From Farmers' Market to Salad Bowl

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market and visit my favorite growers to see what they have just harvested. There’s nothing like seasonal, fresh, organic food, grown by caring people. Of course, I would love to grow my own fruits and veggies, that would be ideal, but where I currently live I’m only able to “raise” strawberries, chili peppers, and some herbs. “City living”, as we call it, only allows for a “garden” that consists of five little planter boxes. So farmers' market it is…

I went, I grazed, I picked, I bought, I carried, and brought home some fruit and such delicious ingredients for a salad that it really didn’t even need any dressing. The French are right: it’s all in the ingredients! Some of the goodies I picked up are French plums, a variety of heirloom tomatoes and even wild arugula!
There’s no such thing as coming home from the market with the fresh, crisp greens and not making a salad. They are the only types of dishes where I don’t mind combining lots of ingredients. They’re still all vegetables. No matter what, a salad can’t be that hard on you!
So I layered romaine lettuce, wild arugula, cucumber, red onions, red radishes, bell pepper, pineapple heirloom tomatoes and made just the simplest dressing to go with it.

Basic Salad Dressing 
(for salads that are too good to be drenched in an overpowering “sauce”)
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
salt to taste

Variations
Sometimes we don’t have the best ingredients on hand or just want a more flavorful dressing or want to make something to impress… So here are some other combinations that I love to dress my salads with:

Garlic and Herbs Dressing
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp mustard
1-2 cloves garlic (pressed)
chopped fresh (or dry) herbs such as oregano, basil, or your favorite(s)
salt to taste

Honey-Mustard Dressing
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp mustard
1-2 cloves garlic (pressed)
½ tsp honey (NOT vegan, but you can substitute agave or maple syrup, which is not raw)
salt to taste

Whisk together all of the ingredients with a fork or shake it all up in a jar, pour over the salad, mix, and that's it! You've got a bowl full of antioxidants, anti-cancer qualities, fiber, copper, folate and the list goes on....it's a pile of vitamins and minerals "thrown" together in minutes!  It can't really get any healthier or more eco-friendly...