Current Favorite Lunch + Happy Sunflowers = July 2016

Howdy Ho, good neighbor!  With fresh produce from the garden available daily plus my  new low sugar/low carb eating plan, I am craving this fresh salad this summer.  I can eat it 3 days in a row, and still be excited about it.  Good crunch, zesty dressing, and tangy tuna.

I used to mix these ingredients together in a big bowl for my lunch, but the visual lost it's appeal halfway through eating it.  Ha ha!  So now I make a little Cobb Salad type of arrangement, and it looks and tastes great til the very end.  Pick 3-4 of your favorite raw veggies and cut them up into cubes.  I personally love radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  Make a little pile of each on your plate.  I also love cold, white beans for this salad.  Rinse them out of the can, and use about 1/3 of the can for this plate.  Next, add a tasty pile of tuna (in water) for a yummy protein.  And last but not least....

I like to drizzle on my favorite homemade salad dressing.  I make this Italian dressing in a pint jar, and just stir and spoon it on to salads, cucumbers, or this favorite salad.  Tastes so incredibly much better than store bought dressing.  And it's simple, preservative free, and made with items from your pantry.  This salad is especially nice because you can customize it to your liking.  Use cooked chicken in place of the tuna.  Add feta cheese for a tangy twist.  Forget the beans and use cooked quinoa if you like.  The possibilities are endless.

Joanne Littlefield...if you somehow see this photo of your Italian dressing recipe, just know that I've been making it ever since you taught it to us in your cooking classes in the 1990s.  Delish!

We had some torrential rains today.  In fact we've had ALOT of them this summer in southern Indiana.  But even a rainy day view out our dining room door is a happy view thanks to this ONE Sunflower plant that is monsterously huge and full of sweet flowers.  The Goldfinches are a big fan...they are picking the seeds out of the flowers one by one.  :)

Thank you for stopping by!  Sleep Tight!

Blessings,
Donna