Last night it rained.  This morning, as I drove to work, I was taken aback by the sight of snow on our local desert peaks!  After many beautiful, sunny, spring days we have regressed to some winter-like weather.  Overcast, cool, windy.  I am definitely in the mood for a sunny sort of salad!

As I mentioned earlier, we have really been enjoying the beautiful and delicious recipes by Kris Carr and Chef Chad Sarno. So, that’s where I went to look for some edible sunshine!

And then there was the question: what to do with all this organic citrus?  We are swimming in navel oranges, clementines and satsuma mandarins from our weekly box of produce from Abundant Harvest Organics.  So…I found this recipe for a Crazy Sexy Summer Salad.  I am neither crazy nor sexy, but how can you resist that?

Well, let’s start with some mandarin juice for the Miso-Citrus Dressing (you can find the recipe in this book!).  Time to squeeze the oranges!  Now, tell me that’s not sunny.

Then, my slight variation of the salad:

• 4 cups baby greens
• 1/4 cup beets, julienned
• 1/4 cup carrots, julienned
• 2 mandarins or clementines, peeled and segmented
•  1/4 cup raw pecans
• 1/4 cup Miso-Citrus dressing (see above)
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Mix baby greens, beets, carrots, mandarins, pecans, dressing and pepper in a bowl and toss gently.

And there you have it.  A bowl of sunshine on a dreary, windy day.  Thank goodness for leftovers!  I think this dressing will be delicious on a simple raw kale salad for lunch tomorrow.  And I can’t wait to share a little with one of my favorite foodie buddies :)

Wishing you a mouthful of sunshine :)