Get Ready for Summer (Salads)! 🥗

Hi and welcome to The Salad Lab! 
I'm Darlene.

Some of you may be new here, welcome! Thank you for joining our salad community. I wanted to share a little about myself and why I started making fabulous salads every day. This journey began when we were all stuck at home and everyone was on social media dancing and baking bread. I originally started preparing salads on social media when my daughter, a then Junior Team USA Olympic weightlifting athlete and molecular biology major (where the “Lab” equipment comes from), requested my recipes that I developed. She wanted to prepare them herself while away at college. A friend suggested posting them on social media, and I said, why not? Before long, my family favorites and a few celebrity ones were getting thousands of views and the rest is Salad Lab history!
 
Salads are my thing. When I go out to lunch with friends, the regular question is, who has the best salad? The most frequently asked question I get is what is my favorite salad, and I truly cannot pick just one. I don’t know about you, but it really depends on my mood. Ever since I can remember, when I was invited to an event, they requested I bring my big bowl of salad. I live in Sonoma County, where local farm fresh produce, fabulous cheese and wine are abundant (Sonoma is wine country’s best kept secret….. they don’t allow tour buses), giving me lots of beautiful ingredients to experiment with. I love to learn about the culture, history and stories behind each salad and their ingredients along with finding new and innovative ways of preparing them. I am so grateful I get to share my passion and your participation on this salad journey of ours. 
 
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter! Each month, you'll find a special recipe (or two) just for you, tips and tools of the salad trade, deals and insider information about what's going on in my kitchen.
 
Please follow along on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to whisk, toss, and enjoy all summer long. So glad you're here!

Beyoncé Renaissance Tour Salad

INGREDIENTS
 
Prep
4 Slices sourdough bread cut into 1 inch squares
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup raw almonds
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon flake sea salt
For Vegan Parm - 3/4 cup raw cashews
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon salt
Whisk
½ cup Canola oil (or Avocado or EVOO)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (Meyer)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon pure lemon oil (or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or 1 teaspoon lemon zest)
½ teaspoon flake sea salt
Toss
4 cups chopped curly kale
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
3/4 cup Regular or Vegan parmesan cheese (see above)
2/3 cup Toasted chopped almonds (see above)
2 cups croutons (see above)
 
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 dFh. Cut the bread into one inch cubes. Place bread cubes, olive oil and salt in a medium bowl and toss until well combined. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mats and bake for 10 minutes, turn or stir around and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until they start to brown on the edges.
Lower the oven temperature to 350 dFh. In a small bowl add almonds, oil and salt and mix until well combined. Spread out onto a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes stirring halfway through.
If using Vegan Parmesan, in a small food processor or blender combine cashews, yeast, garlic powder and salt. Pulse or blend until the the nuts are the consistency of finely grated Parmesan.
In a large salad bowl combine oil, lemon juice, mustard, lemon oil, salt and pepper and whisk until well combined. To the same bowl add lettuce, kale, croutons, parmesan, almonds and dressing, toss until well combined and serve.
 
I’m having it with WTRMLN WTR, (it’s reported Beyoncé owns part of the company and don’t worry, it has lemon juice in it), enjoy!

This Month...

This month, I'll be focused on summer's celebrations and how the beautiful produce of the season can make them more special. I for one have a big weekend in June: my daughter's college graduation and my son's wedding. Yes, on the same weekend, lots of excitement in my house this summer! Can you guess what the wedding gift will be? I’ll give you a clue, I received one from my parents when I got married and like mine, the couple's names and wedding date will be engraved on the back. 

Get ready for summer salads by finding your local farmer's markets or produce stands for fresh tomatoes, peaches, squash, melon, corn, and herbs. Make sure your grill is cleaned and ready and consider a beautiful bowl for all of summer's beautiful fruit (like in the video below) as a birthday, graduation, wedding, or Father's Day gift!

Be sure to follow me everywhere - enjoy! 