chopped vegetable salad with zesty ranch dressing

Just as I had hoped, summer is back. Two days of grey skies and rain is okay by me and it's more than good for all the gardens and farms out there too. But I'm so happy to have back the sunshine and warm summer evenings. Ahhh, now it feels like July! And the perfect meal for those hot summer nights is a crunchy refreshing vegetable salad. I love chopped salads because they're just so easy: chop the vegetables into bite-sized chunks, pour over some homemade dressing, et voilà, a fresh and tasty meal.

This time, I tried something different: ranch dressing. Normally, I'm not a huge fan of ranch...it's too creamy and bland and I miss the tart pucker that only a vinaigrette provides. But then I saw a photo on Gluten-Free Girl's blog and it made me want ranch dressing. Like really, really want ranch dressing. So I bought some buttermilk and got to work. I modified her version based on the ingredients that I already had and the results were deliciously wonderful. Yes, the ranch dressing was creamy but it had a good balance of flavour between the tang of the buttermilk, the bite of the lemon and all the earthy spices. This recipe makes a lot which is so perfect to have in the fridge when CSAs & farmer's markets stuff your crisper with more vegetables than you know what to do with. When you've got a mason jar full of homemade dressing, it's easy to whip up a quick salad to make use of your greens or snack on a platter of raw vegetables. And – if this is something you might be into – this ranch dressing doctored with a habanero hot sauce is just perfect for dipping your take-out pizza crusts into. You know, if you do that kind of thing.

Want more summer salad ideas? Let me dig deep into my archives...
Colourful chopped vegetable salad
Green bean quinoa salad
Marinated vegetable salad
Mixed bean salad
Raw vegetable salad with yogurt-feta dressing
Vegetable slaw with jalapeno-lime dressing

chopped vegetable salad with zesty ranch dressing
(adapted from Gluten-Free Girl)
2 c snowpeas, chopped
2 carrots, sliced into coins
3/4 c corn
1/2 green cabbage, shredded & chopped
1/4 red onion, finely diced
dressing:
1 c buttermilk
1/4 c sour cream
1/4 c mayonnaise
juice & zest of 1/2 lemon
1 t honey
1 fat clove garlic, minced
2 T freshly grated onion
1 large pinch each of dried dill & oregano
1/4 t sweet Spanish paprika
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t freshly ground pepper
a shake or two of hot sauce

Chop all the vegetables and place them in a large bowl. Set aside.

To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients until combined. Taste & adjust seasoning if necessary. This makes a lot of dressing, so just use enough dressing for the salad. Pour dressing liberally (or not, depending on taste) and toss salad to combine.

Place remaining dressing into a tightly lidded container and keep in the fridge for about a week or so.

root down: raw beet & carrot salad

There's a raw vegan cafe in town called Gorilla Foods. I like 'em and I love their Root Down juice which basically contains whatever you want to juice up. My standard juice order contains beets, carrots, lemon, orange, and ginger and it's so so so very tasty. So when I had some big ol' beets and some lovely multi-coloured organic carrots on hand, I decided to do a root down version in salad form. This isn't all raw since I'm using mustard and I think mustard is cooked...but I'm not a raw food fantatic so that doesn't matter to me anyway.

This salad turned out lovely. And I'm not talking about how pretty it looks in the bowl. I mean, look at it! Stunning! Ruby, purple, orange and pink...it's a visual masterpiece! For this recipe, I pulled out my Benriner Japanese Mandolin Slicerso everything is perfectly julienned, but you can use a food processor or just grate everything up by hand. Despite the time spent grating/julienning, it's a very simple salad to put together and there's a sweetness alongside a nice spicy bite. Oh yeah, and it's very healthy. Perfect for this time of year.

One more thing...I've been nominated for best food blog in Vancouver by the Best of 604 blog, so if you'd vote for me (before this coming Wednesday at midnight PST), that would be swell. Thanks!

raw beet & carrot salad
1 large beet, julienned
3 large carrots or 5 med-smallish carrots, julienned
tangerine or orange zest
juice of 1/2 tangerine or orange
lemon zest
juice of 1/2 lemon
2-4 T olive oil
1 T dijon mustard
1 T maple syrup or honey
1/2 t fresh grated ginger
salt & pepper

Combine the beets and carrots in a bowl. Mix the zest, juice, olive oil, mustard, syrup, ginger and spices in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Taste adding in more olive oil if you find it too sharp or add in more lemon juice to make it more tart. Toss with salad and let marinate for a few minutes before serving.

green and crunky: raw vegetable salad with yogurt-feta dressing

I recently posted that I wasn't a fan of raw broccoli. A few days later after making that statement, I made a raw broccoli salad. Crunky or not, I went with it and I liked it. I guess that means that I'm fickle and to take what I say with a grain of salt. Whatever, a girl has the right to change her mind!

This salad is crunchy from all the raw vegetables and toasted pecans and sweet-tart from the Granny Smith and the dried cranberries. The feta adds the salt and the lemon and yogurt add tang. It's kind of like a Waldorf Salad, but much more colourful. Plus, it's easy to whip up and downright healthy to boot. What's not to love?

Want more raw? Then check out my latest post for Food Network Canada where I review Gorilla Food, a raw, vegan, organic cafe in downtown Vancouver. The owner/chef used to be the personal chef for Beastie Boy, Mike D and the food is totally delicious and uber-healthy in a very tasty way.

raw vegetable salad with yogurt-feta dressing
1 head of broccoli, torn into florets and then chopped relatively small + stalks peeled and sliced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 orange pepper (red, yellow or green would be fine too)
1/4 red onion, finely diced
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
3 T plain yogurt
3 T crumbled feta cheese
juice & zest of 1/2 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
freshly ground pepper
2 T dried cranberries
3 T toasted chopped pecans

In a serving bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients, broccoli through apple. In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, feta, lemon juice & zest, garlic and pepper to create a dressing. Taste and adjust ingredients, if needed. Toss dressing with vegetables and sprinkle with cranberries and pecans.