Spinach Salad--Fresh From Our Summer Garden

Nathan made this wonderful last minute salad the other night and used the delicious chunky ginger & garlic dressing that I cannot stopping promoting. Needless to say, I put a little dressing on my steak...

This simple salad included some Okinawa spinach, Moluccan spinach, and a dash of
Spanish needle which was surprisingly pleasant with these greens. That's the trick of it, I think. To try combinations of greens instead of thinking we must like the taste of each individual green. As we adapt to eating these types of summer greens, we can learn to balance flavors of hot, spicy, and neutral with textures of buttery soft and substantial roughage.

So many wonderful, tasty, highly nutritious greens are available all summer long and there isn't any need to buy week+ aged lettuce mixes found in some local stores. Our salad greens grow regardless of the summer heat which has been well into the 90's in St. Petersburg. Lots of rain has not hurt them either. That said, they have also grown in times of drought--maybe not as prolific--but they have survived and been quite edible. With the addition of our fresh garden eggplant (Listada di Gandia) and chunked Hayden mango from our tree, this meal would have cost a fortune in a restaurant IF we had been able to find greens as fresh as our own home grown.

The message? Learn to grow your food.  It is the right thing to do for your body. If you don't have time for urban farming then find it fresh locally and buy it religiously. Then watch your health--and your disposition--improve!