Good Summer eating.

Summer is here, which means fresh produce from our garden! I look forward to it every year.

We have been eating fresh lettuce and spinach from our garden for about a month now. It doesn't get any better than this. Well, if someone would come weed the garden for me...that would be better!

Kitchen Play has given me yet another excuse to gather lettuce and spinach from the garden. The Progressive Menu this month features kiwi and the salad recipe includes spinach, my all time favorite veggie. Zespri is sponsoring this month's menu and I have to admit that I don't buy kiwis too often, mainly because I don't really know what to do with them! Other than the obvious fruit salad, I have not experimented much with these delicious fuzzy fruits.

I decided to try the salad as my first entry. It was the obvious choice, especially since I have all that lovely spinach in my garden. I did make a few changes to the recipe. Instead of a spinach salad with orange poppy seed dressing (which sounds wonderful, does it not?), I made a cranberry vinaigrette. I did not have any fresh raspberries either so I opted for dried cranberries. I was hurrying to get supper on the table so I did not take the time to make the sugared almonds (although I plan to soon), but used a sprinkling of raw sunflower seeds to top the salad off. Here is the finished salad and yes, it was just the right salad for a hot summer day!

Salad:
Fresh spinach and/or any other lettuces that are plentiful
2 kiwi fruits
Small red onion
Handful of raw sunflower seeds

Dressing:
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Couple grinds of black pepper
Generous pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. water

Arrange salads on plates. You could toss all the salad ingredients together, but I found that I like to lay the kiwi slices on top, drizzle with dressing and then sprinkle with sunflower seeds. For the dressing, just whirl it all together in your blender.

I hope this inspires you to visit Kitchen Play. Pick out a recipe from the Progressive Menu, pick up some Zespri kiwis and get cooking! You may even win $100!