CARROT SALAD with garbanzos and chili-lime dressing

This is a recipe born out of my desire to enjoy one of my favorite restaurant's salads at leisure. I find it to be a great spring go-to. Light and fresh yet maintaining a certain kind of density that is satisfying without dropping like a boulder in the gut. The best part? It get's better with age. Make the full batch as shown below and enjoy all week. Play with different ways to garnish and test a few base grains. Take it outside, sit in the grass and soak up all the earth has to offer.

May spring fill you with random creativity and the feeling of being fully alive.

Peace.

[THE RECIPE]

20 medium to large carrots, peeled and thin-sliced at a diagonal
15-ounce can of garbanzo beans [I love Eden brand] or 2 cups homemade
1/2 red onion, cut in half and finely sliced
6 radishes, cut in half and finely sliced
1 heaping tablespoon ghee or avocado oil
sea salt
ground pepper

Bring to boil a medium size pot of water. Add sliced carrots and blanch for two minutes. Eliminate heat, pour carrots into a strainer over sink, and rinse with very cold water. Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes to allow water to fully drain.

Meanwhile, dump garbanzo beans into a fine mesh strainer and rinse well with cold water over sink. Shake to remove any remaining water. Heat 1 heaping tablespoon of ghee or avocado oil in a large skillet or frying pan. When hot but not smoking, carefully add garbanzo beans and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Shake pan frequently to stir. Sauté for 3 - 5 minutes or until beans just begin to show golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool in pan for a few minutes.

Place carrots, sautéed beans, onion, and radishes. Gently mix with wooden spoon. Add half of the dressing and stir until dressing thoroughly coats the vegetables. Taste and add more dressing as needed.

For best results, make a day in advance and refrigerate over night. Serve room temperature over a bed of rice or quinoa and garnish with toasted almonds, fresh cilantro or parsley, avocado, and remaining dressing.

For the Dressing:

1/4 cup maple syrup [more to taste]
juice of 4 limes
2 - 3 teaspoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
salt, to taste [start with 1/2 teaspoon and add as needed]
ground pepper, to taste
1 loosely packed cup fresh cilantro leaves
3/4 - 1 cup avocado oil or olive oil

Place all ingredients except oil and cilantro in a blender or medium size glass jar with tight fitting lid. Blend on low-medium to combine or shake well for 1 - 2 minutes. If using blender, turn on low and slowly drizzle oil into blender container until dressing begins to thicken. Dressing consistency should be more than watery yet not thick. Add cilantro and blend on medium-low to combine. Cilantro should look like small flakes. If your using a glass jar, add oil and shake for 2 minutes until dressing thickens. Add finely chopped cilantro and shake once more.

SWEET AND DILL REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

Pickles are in by the bushel! Here's an easy way to transform these garden favorites into a delicious snack. 

EASY REFRIGERATOR PICKLES RECIPE

VELVET LIP BALM, SIMPLY

I love to play around with different beauty recipes and rarely purchase many in the store. I've found making my own lotion, lip balm, sugar scrub, masks, salves, boo-boo drops, and bath salts to be unbelievably easy, many completed in thirty minutes or less, some taking only minutes to create. It's a fun activity for my kids to join in on, getting to immediately experience the sweetness of their labors.

The Environmental Working Group [EWG] has put together a fantastic database of cosmetics and other beauty and body products. It's worth searching the items you use most frequently - the safety implications of many can be shocking [even some of the "natural" ones]. If nothing else, it provides us the opportunity to be educated consumers. Check out EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.

Purchasing the ingredients for this recipe is a small investment at first but will make many batches. The ingredients found here are repeated in many lotion and salve recipes as well. Store oils in a cool place to extend life and maintain quality. Below I have linked each ingredient to its description at Mountain Rose Herbs. You can purchase high quality ingredients there or find them on Vitacost and Thrive Market. Check out Return to the Garden's library under "Dive Deep / Herbal Medicine" for more resources on making your own beauty products.

