ArcaMax

There are so many vegetable options offered up by Mother Nature that I thought I could go my whole life skipping the ones I didn’t like.

It started when I was a kid. My family believed in the “Clean Plate Club.” You didn’t leave the table without eating everything on your plate, whether you wanted to or not. Compared to my brothers and sisters, I was a pretty good eater. My mom never had trouble getting me to eat my vegetables -- except when she served lima beans. I hated lima beans. They were my "vegetable to avoid." I thought they were so disgusting to chew that I’d swallow them like pills. I flushed them down with milk.

In the summer, after dinner, we’d go back out to play and that play might include a rousing game of football. We’d play on the grass by the school around the corner. If I got tackled, my brothers often mushed my face in the grass; sort of a final motion conducted at the end of a tackle. I hated the smell of getting my face planted in the grass so I worked hard not to get tackled. I got faster.

When I got to college, sprouts became popular. I tried them. They were all the rage. They smelled like the grass my face had been smashed into. I gagged and sprouts came off the list of vegetable options for me.

I never got into kale, either. It had that same kind of earthy smell and tasted, to me, reminiscent of dirt. Arugula, too.

Now, I’m reconsidering some of them...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Creamy Pea Salad

I think I might have had this once at a picnic as a kid. But I’m a Northern girl. This is straight up Southern food. And it’s good! Simple and lovely on a hot day.

Servings: Serves 4 (can easily be doubled)

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon cooked til crispy.
2 cups of peas. Frozen peas work just fine.
¼ cup of red onion, diced
½ cup of cheddar shredded or cut into small chunks. I did half of each
¼ cup of mayo (Dukes is popular in the South
¼ cup of plain yogurt
½ Tbl of honey
1 tsp of rice vinegar (this gives the sauce just a bit of a bite)
Sea salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:

If your peas are frozen put them in a colander and run cold water over them to thaw them and get off the ice. If fresh peas just make sure they are clean.

I cook my bacon in the oven. Here’s my recipe for “Oven Bacon”.

Drain cooked bacon on paper towels. Then dice.

Dice the onion and prep the cheese.

In a large bowl, whisk together the mayo, yogurt, honey, rice vinegar and salt and pepper.

Add the salad ingredients and fold to get it all mixed up.

Refrigerate at least an hour before serving so the flavors meld.

Keep the salad cold if you’re serving it outside.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola