Shaved Pear Salad with Peach Mango Goat Cheese, Fresh Mint, Purple Basil and a White Balsamic Raspberry Vinaigrette

This is the perfect summer salad made up of sweet pears sliced paper thin, tangy peach and mango goat cheese, refreshing fresh herbs, and a slightly sweet, slightly tangy dressing of white balsamic and raspberries. To make the dressing, combine white balsamic raspberry blush vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon pepper sea salt seasoning and whisk. When shaving the pears, use a vegetable slicer at its 1/32″ setting for the perfect, paper thin slices. Julienne the mint and basil, add crumbled peach and mango goat cheese and drizzle the homemade dressing on top. Serve immediately.

Grilled Halloumi and Watermelon Salad with Fresh Mint and Lemon Pepper Sea Salt

Halloumi cheese is perfect for summer cookouts and BBQ’s because of it’s high melting point, making it the perfect cheese to throw on the grill. Halloumi is a very salty cheese that pairs perfectly with watermelon and mint. Rosemary and basil are also great herbs to use with this salad. Throw in a couple twists from the lemon pepper sea salt grinder and you have the perfect side for your cookout. Enjoy!

Smoked Fresh Mozzarella Caprese Salad

The use of fresh herbs, locally grown tomatoes and smokey fresh mozzarella make this salad simple yet very flavorful. Using smoked mozzarella adds a little bit of a twist to this classic salad.

What you will need:

2 locally grown beef steak tomatoes

1 1/2 oz fresh basil leaves

3/4 lb. smoked mozzarella

1/4 red onion

1/2 cucumber

2 garlic cloves

1/2 can garbanzo beans (left over from my last blog post)

fresh dill

fresh parsley

1 part extra virgin olive oil

2 parts balsamic vinegar

Slice tomatoes and smoked mozzarella into large chunks. Cut the cucumber into slices, then into fourths, then slice the red onion into very thin ribbons. You can rip some of the larger basil leaves in half, but you’ll want to keep them mostly whole. Throw all ingredients into a serving bowl with chopped parsley, garlic and dill and add the garbanzo beans as well.  Drizzle with one part extra virgin olive oil to two parts balsamic vinegar and enjoy!

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Goat Cheese, Chick Pea, Basil and Mixed Baby Greens Salad

This salad packs a whole lot of flavor with hummus and balsamic vinegar as the dressing. I used mostly organic, locally grown veggies for this salad for the best flavor (and the least amount of chemical pesticides!)

What you will need:

Tomato
Cucumber
Chick peas (canned is fine)
Goat cheese
Hummus (i used red pepper hummus)
Whole, fresh basil leaves
Mixed baby greens (i went with kale, swiss chard, arugula, and spinach)
Olive oil (optional, but not necessary. the hummus will have a lot of oil in it)

Start by slicing your cucumber and tomato, then layering your plate with baby mixed greens and basil. Add your cucumber, tomato, chick peas and goat cheese. Then add hummus and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and you’re done!

This salad is also great with red onion and all sorts of other fresh herbs mixed in. I used what I had on hand today and it turned out great.

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