This is the lip balm recipe I've landed on. Thick but light. Smooth. Rich. Velvet.

[THE RECIPE]
Makes approximately 11 tubes of chapstick

11 - 12 empty plastic lip balm tubes [you can purchase or reuse]
1/2 oz. beeswax, pastilles or chopped
1/2 oz. shea butter
1/2 oz. jojoba oil [appx. 2 tsp]
1/2 oz. coconut oil
1/4 oz. castor oil
1 tsp. vegetable glycerin
1/4 tsp. vitamin E oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil or essential oil of choice

Set up double boiler or create your own by filling a small pot one third of the way with water. Place a heat proof bowl on top.

Combine all ingredients, except peppermint essential oil, in bowl and bring water to boil over medium heat. Stir frequently.

Once completely melted, remove from heat and add essential oil stirring until completely integrated.

Use a spoon to carefully pour oil mixture into lip balm tubes or container of choice, filling to the top. Cool completely. Cap and wipe any excess lip balm off tube.

Store at room temperature for up to six months. Use as needed.

BAKED ROSEMARY AND GOAT CHEESE HUMMUS

When I saw this original recipe my taste buds demanded that I make it. What emerged from the oven absolutely lived up to the reaction elicited by my mouth. I hope you enjoy as much as we have!

[THE RECIPE]

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens "Baked Asiago Hummus" Recipe

2 T. coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp. coconut sugar
1 c. cooked garbanzo beans
1 c. cooked butter beans
2 - 3 T. warm water
2 T. raw sesame oil, more if needed
1 T. toasted sesame oil
1 clove of garlic
1/2 - 1 tsp. snipped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. red Himalayan sea salt
6 T. grated local, organic goat cheese [optional, omit for dairy allergies]

In a medium cast iron or stainless steel skillet, warm oil over medium-low heat. Add chopped onion and coconut sugar and stir to combine. When the onions start to sizzle, reduce heat to low and cook until just browned and soft. This could take up to 30 minutes so start well before you need the hummus but I really encourage you to not rush this!

Meanwhile, beans, water, oils, garlic, rosemary and salt in a high-speed blender or food processor. Blend on high until very creamy. You may need to add more raw sesame seed oil to get it really creamy. Pour the hummus in a glass bread baking dish or small baking dish of choice.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Top the hummus with the caramelized onions and grated goat cheese.

Place the hummus in preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes or until cheese has melted and hummus is heated through. Remove and serve warm with vegetables, baked root veggie chips, or crackers of choice.

FINDING A HOLY PLACE AND THE ONLY TWO GLUTEN-FREE BREADS I EVER MAKE

The other day it was warmer than it has been in months. It was 40 degrees and sunny and beautiful. If you live in the Northern hemisphere you may know of a specific phenomenon that happens on the first warm day of the year - on the day that follows months of cold and winter and quiet and burrowing in.

Everyone around you comes out of hibernation and the sense of communal happiness and relief and energy is palpable. We wear t-shirts and shorts, roll down our windows, and can't help but smile at everyone we see.

It was on this day I drove out to the lake, to my Holy Place, to celebrate the coming of spring and the gratitude that comes with it.

Here's what I mean by Holy Place:

It's the first spot that comes to mind when I'm overjoyed or devastated with grief or consumed with anger and confusion. It's where I go to work through emotions, think through my deeper thoughts, meditate, or simply sit and watch. I take my kids sometimes but most often go alone or while my youngest naps in the car. Sometimes I bring things to do and on other occasions I play the music really loud. Sometimes I just sit and soak up the silence.

This spot beckons in a more powerful way when the days are short and temperatures keep me cocooned indoors. I drive out to my Holy Place when it's almost blindingly sunny yet the air has an icy chill and the wind is biting. There, in my spot, the world seems so large and luminous while at the same time filled with peace and balance.

It's my Holy Place because it's the space where I most strongly sense the presence of God and the Spirit within myself. It connects me to something larger than me yet grounds me to the present moment happening immediately around me. 

