fennel

Avocado Grapefruit and Fennel Salad

The Sicilian-inspired salad’s flavor combination of fennel’s sweet licorice flavor, juicy tart grapefruit and smooth avocado topped with salty Parmesan is a welcome addition to any meal any time of the year.

I am a self-proclaimed lemon head. No, not the ’80’s band (although I do love me a little Evan Dando), nor the super sour hard candy that’ll send your tastebuds into orbit. In so much of the food I cook, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice adds just the right bright citrus notes to liven up a blah bite or balance out a rich and heavy dish.

One of my fondest memories as a kid is sitting at my grandparents breakfast table and watching my grandpa section his daily grapefruit with his special grapefruit knife. Grandpa was a man of few words, but one thing he would always say is, “Heidi, you should eat grapefruit.”

As a youngster who leaned more to the sweeter side than the tart, I politely declined every time. What I later realized is he had a secret to enjoying his grapefruit: a big spoonful of sugar he’d sprinkle over the top. I always knew he was smart, but that sealed the deal.

Just like Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and xx, my culinary taster pallet developed and changed over the years. So when I came across this bright, and fresh, and totally easy to pull together salad that works equally as well as a meal-time opener or as the main star, I was finally ready to go all-in on the grapefruit eating band wagon.

This simple salad is from the new cookbook Simply Citrus by Marie Asselin of the food blog Food Nouveau and it hits all of the sweet and sour and puckery notes that only citrus can provide.continue to the recipe… about Avocado Grapefruit and Fennel Salad

Citrus Fennel and Avocado Salad

It’s no secret I like to eat. It would be abnormal—in my humble opinion—to have a food blog and not enjoy the feasting it’s bounty produces. I stand firmly in the make and munch camp.

While I do consider myself a semi-foodie, I’m not really a whole foodie. I’m not hard core about eating 100% organic or avoiding sugar in my diet and I’m too lazy a.k.a. scatterbrained to ponder the possibilities of signing up for a CSA because then I wouldn’t have to run to the grocery store 4 times a day.

And for heaven’s sake don’t even ask me to think of giving up chocolate or cheese.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of eating fresh foods depending upon the season. In fact, I’d say that’s just exactly how my foodie tidal cravings swing.

As a former creative director for a health and fitness magazine, over the years I learned ALOT about food and nutrition. Heck, I even put a girl in a swimming pool full of oranges just to show “creatively” that vitamin C is so important for skin care. Instead of shooting just a regular old orange. Because that would be easy. Back before digital cameras were even used professionally, when we still shot film. And polaroids. So you could save them for years and hang then on the inside of your office cupboards for a walk down memory lane.

Oh wait, am I the only one that does that?

Oh, how my prop stylist hated me when she had to transport 100 cases of oranges to the pool and then get them all out afterward. And the model who put on a brave face in January in an unheated pool in un-sunny Encino, CA.

But doesn’t that model look just like Bridget from Bake at 350? I bet Bridget would have been smiling too, because she’s always smiling.

continue to the recipe… about Citrus Fennel and Avocado Salad

Roasted Kale and Fennel Salad with Avocado Caesar Dressing Plus 20 More Kale Recipes to Love

I succombed to peer pressure. I jumped on the bandwagon. I’m intoxicated with the sweet promise of a new fangled and healthy twist on one of my favorite meals.

My lunch crunch salad.

I have a version of a salad nearly every day for lunch and it’s often a dish I’m requested to bring to pot luck dinners. It usually includes some sort of protein (rotisserie chicken, tuna, leftover salmon or chickpeas), fresh veggies (roasted tomatoes or beets, avocados, maybe peas) and just a sprinkling of firm cheese (feta or blue are my faves.)

But it wasn’t until recently that I veered from my trusty spring mix or crunchy hearts of romaine to jump into the land of kale as my main salad base. I’ve added it to several of my favorite dishes like my Kale and Cabbage Coleslaw and White Bean and Pumpkin Pork Chili but for some reason it didn’t make it into my usual lunch crunch rotation.

Until I roasted the kale leaves for the salad.