The First Salad

When I announced at age 8 that I was going to be a vegetarian, you could hear a pin drop. You see, I was growing up in London, England, home of the meat pot-pie. Vegetables cooked beyond recognition, which is why peas are called, mushy peas there..Yuck! My mom was amazing about my announcement, she never made me feel like I was a burden at all. She gave me my vegetables raw, my favorite and the way her mom, my grandmother, had given her. She made me rice and a salad to go with all my dinners, as well. SALAD! We are all so used to salad now but when I was growing up, unless you were French, no one served it.

My mom became a Rock Star! No one else’s mom served salad at dinner but if you had dinner at my house after a playdate, you got it. All my friends wanted to come to dinner at my house! Pretty soon, all my friend’s moms were calling, saying, “How did you get my child to eat vegetables??” See? My mom the Rock Star! Mom used to put Good Seasons Italian dressing on our salad, the powdered kind in a packet that needed the accompanying cruet to make it.

Lunches at school were another adventure. Being vegetarian at home was ok but at school, it was quite another. Kids thought being vegetarian meant I only liked plain cheeseburgers at Mc D’s. Hmmm, that’s a big NO. I would come to school with whole wheat bread and cucumber sandwiches’ and everyone thought I was from Mars. I remember having lunch with this boy one day and he was eating a white bread, butter and chocolate sprinkle sandwich?!

Salad is still my favorite dinner. My boyfriend, Aaron makes amazing salads. Everyone always comments on how good they are. Most of our produce is delivered to my front door from FarmboxLA.

Because I need protein, he will put nuts in mine, usually walnuts or sliced almonds. He usually uses our mixed lettuces, avocados, mint leaves, heirloom tomatoes and some kind of fruit, like sliced apples or pears.

His dressing is truly a favorite of everyone who has had it. It may sound simple but it’s fantastic. He uses Olive oil, Himalayan salt and lemon juice. So light, so delicious!

We also roast vegetables for dinner almost every night. Here is a little trick I learned the hard way. I use different size cookie sheets and I cover them with aluminum foil, if you don't you will need to take a sledge hammer to the cookie sheet to clean it! I separate the broccoli ( cook 20 min. ), kale ( cook 20 min ), carrots ( cook a little longer - 25 min. ), then brussel sprouts and potatoes, which I cook together for almost an hour - 420 degrees for all. Add a little olive oil and Maldon Sea Salt flakes. You won't believe how good they taste.

My parents were always into health. They followed Pritikin and food combining while I was growing up. I believe good eating habits start young but it’s never too late!!

Happy and healthy eating!!!