It's the space that embraces me as me - no projections, no demands, no expectations.

No matter what baggage or praise I bring to this place, it accepts me. And it reminds me that life is larger than most of the chatter in my head yet is as small and intricate as the tiniest grain of sand.

Here's the thing - I didn't always have a Holy Place. In a way it sort of found me. One day, a normal kind of day, I had this intense feeling I needed to drive out to the lake. I didn't know why but followed it's call. Ever since, this place keeps pulling me back to remind me that we live in a holy, beautiful, unbelievably large, and unbelievably small, world. And to help me remember to live in the present moment as if it is the most precious gift. I have been changed by this space - this very regular spot I call holy and claim as my own.

And that's the gift isn't it?

Any place can be holy if you have eyes to see and a heart ready to experience it's wonder.

May you find and notice and answer the call of your Holy Place and may it connect you to this deep well of love and acceptance and grace that is yours for the taking.  


[THE RECIPES]

Here's why I love these recipes. First, both are unbelievably simple with a short ingredients list. Clean up is a cinch which is important to me. I'm not particularly in love with baking. To take on the task and have major clean up after is mostly more than I can handle and will quickly talk me out of the recipe before I begin. These recipes take a bowl or mixer bowl, blender [opt.],  one teaspoon, one tablespoon, a measuring cup, and maybe a spoon. Baking bliss.

CHEWY OAT BAGUETTE BREAD

This bread is great for sandwhiches, French toast, croutons, breadcrumbs, and really is a great multi-purpose bread.


Notes: 

I find that putting the water, milk, and vinegar in a blender or mixer, and then slowly adding the psyllium husk powder while it's running on low - medium makes a better [less chunky] gel. 

For a molasses or dark style bread, I replace the honey with molasses. 

Once I've mixed the dough, I let it sit for a few minutes while I clean up the very minimal dishes [seriously, less than 5 minute clean up]. I find this firms even dough that is a little on the wetter side and gives me a better gauge for adding additional flour. 

I almost always double the recipe. After the loaves have cooled, I thinly slice and freeze one of them.

 LIFE-CHANGING SEED BREAD

This bread makes awesome whole-grain style toast, especially with seed butter and raw honey or a favorite jam.

Notes:

I use pumpkin seeds in place of hazelnuts [for a nut-free option] and like to really grind / finely chop the pumpkin and sunflower seeds to a chunky flour. 

I like to use quinoa flakes in place of oats. I find this makes a bread that sticks together better than with the oats but really both work great.

I almost always double the recipe. After the loaves have cooled, I thinly slice and freeze one of them.

I've found that making a double batch can be useful in another way. This recipes asks you to really press the dough down into the bread pans. I use the extra loaf pan to press on top of the dough [place a piece of parchment on top of loaf being pressed]. It seems to give me more leverage and force. 

When the recipe calls to remove the bread from the pan and continue to bake, I place them loaves on a cookie rack rather than directly on the oven rack. It makes for an easier removal of the loaves from the oven.

ONE WEEK OF MEALS CROCK POT STYLE

This past year I've found so much beauty and healing in slowing down, demanding less, giving up pushing and pulling and worrying and controlling, and instead quieting my mind in an effort to really feel my body and hear my soul.

When you're in the "health world" or routinely pick up a health-based magazine or see a fear-based health post or wonder which diet is actually the best, it's so easy to quickly become immersed in food-based fear and anxiety. Most of us want to feel good and live healthfully and we educate ourselves and change our diets and start working out. All good things. And yet there comes a point where the line between making some healthy lifestyle choices shifts to wanting to control it all and simply caring turns to obsessing. And fear of whatever the opposite of health is, or could be, becomes the driving force.

Here's what I've learned: no matter how healthy we eat, how much knowledge we gain, how many supplements we take, how much we care and do and give up, if "being healthy" causes anxiety and stress and fear, health will continually allude us.

Here's what I've also learned: it's okay.

