portrait of a garden

Friday night healthy meatless supper included my favorite ingredients for this jewel of a salad I have named 'Bethany's Garden'.....it just looks like that....it looks like Bethany's Garden to me.....


a simple bouquet of watercress is how it got started ~ I found this beautiful bouquet of organic watercress looking up at me @ the produce aisle at my local Native Sun. It reminded me of summer and running outside at night.....then it made me smile ~ so I decided it should come home with me......


the corn kernels are raw too....they're sweeter raw....when corn is served raw it's considered a vegetable & not a starch ~ let's save the starch for the BREAD

I made this gorgeous salad last Friday night with the organic watercress (the one shown above) that followed me home from Native Sun. This was literally a last minute supper thrown together in haste. It's also a meatless day for me (Lenten Fridays!) so I grilled a wild rice tempeh patty with water, wine & soy sauce, then topped it with organic rennet free cheddar cheese on Ezekiel bread - turned out to be a savory & filling Friday night dinner.

When was the last time I had fish sticks and tator tots for Fridays during Lent???

That might actually be a great cooking challenge to remake a healthy retro version of that......

The salad I made included the following organic ingredients which amped up the taste value considerably - organic watercress+beets+carrots and organic raw almonds.

I also prefer to use old fashion carrots in their natural born SHAPE - not the pre-formed baby carrots which are completely tasteless! Try going back to eating and cooking with big meaty carrots and you'll taste the difference in quality.

You'll return to the sweet, crunchy and earthy taste of a true root vegetable rather than biting into pre-meditated water-filled Styrofoam.

Unfortunately, I don't live in an area where farm fresh organic produce is overtly available in mass diverse selections....ie: think massive access @ New York's GREENMARKET.

I was in Manhattan last November '07, when I finally walked up from the subway onto Union Square Park and found myself in the middle of farmer's market heaven ~ i literally ~ nearly began to well up with tears....nearly....

Luckily what I do have access to is one of my favorite locales @ Native Sun, as mentioned earlier as well as my local grocery store Publix which is beginning to carry a significant selection of organic goods.

So work with what you have and at least try it. It makes such a significant difference in taste and ultimately in your health ~ as well as those that sit down and 'supp with you!

Here's the salad recipe I managed to orchestrate for Friday night's dinner:


really not too much prep time ~ YES these are raw beets and raw almonds and s w e e t as can be


Bethany's Garden: salad & dressing recipe
© 2008 Ingar Brunnett, TasteMemory.com

2 large carrots, shaved with a potato peeler
1/2 cup white onion, finely shredded
1 bunch of fresh watercress, bottom 'root' ends trimmed
2 ears of uncooked corn, kernels removed*
1 fresh beet, outer skin peeled off then sliced into matchsticks
1 cup raw almonds, hand crushed with mallet in a plastic bag

easy garlic ginger dressing
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup good olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
1 fresh garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients together for the dressing.

In a medium bowl, combine the carrots, onions and 1/4 portion of the prepared dressing. Combine dressing with shaved carrot mixture and set aside in refrigerator.

Prep salad ingredients as noted above.

*Trim corn off the cobb: Place medium size bowl on a flat surface. Place flat corn cobb end inside the bowl with one end of the cobb on the bottom of the bowl. Hold the top end with one hand to keep upright. Use a small sharp knife to trim the kernels off the cob beginning from the top of the cobb and running the knife through to the bottom. Trimming the cobb inside the bowl will keep the kernels from shooting all over your kitchen counter and floor.

In a large salad platter, gently toss remaining dressing with watercress. Gently combine the marinated carrots to the watercress. Top with corn kernels, beets and almonds.

This savory melange of a salad is delicious with chewy, dense whole grain bread or you can make toastettes from my favorite sprouted whole grain bread: Ezekiel Bread with a brush of olive oil, light sprinklings sea salt & shavings of Horizon Organic Cheddar Cheese which is absolutely rennet free and tastes like the real deal.....

Also ~ Thank you for visiting me and all your awesome comments. I am really glad to have met all of you this past week through cybersphere - again thank you for stopping by! It's been great visiting your blogs too and reading about what is happening on your side of the globe.....and thank you to Blogger for highlighting Taste Memory as one of your blogs of note ;-) !!!

Also on the pending posting list for Korean Cooking fans.....Yuk Gae Jang: Spicy Korean Beef Soup.....that's up next since I can currently tell it's been a visual obsession of mine for the past week.

Peace