Crunchy Winter Salad
in case you need to switch gears for a minute before the next holiday
I’m speaking to future you from past me: one week ago. I wrote this in advance knowing I may need a beat to recuperate from Thanksgiving with two babies. This is my go to salad of the moment. If you know me personally, you may be thinking “Hmmm but I thought she hated salad?”. I do still have lukewarm feelings about salad. My body doesn’t really like eating raw vegetables. But everyone seems to love em’ so sometimes I eat them.
The base of this salad is every winter vegetable at the farmers market right now, very thinly sliced. Thats KEY. Thinly sliced or shaved on the mandoline. Texture is everything with a salad. Then a creamy dressing with plenty of fat. Lots of onion-y flavors. Then briny flavors. Here’s the loose plan:
Bottom of the bowl:
Sour cream or yogurt
Mayo
Apple Cider Vinegar
Ranch Seasoning
Minced Chives
On top of that - all thinly sliced:
Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Raddichio, and/or Broccoli
Radish (I found watermelon radishes)
Fennel (add some fronds too)
Toss and then add in any or all of the following:
Roasted Sunflower Seeds
Pistachios
Sliced Olives
Hearts Of Palm
Apples
What I’m Loving This Week:
Hearts Of Palm: Every once in a while, maybe once a year, I remember how much I love hearts of palm. And I wonder why I stopped buying them. My Costco recently had them, so I now naturally have a ton. They are awesome and bring a salad from meh to GREAT, in my humble opinion. I also once made fake “crab cakes” out of them on a cookbook shoot. They were delicious and I want to re-create them soon. Look out for that.
Bumble and Bumble texture hair(un)dressing creme: If you follow me on Insta, you may have picked up on the fact that I love hair products and I love VOLUME. I’m regularly on the hunt for the best volumizing styling cremes. Feel free, please, to drop a comment on this post with your favorites. This stuff is THICK, which may be off putting but just a pea-dime sized amount run through damp hair before a blow dry has been creating miracles for me. It also seems to be really extending my blow dry which is a huge bonus in my book.
Worth noting: There’s a high likelihood that I’m repeating myself week to week with my “things I love”. I often find myself having deja vu as I profess my love for something. Just bear with me. I truly write these newsletters in a very off-the-cuff fashion. Every week, I sit, write it in one go and hit send. I’m positive you’ve found typos. But it’s the only way they are getting out into the world with the circus that is my house but hopefully they feel authentic to you, the reader. Thanks for making it this far :)