Honey Mustard Turnip Green Salad

Turnip greens have a slightly bitter taste, so this recipe sweetens them up just a bit for a salad. I used half of my bag of turnip greens for this recipe (and half a head of lettuce), but it can easily be doubled for a larger salad.

Ingredients 

• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• salt  to taste
• turnip greens
• lettuce
• cut fresh vegetables
• almonds
• cooked diced chicken

1. Wash and dry lettuce and turnip greens and set aside.

2. Add the first six ingredients to a small pot to make the dressing. Warm the dressing on low heat to soften the honey and blend the flavors.

3. Turn off the heat and toss in turnip greens to coat. Toss and remove from the pot so they don’t wilt (mine got a little wilty!)

4. Toss in salad with lettuce and other veggies (I used radishes and carrots, but mushrooms, tomatoes, or sprouts would also be good).

5. Top with almonds. Serve with chicken to make it a main dish.

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Salad Round Up

I hope you’re eating lots of salads and fresh veggies this week with all the beautiful greens from the CSA box. I always love a taste-test, and so we’ve especially enjoyed tasting all the different types of greens to note their different flavors. I was surprised how much flavor lettuce can have! I’ll admit our carrots have never made it to the refrigerator – our kids ate them all on Saturday night.

Salads get extra points for being both healthy and easy to prepare. Eating uncooked vegetables are one of the healthiest ways to eat your vegetables because it preserves the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that are often lost in food processing and cooking. And did you know that dark vegetables contain almost all of your vitamins and minerals? So you can feel really good about eating those dark greens and rich carrots. All those vitamins and minerals will help you heal more quickly, build strong bones and can lower cholesterol.

To keep up with all these greens you can add a quick side salad to every meal, or make a big salad as your main dish. Just wash, chop and toss. Below is a recipe for a homemade vinaigrette, and a list ideas of salad toppings you might want to keep around to jazz up your salad . Many of these can be bought inexpensively and have a long shelf life, making them a great supplement to your CSA.

Vinaigrette

This is a good base recipe for vinaigrette. Keep the oil and vinegar ratio the same, but otherwise feel free to vary it, trying different vinegars or herbs. This would be great for the fresh basil from the CSA if you still have some (alas, I used all mine in pesto). The small amount of Dijon mustard acts as an emulsifier to keep the oil and vinegar from separating. Just put all the ingredients in a glass jar and shake. Allow 30 minutes for the flavors to blend, and you’re ready to toss some in your salad.

• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup
• ¼ tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried basil, or 1 TBSP minced fresh
• 2 TBSP chopped leek
• salt and pepper to taste

Salad toppings

• Nuts: pine nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts or slivered almonds
• Relishes: olives, pepperoncinis, roasted red peppers
• fruit: golden raisins, dried cranberries, sliced apples or pears
• cheese: cheddar, parmesan, blue cheese, goat cheese or your favorite cheese
• protein: hard boiled egg, crumbled bacon, leftover chicken or other meat chopped into small pieces

Tell us how you fix your salads! What special toppings do you use? What’s your favorite dressing?

And for more salad ideas, check out some of these links:

Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes
Fall Salad recipes to keep you healthy
Fall Salads from Bon Appetit
45 Satisfying Salad Recipes

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