The arrival of spring means that seasonal fruits and vegetables are in season. Produce like asparagus, strawberries, leafy greens and rhubarb among others.
We look through some of our favorite past cooking magazine issues and possibly yours as well to find the perfect spring salads.
Your family will love these vibrant, colorful and delicious salads. If you want to make a meal out of them, just add some chopped cooked chicken, or fish, like salmon, halibut, or tuna.
Both featured salads serve a table of four.
Arugula Salad Topped with Walnuts Strawberries and Parmesan Cheese
1 cup halved fresh strawberries
2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar *see recipe notes below
1 tablespoon EV olive oil
1 teaspoon raw local honey (local to your area)
Add ingredients to a blender and blend until well mixed.
Recipe Notes
Aged balsamic vinegar may not be economical for you, as I thought it wasn’t for me. Unless you plan to regularly use it. A bottle of 12 year old aged balsamic vinegar is around $40 a bottle.
What we did, is brought a 1/2 cup of regular balsamic vinegar infused with strawberry (you can also opt for blueberry or pomegranate) to a boil over high heat in a small ceramic coated skillet. Cook until the vinegar begins to thicken and becomes syrupy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool then follow vinaigrette recipe above.
Salad Ingredients
1 cup walnut halves
We found a cool way to candy the walnuts, and credit goes to private chef Chris Crary with his candied walnut recipe featured at California Walnuts.
1/2 cup California walnuts
1 egg white
1 ounce sugar
2 tablespoons walnut oil
Salt to taste
Beat egg white until it forms soft peaks. Add the sugar and mix in to peaked egg white. Next add the walnuts and coat with the egg mixture. Place in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Once mixture is cool, toss in walnut oil. Set aside.
16 ounce bag of arugula
2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup candied walnuts
Shaved Parmesan
In a large salad bowl, combine arugula, strawberries and candied walnuts. Plate salad and drizzle with vinaigrette and top with shaved Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
To make salad a meal, when mixing salad ingredients, add a cup or two of your choice, chopped cooked chicken, salmon, halibut, or tuna.
Mixed Greens with Smoked Salmon Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
1 grapefruit with white flesh, peeled, pith removed, and dice segments
5 ounce package of mixed greens
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
5 ounce package smoked salmon, flake with a fork
Vinaigrette
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of sweet garlic mustard (we found this at Whole Foods Market)
1 tablespoon of EV olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix lemon juice, mustard, oil, salt and pepper to a large salad bowl. Next add mixed greens, grapefruit, avocado, and smoked salmon. Toss until well coated with vinaigrette. Plate and serve.
What Others Are Reading:
Soaking dried 
Who doesn’t enjoy cheese, either as snack, on a sandwich, or topped over leafy greens? There is many ways to include cheese in your culinary delights.
Mozzarella is a southern Italian cheese, and is traditionally made with milk from the from Italian water buffalo.
This cheese is a hard, granular cheese. In Italian the word “Grana” means “granular” and refers to a texture well-suited for grating.
Swiss cheese originated in 
This cheese is hard and off-white in its natural color, and can be acidic-tasting. The orange cheddar that most of us are accustom too, is such because a spice called 
Blue cheese is a general made of cow’s milk, though goat’s milk can also be used. It is called Blue cheese as it has blue or blue-green mold throughout. The blue mold in these cheeses is due to mold spores from Penicillium.
Can you imagine making a tart, shortbread, pie, 
When rolling out the chilled dough, roll from the center to the outside edge. Use just enough flour on the rolling surface and rolling pin to keep the dough form sticking.
Although Brussels sprouts are available year-round, their peak season is from September to February.
When asked the question – How Do You Describe Broccoli? – to a community of online people at answers.com, one member answered saying, “Broccoli is good chopped into small pieces or cut into larger piece and cooked until tender.
The sweet potato is a starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous root. There are about 1,000 species of sweet potatoes, with some varieties sold at market for food, while others are not for consumption, as they are poisonous. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato, though it is not part the nightshade family.
Kale is considered to be the most robust of the cabbage family. Its high nutritional worth and intense flavor make kale an exceptional addition too many vegetable recipes. At Mind Body Green, Alison Lewis makes note of kale as “the new beef,” “the queen of greens,” and “a nutritional powerhouse”(
The genuine Belgian endive is deeply rooted in its country of origin – Belgian, were it was discovered in 1830. This compact white colored small cylindrical shaped leaf vegetable with light green tips is a tangy, but tender and delicious vegetable.
Smoked Bacon Golden Beets and Kale Hash
3 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons avocado oil
Over medium heat, add oil to a large sauce pot. Once heated add meat and brown. Next add onions, and garlic. Stir until garlic and onion is just browned about 1 minute.
Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer, and add kale, then stir in. Place lid on pot, and on simmer let 
To thicken the soup a little, as we did not use potatoes (their starch content will thicken 
2 tablespoons 
Spaghetti Bolognese
The first time we used 
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and saute, stirring often, until beginning to brown and smell fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add chorizo to pan and break up with a spoon, and cook meat until browned and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.
Next add tomato paste and red pepper flakes to meat mixture and mix in. Next add the broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened a bit, about 15-20 minutes. Next add the can of chickpeas, and mix in, cooking 2 minutes more to heat the chickpeas through.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to packaged instructions. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
Serve pasta topped with cilantro or parsley (your choice), Parmesan, and lemon zest.
We have had this for left overs a few times, and each time we add cilantro, cheese, and lemon zest. The zest adds great flavor to this dish. Be sure to use it.
