Green Salad

(c) 7/3/2011, Kathy Fannon
(Click on image to enlarge)

I love my farmer's market where I can buy fresh produce, in season, and not have those little stickers on it because it's been shipped in from across the country.

Yesterday I spent about $50 on all kinds of goodies to last for the week. Staples for me are organic chicken, grass-fed, free-range organic eggs, zucchini squash, carrots, Yukon Gold potatoes, onions, bell peppers and always some kind of fruit from my favorite fruit farmer. I even discovered dehydrated vegetables this year, a new favorite, and just as good as chips!

Asparagus is always a must while it's in season, but my asparagus farmer didn't have any more. Rats. But wait! My fruit farmer did! So I bought what I assume to be the end of the asparagus for the year.

When I was on my way back to the van I spotted green beans! Yay, first of the season! So I made a beeline to the table. Next to the beans was some lettuce and since I had some cash left, I bought that too.

This afternoon I made a salad with some of what I bought yesterday. Oh man! There's nothing like fresh, local lettuce! So good! The asparagus was so tender and the beans were sweet!

I washed the dirt off the lettuce, rinsed a few green beans and a couple of stalks of asparagus. I topped it with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sprinkled it with just a touch of Pink Himalayan Salt and garlic powder.

No, I did not cook the beans or the asparagus. When they are this fresh and local they are fabulous to eat raw! I just snapped off the stem end of the beans, the woody end of the asparagus and broke them into bite-size pieces.

Lettuce, green beans and asparagus are all good sources for: calcium, magnesium, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, iron, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, and vitamin B6.

Green beans and asparagus are also very good sources of protein, niacin and copper, and asparagus is an excellent source for zinc and selenium.

As I was eating I realized some of the cherries I bought yesterday would've been delicious chopped on top of this, as well as some walnuts or pecans. I also had green pepper, but it's already chopped and put in the freezer for future use. Oh well...thoughts for next time.

Green Salad
Lettuce
Green Beans
Asparagus
Green Pepper
Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

What is your favorite summer-time salad? What farmers market item are you waiting for?