ORANGE,JICAMA, AVACADO SALAD

It's way too hot to cook these days.The temperatures are soaring and the air conditioner runs constantly. Even the thought of firing up the BBQ seems to take too much energy. To be truthful, people around here don't have much of an appetite but let's face it, you have got to eat., at least I do. So why not a salad as a main meal?
The original recipe is actually made with watercress, but as you can see I didn't have any, although I did make a special trip to the green grocer especially for it, as luck would have it , they were all out, not a bunch in the entire store, but the jicama was there, something that is usually much harder to obtain...go figure!
I will write the recipe below for the watercress salad, keeping in mind that you can make many substitutions. The salad was refreshing, healthy with a really great, clean tasting vinaigrette .

WATERCRESS SALAD WITH ORANGE,JICAMA,AND AVOCADO
the juice from  2 fresh lime
1 serano chili, thinly sliced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 navel oranges,sliced, removing the pith and membrane
2 bunches watercress, large stems removed
1 small jicams peeled and finely julienned
1 ripe avocado peeled, pitted and sliced
In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, chile, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste. Pour in the oil in a thin steady stream while whisking constantly and thoroughly emulsified forming a vinaigrette. Set aside.
Prepare salad and orange slices,marinade jicama in extra lime or lemon juice.
Just before serving, drizzle the vinaigrette over the watercress mixture, carefully fold in the avocado slices, Taste and adjust the seasoning ,serve at once.

JICAMA
Is a member of the large legume family,the crunchy,ivory fleshed, brown- skinned jicama is a tuber used throughout Mexico. Its bland taste benefits from being marinated raw in lime juice or from being combined with fruits and vegetables.
Before using, peel away the skin and the fibrous layer beneath it with a sharp knife.(If jicama is hard to find you can substitute apples for it. In Ottawa, I found mine at the Asian store called T&T, Farm Boy carries it occasionally, ask for it.)

SEVEN LAYER SALAD

There are many versions of this easy to prepare salad and each one is a personal reflection of it's creator and is probably as good as the next. Some even have more than seven layers. The beauty of this salad is that it looks beautiful, is a crowd favorite and usually can last for a few days in the fridge , even though dressing has been added.
Basically , the salad consists of shredded lettuce, onions ( spring onions or red), frozen peas,chopped hard boiled eggs , crumbled and drained fried bacon ,cucumber, tomatoes and a generous layer of dressing. In my case Greek yogurt with a dollop of Miracle Whip mixed in. Don't forget the salt and pepper. Using a trifle bowl will display the beautiful layers.

"Blue Moon Over Kentucky" aka
BOO (2001/07/26-2009/07/27)
You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much and the main reason has been that my heart has not been in it. If you recall Boo became ill over Mother's Day week-end and the diagnosis was Auto Immune Hemolytic Anemia. In most cases dogs can continue to live a normal life with this disease, even though they are closely monitored and usually on lifetime medication. Unfortunately, Boo was just not responding to the various medications that she was placed on. After 2 months of a valiant struggle being poked sometimes as often as twice a week to draw blood , loosing weight almost daily and suffering with with horrific side effects of the prednisone and cyclosporin,, Boo was having a very difficult time with daily living.At the end, Boo developed Diabetes( at a dangerous level) on top of everything else, and I realized that I was being extremely selfish in prolonging her misery, but in my heart i was willing her to live, and to respond to the meds, I was so hopeful and I so wanted a cure for my Boo girl, that I put on my blinders. You see I always thought that she was young enough to spring back. Our first schnauzer lived to be 161/2 years old, and I just naturally assumed that Boo would be with us for a long time.
The Grenville Dundas Vet Clinic was exceptional. Boo's vet Dr. Nancy Dejong was an angel in disguise, there are not enough words to describe her skill. compassion and drive, Nancy went over and above what would normally have been considered a level of standardexcellent care that most clients receive at the Vet's.Nancy made countless of home phone calls on her days off to check on Boo and give me the latest blood work results, her constant vigil and research to try whatever she thought Boo could handle makes her my hero. She was relentless in her effort to help Boo. Lindsay the technician , who would take Boo for her blood and urine samples, is just the "Best", in my books. She too, always has a gentle hand with not only Boo but all the animals that I have seen her with. Helen , the office manager was also extremely helpful, concerned , encouraging and sympathetic. I am know that all the vets there knew Boo and probably had some hand in her treatment. It's just a wonderful clinic with caring loving people.
Boo will be missed, I still see her in so many places around the house and garden, there is a big hole in my heart right now that with time will heal and become smaller. She gave us all a lot of love and joy.

ICEBERG WEDGE WITH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

In recent years, iceberg salads have been supplanted by those of mixed lettuces and other tender greens. But I think that the iceberg wedge garnished with a thick blue cheese dressing still has a lot going for it. A little snip of some chives and voila I had a lunch ready in seconds.

Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 c sour cream
juice of 1 lemon
dash of Tabasco sauce
sea salt/pepper
6 oz. crumbled blue cheese
3 T finely chopped chives , plus slivers of chives for garnish.
iceberg lettuce
Serve Chilled!

Summer Spinach Salad

These days the mornings in Ottawa are actually quite cool, as a matter of fact I turned the heat on in the car this morning!

The beauty of our weather is that by the time most folks are driving home from work , the weather is down right balmy , and everyone is taking advantage of the beautiful sunshine and driving with the windows open. So while it is still officially summer for a few more days ... why not make this beautiful spinach salad with the last remains of summer fruit. But please, don't spoil it with some bottled dressing , it only takes afew minutes to make some home-made raspberry vinegrette.

Raspberry Vinegrette

1/2C vegetable oil

1/2 C raspberry wine vinegar

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. honey or sugar

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. ground pepper