It's okay to release all of the fear. It's okay to release all of the stress. It's okay to say no to the worry. It's okay to get to a point where we say enough is enough. It's okay to think we've failed. It's okay to not feel our best every minute of every day. It's okay to sit in the discomfort of life and experience the emotions that come with. It's okay to get sick from time to time. And it's okay to ask for help when being okay seems unbelievable.

So close the diet books. Discontinue the health magazines. Turn off the sound and chatter of the voices out there and begin to listen to the voice within. I know from experience that the voice of our true, honest, ego-less, projection-less self is infinitely wise and grace-filled and honest and compassionate and vastly inclusive and forgiving. Find someone who can help uncover this voice.

Give up the chatter and noise and meditate. Practice mindfulness. Breathe. Listen to really awesome music. Completely loose all sense of time doing something you love. Go outside. Seriously, even in the winter go outside. Connect with people you care deeply about. Be open and honest and vulnerable. Laugh. Laugh a lot. Let yourself stay up too late and sleep in too long from time to time and don't for a second regret it. And be present. Take all of the energy wasted on worry and fear and being anxious and focus on just being present. Right now. This second.

And forget about food. And health. And whatever you think you should be doing.

Because food matters. But it only matters as one small piece of the great big, beautiful, unique puzzle that makes up you.  


So Crock Pots.

And dinner.

Let's be honest, Crock Pots are one of mankind's most amazing inventions. Well Crock Pots and electricity. And air travel. And indoor plumbing. And pacifiers. You get the point. I affectionately think of ours as Ms. Chef, getting dinner done when I don't have the energy, motivation and/or time to do so. For me, there is something about having dinner prepared before 9am that brings a sort of ease to my day. Feeding my family well demands a decent amount of my time and using a Crock Pot allows me to spend elsewhere the time I would be standing at a stove - hopefully on things that fill me up and give me life and allow me to be present.

Here is a week long meal plan using just the Crock Pot. Some meals are meat-less, some use meat, and all are based on whole, un-processed foods. You can choose to serve with the sides listed, create your own sides, or stick to whatever is in the pot. These recipes are great for cooler temperatures and the winter season.

May you find a little extra space in your life to slow down, take in beauty in whatever way you find it, and forget about food. 

SUNDAY
Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
*prepare lentils for Monday by placing dried, uncooked lentils in a large glass bowl and covering with double the amount of water and a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar.

MONDAY
Lentil Soup
Serve with oat baguette, seed bread, seed crackers, or bread / crackers of choice.

TUESDAY
Whole Chicken
Serve with steamed or roasted vegetables.

WEDNESDAY
Butternut Squash Risotto
Serve with steamed or roasted vegetables.
*prepare black beans for Thursday by dried, uncooked beans in a large glass bowl and covering with double the amount of wate and a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar.

THURSDAY
Black Bean Soup
Serve with fresh cilantro and roasted sweet potato or parsnip chips.
Modifications: Rather than cooking over stove, simply put all of the ingredients [including uncooked, pre-soaked black beans] in Crock Pot on high for 6 - 8 hours.

FRIDAY
Creamy Chicken Soup using leftover chicken from Tuesday [click on link and scroll to "Meal 6"]
Serve with roasted cauliflower [click link and scroll down for recipe].

SATURDAY
Fish Tacos
Serve on a bed of quinoa or rice and top with fresh cilantro, avocado, and freshly squeezed lime juice.
Recipe modifications: I used Cod in place of Tilapia and seasoned with freshly ground cumin and coriander seeds.

TAHINI STIR-FRY WITH QUINOA

Limited sleep [such is the woe of being a parent] begs this to be a really simple post to mirror a simple recipe.

I tend to rely on a variety of stir-fries for my lunches throughout the week. Getting a meal in while tending to two active, demanding girls is hard enough. Cooking nearly impossible. So salads, stir-fries, and smoothies generally round out my daily meals.

