The days are rainy and a little chilled lately, but tromping around the muddy orchard and garden in worn green rain boots, weeding and admiring, it becomes a welcome rain dance. And life has given me a mess of baby lettuce and greens and I’m making salad. Upon discovering a selection of almost empty microgreen and lettuce seeds in my seed box, I decided to dump them all and see what came up. Happily, they’ve produced more than enough to keep me in salads until my larger leaf lettuces catch up and there is nothing, I mean nothing, like fresh lettuce for a salad. So in spite of these rainy cool days, there’s lettuce, green onions, and strawberries to enjoy, thinking of the warmer days around the corner and splashing through the puddles until then.

    

SPRING SALAD WITH HONEY

4 cups mix of baby greens and lettuce of your choice
1 ½ cup strawberries, sliced
½ cup slivered almonds
4 green onions, sliced
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup crumbled bleu cheese
Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Toss together the first five ingredients in a bowl. Top with crumbled bleu cheese and Honey Balsamic dressing.

HONEY BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
¼ cup honey
¼ balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
¾ cup extra vigin olive oil

Add the first three ingredients to a bowl. Sprinkle with a dash each of salt and pepper. Whisk to combine. Continue whisking while pouring in the olive oil in a slow, thin stream. Whisk until all the ingredients are incorporated. Additional salt and pepper may be added to taste.