Taking a Break from Greens and the Best JoJos Ever!

Summer "Salsa Salad" and Nourishing Garlic and Herb JoJos

Moss Family Farm, one of my farmer's through my CSA, Western Montana Growers Co-op

Don't get me wrong, I love greens. I especially love fresh spring greens, plucked from the garden one day and brought to me the next. As a kid, we had iceberg lettuce, hacked in half. Sometimes "bag o' salad" if we needed variety. I always picked out the tomatoes and cucumbers. Now I eat a huge pile of greens every day. However right now in Montana, the food growing fresh is mostly greens, and as a family we've been eating huge amounts of them a week and by this week, we needed a night off. 

At a picnic last week I had a yummy corn and bean salad that tasted sweet and summery, so I replicated/improved it to go with dinner last night. I added avocados, tomatoes, green onions and other delicious and nourishing ingredients. Along with our "salsa salad" we had some cold ham (that I roasted on Sunday in 100 degree weather-it was excruciating but well worth it) and the best garlic and herb jojos I've ever had, hands down.

Summer "Salsa Salad"

If you haven't guessed, I kind of have a thing for tomatoes.

Ingredients: * denotes it's local

2 avocados

2 large tomatoes *

1/2 cup black beans

1/2 cup corn kernels *

3 green onions *

1/2 cup fresh cilantro *

1 lime

salt and pepper to taste

This is fairly easy. Dice your avocados and tomatoes and put them in a bowl. Add your cooked black beans and cooked corn kernels. Chop your green onions and cilantro and add. Juice your lime on top of the mixture, stir and mix, taste and add salt and pepper to taste! It keeps for about two days, this mix feed five of us twice over a 24 hour period.

Garlic and Herb JoJos

If you ever get a chance to buy fresh purple garlic from a farmer's market, there is nothing more juicy and delicious!

Ingredients: *denotes it's local

4 yukon gold potatoes

4 garlic cloves

1 palmful of fresh basil *

1 palmful of fresh sage *

1 palmful of fresh tarragon *

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut your potatoes thick, into large slices, about 3/4 of an inch. I put them in a 9x13 inch glass baking pan and then get out my food processor. Put your garlic cloves in the food processor and pulse until totally chopped. Add your herbs and olive oil and blend until all chopped and mixed and mashed together. Coat your potatoes with the herb and garlic mix and rub, massage, coat, caress the potatoes with the mixture. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top and bake for 45-50 minutes at 400 degrees, occasionally turning with a spatula. Make sure they are soft in the middle with a fork and then turn your broiler on low to finally crisps them up, monitoring the taters while under the broiler so they don't burn. I left them there for about 4-5 minutes, but sometimes never that long, just watch.