me and is better than anything I could have planned.  This is one of those perfect serendipitous recipes.

Lentils are a favorite of mine.  And if you are a vegetarian, I highly recommend you make yourself familiar with these bad boys.  Lentils are a great source of B-Vitamins and protein which many vegetarians are not getting enough of.  But on top of that, they are loaded with fiber.  Fiber is what keeps you full and what keeps your digestive system running smoothly.  If you are new to lentils try them in soups.  They add great texture to vegetable soups and lentil soups, such as Dal, are delicious and very affordable and easy to make.

Chelsea Harrison6 Comments
Mediterranean Lentil Salad with Fresh Figs
Chelsea Harrison5 Comments

Summer Corn Salad

Whoa.  Summer is coming to a close and I haven't even shared one of my favorite summer dishes.  One reason I haven't posted this is that I've been distracted by weather.  I'll have plenty of time to work on the site when it's cold outside and I'm trapped indoors.  Right? But another reason is this nagging idea of perfection.  Sometimes I fall into a spiral of thinking that I should wait until I have higher quality photos, create more complex recipes, or find some other excuse not to post a recipe.  And what happens when I think like that is nothing.  I stop creating and I stop sharing.  It's time to overcome that idea of perfection and share with you all a recipe that is not elegant and complex, but simple and beautiful.  And the pictures may be low quality iPhone shots, but the important thing is to keep creating, keep sharing, and stop being so hard on myself.  I feel better already.

This recipe is incredibly simple to make, yet crazy delicious.  Whenever I make this, people ask for the recipe or beg me to make it again.  And while it's still summer, I am trying to take advantage of eating these delicious seasonal foods while I can.

Chelsea Harrison5 Comments
Summer Corn Salad
Chelsea Harrison7 Comments

Summer Basil Rolls

Last week my friend Alice asked me what I eat when I don't feel like cooking, haven't planned a recipe, or when the refrigerator is looking sparse.  Great question! On my journey toward a more natural slow food diet I used to eat really well until I hit speed bumps.  If I was really tired, didn't feel well, or simply wasn't inspired, I turned to takeout and processed foods.  I'd know that somewhere in the pantry I'd find a bag of zero-nutrition crackers with a scary-long shelf-life.  After eating I'd have even less energy than I had before.

Once I got to a point where I was buying almost no processed foods, eating like that simply stopped being an option.  Now when I don't feel up to cooking, the choices for foods I can grab and eat are fruits, veggies, or nuts.  And I often find that after a handful of cashews or an apple my energy comes back enough to prepare something substantial.

But I'm not always in the mood for twig-and-berries kinds of snacks, so I try to plan ahead for times when cooking isn't going to happen.  When I make a meal with a grain (quinoa, farro, rice, etc.), I make a double batch of the grains to keep on hand in the fridge.  And if I make soup, I always make more than I need so that I can refrigerate or freeze some.  My freezer is always stocked with fruit for smoothies and I love to make flourless seed and nut breads and keep them in the freezer as well.

Chelsea Harrison7 Comments
Summer Basil Rolls
Chelsea Harrison4 Comments

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint & Ricotta Salata

When you plan a wedding in Atlanta on the eve of the Summer Solstice, you know one thing: it will definitely be hot.  Despite the nearly 100 degree heat, I decided to have a dinner outside the night before the wedding.  We asked a few people to bring dishes and had an intimate potluck style dinner on the porch of a glass treehouse.  As hot as it was, salads were definitely the perfect food.  So I recreated a sugar snap pea salad from the dinner to share with you.  With mint and lemon, this refreshing salad is the perfect thing to eat when it is too hot to turn on the oven.

Chelsea Harrison4 Comments
Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint & Ricotta Salata