During the summer we put away quite a few veggies from the Farmer's Market and our own garden. When these run out, as they inevitably do, I rely on store-bought frozen. Organic ensures the product itself is not genetically modified but doesn't protect the product from being owned by a GMO-based company. Whenever you can, try to find out who the parent company is and what they're standard practices include. Even better, ask your local health food store if they carry any local, organic frozen [or storage] produce. You may be surprised with what you find!

[THE RECIPE]

2 medium mushrooms, chopped
1/2 a medium onion, diced
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced or granulated garlic powder
A good 2 - 3 cups of veggies of choice, fresh or frozen [for this recipe I use frozen beans and frozen asparagus]
2 tsp. tahini
splash of white wine vinegar
sea salt, to taste
quinoa, cooked
raw sesame seeds, garnish

In a large skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until onion is just transparent and mushrooms slightly browned. Add fresh or frozen veggies and saute until just soft. Add tahini, a large splash of white wine vinegar, garlic or granulated garlic powder, and salt to taste [I tend to make this recipe on the saltier side]. Mix well.

Serve over warm quinoa and garnish with sesame seeds.

THE ART OF SIMPLE + [LOCAL] WINTER DETOX SALAD

I often live under the illusion all my meals need to be spectacular. You know, full of complexity and perceived "wow!" factor, a table full of mouth-watering dishes, everything coming together seamlessly. When I look at how my life, specifically meal time, actually is I find mealtimes miles from whatever immaculate images I've created in my mind - it's  laughable.

Here's maybe the most important lesson I've learned about feeding people well:

Keep it simple.

It sounds obvious but in reality I need to remind myself of this truth daily. What I know is if I don't keep food simple it just doesn't work. I slack, I rely on the leftovers of leftovers, I get to 5:00 and start to panic, or deem the evening "on your own night". I'm frazzled and frantic and grumpy because I've let myself down again. I'm not present and therefore can't enjoy anything - my husband, my kids, the people around our table, the setting, the smells, the tastes. I miss all of it because I'm in recovery mode.

And then I look into the eyes of my girls and get a sucker punch to the gut. What I'm teaching them is perfection is most important and if perfection can't be attained then just scrap it all, be cranky, and eat popcorn.

[Big gulp.]

Here's the thing, when I keep my meals simple, fresh, local, and "me" I actually serve more than just food to those I love. I give them a piece of my heart, my time, my effort, and all the good things I want for them. I'm giving my girls a sustainable and joyful way of doing food, something they can carry with them their entire lives.

When I hone in on what I'm good at making and enjoy eating, the meal comes out the way I want every time. I can relax and take pleasure in the process, experimenting along the way. This is what makes cooking fun and what brings me back to the kitchen each day. I like the comfort in familiarity that allows for creativity and adventure.

So, if you've struggled to "get it right" in the kitchen, find a few [seasonal, healthy] meals you like to make and cook them a lot. Get comfortable with the process and then experiment with different flavors and ingredients that reflect your own uniqueness. For me these are sauteed veggie scrambles, soups, and salads. I can make a mean veggie-hash in minutes or throw together a salad bar from almost anything. Over time I've learned what flavors I love and which I hate, creating my go-to dressings and seasonings that make assembly a cinch.

Don't feel like you have to scrap all your grandiose meal plans, just save them for the weekend or an open day. If you head into complex meals with the space they demand, I promise you'll have a lot more fun.

Here is one of my favorite, simple, and local lunches that provides the "fresh" reminiscent of summer yet uses seasonal produces and flavors. This is an especially great meal to enjoy while detoxing!

[WHERE DO I FIND LOCAL PRODUCE IN WINTER?]

If you live well north of the equator, it's no secret winter is upon us. Glance out your window and the banks of snow, maybe snow flake flying, and biting temperatures will remind you of this. But all is not lost when attempting to support your local community with your food purchases. In many parts of the country winter farmer's markets are popping up surprising us all with the bounty farmers have year-round. If you can't find a winter market check in at your local health food store - many are locally minded and stock produce direct from your area whenever possible.

