Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We had quite an eventful night full of thunder, lightening & fireworks, all at the same time. It was complete sensory overload but a lot of fun. We have a great view of Boston & the water so it was so cool to watch the lightening strike as fireworks were being set off all along the beach. Not to mention the moon was this gorgeous dark orange color?? Weird, but SO cool!
Anyways, on to some delicious food…
The past few weeks at the farmer’s market I’ve seen these beautiful creamy white turnips calling out my name. I have absolutely no experience with turnips though, I couldn’t even tell you what they tasted like, so I have stayed away from them until now. This past weekend I was looking at them again, pondering buying some and the farmer told me that they are so fresh and sweet that they could be eaten raw. News to me! So that gave me the extra push to go ahead and purchase some.
Apparently I had monster hands and decided to grab two bunches (totally not the plan), so now I have a ton of turnips to get through. I also grabbed two bunches of spring onions by accident, so it looks like we’ll be eating turnips and onions for the next week.
I cut into one of the turnips and tasted it and it had this great crunchy texture with a slight sweetness and spicy flavor (very similar to a radish). I figured I could use some creamy sweet flavors to complement that so I came up with this really simple salad.
I used my mandoline (thanks Carla & Cole!) and cut them super thin. Note: If you decide to be stupid and not use the piece that is supposed to hold the vegetable, you just might slice your hand open (like I did). So be careful.
I used a little bit of low fat cottage cheese, lemon juice, agave (to cut the acidic lemon flavor a bit), and freshly cut chives.
I thought it would either be a big win or complete failure. BIG WIN! This salad took all of 2 minutes to prepare. It was refreshing, delicious & healthy! The perfect trifecta of summer cooking!
WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:
Fresh flowers!
I often struggle with this because I absolutely love having bouquets of fresh flowers around the house. But then I often feel guilty about spending money on it when we’re the only people that get to see them before they die. But you know what? They make me happy, so screw it, I’m buying flowers for myself!
I found this awesome ($7) recycled glass vase from Home Goods and some GORGEOUS sunflowers so I’ve been able to enjoy these bright smiling flowers every time I step in the door. It may not be every week but when I feel like giving myself a little treat, I’m getting myself some flowers, and I’m not going to feel guilty about it!
Creamy Raw Turnip Salad
Print recipe
| Serves | 2-3 |
| Allergy | Milk |
| Dietary | Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Salad, Side Dish |
| Misc | Serve Cold |
Ingredients
- 3-4 turnips
- 4oz cottage cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon agave syrup
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- chives
- garlic powder, salt & pepper (to taste)
Directions
| 1. | Clean the turnips well and slice very thin (a mandoline works best.) |
| 2. | Combine the cottage cheese, sliced chives, agave, lemon juice & seasonings in a bowl. |
| 3. | Add turnips and toss well to coat. Top with chives for garnish. |
[...] guys. These are quite the versatile vegetable! They were crunchy and spicy when left raw in my raw turnip salad, but they become much more mellow and starchy when I steamed them, almost like a boiled [...]