Ultimate Avocado Greek Salad

Summer is finally here! I don’t know about you, but food makes me happy. Shopping, preparing, serving and gathering people around the table brings me so much joy. During these times of uncertainty, isolation and heightened emotion, I’m finding comfort in cooking for my family. I’ll be honest… I’ve had my fair share of comfort foods over the last few months and I’m craving crisp, bright, colorful salads that we can enjoy outside together. This Greek Salad is full of nutrients, flavor, is easy to prepare ahead of time and is a crowd pleaser.

Baby arugula is a great base for this salad. The delicate, crisp, peppery leaves pair so perfectly with the briny olives, creamy avocado and goats milk feta.

Ok here’s what you need… all of these ingredients can be found at our shop! Feel free to add any other fresh veggies that you love. These are just the basics that I love.

Baby Arugula
Cucumber - tossed in “This is Nuts Dip - Green Onion”
Cucumber
Cherry Tomato
Shaved Red Onion
Drake Family Farms Goats Milk Feta
Marinated Artichoke Hearts
Kalamata Olives
Local Carpinteria Avocado
Garlic Gold
Thyme (dried or fresh if you have it)

Super easy to assemble, just place all ingredients together on top of the arugula and gently toss! I tossed the cucumber in the “This is Nuts Green Onion Dip” and it added this bright flavor for the entire salad. Instead of a dressing, I used Garlic Gold which is just roasted garlic and olive oil. I drizzled that over the entire salad with a squeeze of Meyer lemon and called it good! With the marinated artichokes, salty olives and creamy avocado you really don’t need a heavy dressing in my opinion.

This salad is gluten free and vegetarian and can be made vegan if you don’t add the cheese. For a heartier meal, we added organic sausage and grilled zucchini. What would you add?!

Lundberg Rice Cakes 5 Ways

How do you eat your rice cakes?! When I’m craving a light gluten-free snack, packed with vitamins and minerals I turn to Lundberg Farms Organic Brown Rice Cakes. I’ve experimented with different toppings from the shop, here are a few of my favorites! Plus, they’re all gluten free and vegan!

We are lucky enough to live in a beach town with an abundant supply of delicious avocados! At the shop, we buy ours from the Van Wingerden family. I personally like to add something fermented to balance the creaminess of the avocado. This time I used Beat Kraut Raw Sauerkraut. It’s a probiotic and 100% organic! I added a touch of Himalayan pink sea salt and a drizzle of quality olive oil.

This Kite Hill Everything Almond Milk Cream Cheese is my new obsession… it’s full of flavor with poppy seeds, garlic, sesame seeds, onion and almond milk. It’s dairy-free, soy-free, non-gmo, gluten-free and there’s no artificial preservatives. I want to schmear it on anything and everything! I picked up a farmers market cucumber at the shop and some fresh arugula. Before diving in I sprinkled some sprouted seeds on top for a boost of flavor, delish!

Roasted Garlic Baba Hummus is usually always in my fridge. I loaded up this rice cake with a few spoonfuls and topped it with local carrots from the shop that I quickly pickled. I made my pickling liquid out of apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, black peppercorns and mustard seeds and poured it over the carrots. We have nasturtiums flowering in the yard so I garnished for a pop of color. I love adding them to salads and even desserts!

If you have’t tried Gopal’s Sprouted Nut Butters you MUST! I used the Sprouted Almond Butter on this rice cake and it was delectable. It’s a little more pricy than other nut butters at the shop but it’s well worth it. They soak and germinate their organic raw almonds then dry them at very low temperatures. This keeps it super enzyme-rich, nutrient-dense and easily digestible. I added some sliced bananas, raw walnuts and a drizzle of local honey… just because.

Recipe by Alyssa Potter

Last, but not least we have the Coyo Dairy Free Yogurt with local stone fruit, strawberries and a dash of cinnamon. Simple but so light and refreshing and can be used for a breakfast treat! The Coyo Coconut yogurt is probably my favorite dairy free yogurt. It’s dairy free, gluten free, paleo, vegan and there’s no sugar added! It has that tart taste like yogurt but it’s light and airy and coconut-y and delicious.

Chicken & Ranch Purple Potato Salad

Potato salads are my absolute favorite throw together lunch! We try to always have leftover meat of some kind on hand which makes it that much easier to throw last minute meals together.

The potatoes and scallions are sourced from the Farm Cart here in town. They offer a lot of great produce that we do not have the additional space for. Check them out if you have not already!

Ingredients

1 lb chopped & boiled (until fork tender) purple potatoes

2 cups shredded chicken

1/4 cup finely chopped scallions

1/4 cup Tessameas ranch dressing

1/2 tsp sweet paprika (I tend to add more depending on my mood)

1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Add all ingredients together in a bowl and enjoy! Yes, its that easy!

Paleo Sea Salt Brownies

This recipe was adapted from our dear friend Laurel over at http://blog.sweetlaurel.com , not only is she the sweetest person you will ever meet... she is an amazing paleo baker!

Ingredients

1 cup maple syrup

2 large eggs

1 lb freshly ground almond butter

1/4 cup coconut sugar

2 tablespoons date butter

2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup raw cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 pinches flaky sea salt for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper and spray with coconut spray, set aside.

In order shown, place all ingredients into a high speed blender and blend until cocoa is fully incorporated.

Pour/scrape batter out of blender and into prepared dish, sprinkle with desired flaky sea salt.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Once baked, pull out of oven to completely cool before removing from pan to cut.

Grain Free Cut-out Cookies

This recipe comes from our dear friend Laurel over at http://blog.sweetlaurel.com , not only is she the sweetest person you will ever meet... she is an amazing paleo baker!

The only thing I changed is using ghee or butter instead of the coconut oil, as well as half vanilla extract and half vanilla bean paste.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Bob's almond flour

1/4 cup pasture butter (melted)

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp Sweet Laurel grain free vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp vanilla bean paste

Instructions

Put all ingredients into the food processor, pulse until the dough forms 1 large ball.

Line a cutting board with one piece of parchment, put dough on parchment and press down to form a thick disk. 

Place a second piece of parchment on top of the dough and roll out dough to desired thickness. I prefer 1/4 " for nice thick cookies.

Put the rolled out dough on the cutting board in the fridge to cool for an hour. Preheating oven 30 minutes in to 350.

Take dough out of fridge and cut into desired shapes and carefully transfer to a parchment lined sheet pan. 

Bake for 6-10 minutes (turning halfway) or until they begin to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on sheet pan.

Decorate with your favorite icing! 

Notes

When I formed a ball from the dough scraps after cutting, I made sure to work quickly so the dough didn't get too warm. I also put the rolled dough back into the fridge to cool while the first batch of cookies baked. 

I have found that these cookies store best in the freezer if you're making them ahead of time.