Although olive oil and some herbs and spices aren't grown and produced in my area, purchasing them from a local artisan or market gives money to small business rather than big box stores. I like to use well-crafted, high-quality olive oil on my salads for their intensity and variety of flavor.

That being said, if you live in West Michigan, my favorite haunts are:

Sweetwater Local Foods Market
Harvest Health Foods
Nourish Organic Market & Deli
Global Infusion [for herbs / spices / teas]
Old World Olive Oils

Even changing just one or two of your common purchases from large stores to local businesses can make a big difference. If each of us did this, imagine the impact we'd make!

[THE RECIPE]

1 small head of savoy cabbage, thinly sliced [If your cabbage is a bit wilted, cut and place into a bowl of water with a large handful of ice. Allow cabbage to soak for 20 - 30 minutes or until it's crispy again.]

1/2 delicata squash [I roast the whole squash and save extra for another time], reserve seeds
sage or rosemary, ground
caraway seeds, whole [optional]
sea salt

squash seeds of delicata squash
sea salt
nutritional yeast

1/2 kohlrabi, peeled and either shaved [use vegetable peeler or mandolin] or cut into match sticks
2 radishes, thinly sliced
3 - 4 baby turnips, thinly sliced
1/2 [local] apple, cubed
homemade sprouts [mix of choice, alfalfa is great for detoxing]*

juice of 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed or 1/2 - 1 tsp. local apple cider vinegar
extra virgin, first cold-pressed olive oil [from local specialty store]
splash of local, organic, pure apple juice [if added sweetness is desired]

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry delicata squash. Cut in half, length-wise, and scoop of pulp and seeds. Separate seeds from pulp, rinse in fine mesh strainer, drain, and set aside. Slice the squash into 1/2-inch piece, cutting along the width. Then cut those slices into either thirds or quarters. Toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and sprinkle with a few pinches of sage or rosemary, caraway seeds, and sea salt. Rub seasoning in to pieces using your hands. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet or directly on stone baking pan. Roast for 25 - 30 minutes, tossing at the 20 minute mark.

While squash is baking, place rinsed and drained squash seeds on another parchment lined baking sheet or stoneware pan. Toss with a pinch or two each of sea salt and nutritional yeast. Set aside [if you have an additional oven or toaster oven you can bake these while squash is roasting]. When squash is done, set oven to 375 and bake squash seeds for 10 - 20 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy.

While squash and seeds are roasting, prepare additional ingredients as noted above.

Toss prepared cabbage and kohl rabi. Drizzle over salad a tablespoon or two of olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. When squash is done, toss with cabbage mix.

Top with a layer each of sprouts, turnips, radishes, and apples. Sprinkle with roasted squash seeds and eat to reducing toxins, good health, and supporting our local communities!

*To make homemade sprouts: purchase seeds specifically used for sprouting [will note on the package]. In a large glass jar, place seeds to cover bottom and cover with four times the water. Place a piece of screen or cheesecloth over the jar and secure with a rubber band. You can also purchase a sprouting jar. Let the seeds soak for 24 hours. Double check to make sure the cloth or screen is securely in place and then drain the water from the seeds. With cloth or screen still on bottle, let water run through to fill the jar. Drain water again, tip jar to side and place in a sunny windowsill. Gently rinse and drain the seeds 2 - 3 times a day for 3 - 5 days or until sprouts are a few inches long. Remove sprouts from jar and store in an airtight glass container for no more than a week. 

GARDEN POTATO SALAD

Dinner time tends to be a bit hectic in my family. It typically begins with my husband walking through the door, welcomed by "aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!" [and other excited baby babble] and "Hey Dad! Look at this!" from the two-year old as I am working [sometimes frantically] my way through dinner prep. After a quick change from work to relax clothes we gather around the table, my daughter says a prayer [possibly the best part of my day, especially now that she improvs], and within minutes hear "all done, I'm ready to play". We attempt some quick conversation hoping to catch up on the day, finish the meal, and before I know it what should be a sacred time of family bonding has been overcome by trying to get food in our bellies before the next demand. Just like that we're on to play time, clean up, bed-prep, bedtime, post-kid work, and off to bed ourselves.

And then, the other day, everything changed.

Rather than business as usual, we grabbed our picnic trays, carried our meals down to the patio overlooking the pond, and gathered under the umbrella in the late afternoon sun. When my daughter declared done, we set her down to roam the flowers, look at bugs, and ponder a variety of things that caught her eye. We sank into our chairs, ate slow, talked and listened, and lingered at the table laughing at our daughter's antics and our own ridiculous jokes. We talked about our day, reflected on things we had learned, and for moments simply sat in the silence taking in the sounds of a little girl's laughter, a baby's coos, the songs of birds, and a bullfrog calling out here and there.

It was beautiful.

So the next evening we did it again.

And it too was beautiful.

What I realized was, once we removed the distractions that the walls of our home contain, we were set free to just be. To enjoy the company of those around us without seeing the dishes, the clean up, the toys, the phone, and all of the other things that easily pull us away from the table and time as a family. Nature has a way of coaxing us to sit and stay. To slow down and take in the blessing and beauty that surrounds us everyday.

Being outdoors pulls typical tasks from mundane to magical. Exactly what was intended, I think.

And so, tonight, we will do it again.

We'll grab our picnic trays, hoist the baby on our hip, and trek down the stairs to the patio to sit and eat and talk and laugh and watch and listen.

And I imagine it will be beautiful.

May you find a way to pull your family or your friends or yourself outside for a meal. May you put aside the work and the hassles and the time and simply be.

And may you be so blessed by the beauty you find when you do.

[THE RECIPE]

Special Note: Although cucumbers are not in season quite yet, many farmers have greenhouse cucumbers that they bring to the Farmer's Market beginning in late spring. Hunt down your nearest market and you might just be pleasantly surprised what you will find! Take liberties with this recipe and adjust the salad throughout the season, using summer squashes and cherry tomatoes in summer, root veggies in winter, and loads of spring greens in the spring. To make it a fruit salad, sub the veggies for fruit, parlsey and chives for mint, mustard for honey or maple syrup, olive oil for walnut oil, and add just a touch of salt.

For the dressing:

1/2 c. cashews, soaked* or sunflower seeds
pure water to cover cashews
2 T. raw apple cider vinegar
1 - 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/8 c. extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

Place soaked cashews* in a high speed blender and pour in water, enough to just cover the cashews. Add remaining ingredients and blend on high until very smooth. The consistency should be just in between runny and thick. Add a little more water if it is too thick or more oil if it is too thin. Refrigerate until ready for use.

*To soak cashews either place nuts in a glass jar, cover with double the water, and refrigerate overnight or place nuts in a glass jar, cover with double the boiling water, and soak for 10 - 15 minutes.

For the salad:

4 - 6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 bunch of radishes [about 6], rinsed and finely chopped
1/2 - 1 cucumber, rinsed and cut into small pieces
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
handful of green beans [if frozen, steam until just warm], cut into 1/2-inch pieces
fresh parsley, finely minced
fresh chives, finely minced
pinch or two of smoked paprika [regular paprika is fine here as well]
sea salt to taste

Place prepared potatoes in a steam basket and steam until just barely soft. Remove from heat. Add carrots to the top of the potatoes and cover to stand over residual steam [no heat necessary] for about 5 minutes. Once the carrots are just a touch soft [but still crunchy], place in a large bowl and set in refrigerator to cool [or freezer to speed up the process].

Once the potatoes and carrots are no longer hot [can still be a little warm], mix in remaining ingredients. Pour sauce over veggie mix and toss until salad is thoroughly covered.

Return to refrigerator to set for 15 - 20 minutes, allowing the flavors to meld together.

This is wonderful served with a side of sauteed asparagus.