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Temperatures outside are hitting the 90s and the idea of heating up our oven or cooking over a hot stove does not sound appealing at all. When I ran across beautiful spring greens peppered with pansy flowers at the local farmer’s market I knew a delicious salad would be in my future. I paired the greens and edible flowers with Oregon blackberries, honey goat cheese, honey baked walnuts and blackberry vinaigrette. The blackberry and edible flower salad was the perfect accompaniment to a baked salmon.

This post is in partnership with Oregon Berries. All opinions are my own. About Oregon Berries: The Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission focuses on promoting caneberries to multiple audiences, and supports Oregon berry farmers by fostering plant research and farming education initiatives. Find Oregon Berry brands on the Oregon Berries website! 

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad | A Well Crafted Party

Isn’t it beautiful? There is just something about beautiful food that makes it just that much more delicious. This salad was probably the best salad I’ve ever made. Even my kids ate it well. I sourced much of my ingredients from the local farmer’s market, but you can certainly find similar ingredients in your supermarket. Not all supermarkets carry edible flowers or microgreens, but I’ve been lucky to find them in natural food stores and specialty markets. Below I share a little bit about the ingredients that I chose to use and possible substitutions, followed by the recipe.

Greens: I used farmer’s market greens and pea shoot micro greens. You can use your favorite spring greens to recreate this salad, though, I’d stay away from too many bitter leaves such as arugula. This salad needs the sweetness that arugula (a favorite green of mine) just doesn’t have.  the pea shoot micro greens give a sweet pea-flavor to the salad. It can certainly be made without, but we thought it was a nice touch in the flavor profile.

Edible Flowers: I chose pansies for this salad because they are not strong in flavor, but look so pretty! Pansies flavor is super mild, slightly sweet, and almost mint-like. Many other edible flowers could also work in this salad such as borage blossoms or violets.

Blackberries: As I am working with Oregon Berries, I chose fresh Oregon blackberries for this salad. I used frozen Oregon Blackberries to create the vinaigrette. You can find Oregon blackberries at many grocery stores throughout the berry season. Thankfully, you can often find them in the freezer section! I often find berries from Stahlbush Island Farms. Find other Oregon Berry brands on the Oregon Berries website.

Honey Goat Cheese: My favorite honey goat cheese is found at Trader Joes. Don’t have one nearby? Just mix goat cheese and honey together for a similar flavor.

Honey Walnuts: You can absolutely substitute a candied walnut here, but I liked the more subtle flavor of honey walnuts and they are super simple to make. I cover raw walnuts in honey and put them on a parchment sheet covered baking pan. I then roast in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes. Do watch the walnuts as they can burn fairly quickly.

Blackberry Vinaigrette: You can substitute a raspberry vinaigrette from the store, but it is super easy to make your own vinaigrette and the blackberry flavor that this one imparts really makes for a delicious dressing!

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad | A Well Crafted Party

The following blackberry and edible salad measurements are optional. You can build this salad to your taste and to your ingredient set. That is the best part about salads, in my opinion, you can really get such inspiration from recipes, but then create something that is truly unique to your tastes.

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad with Honey Goat Cheese

Makes 1 large salad which could be enough for two dinner sized portions or four side-sized portions

Ingredients: 

  • 7 cups of spring greens
  • 1 cup of pea shoot micro greens
  • 12-18 pansy flowers
  • 1/4 cup of honey goat cheese pulled into small chunks
  • 1/2 cup of honey walnuts
  • 1 pint of fresh Oregon blackberries, rinsed
  • Blackberry Vinaigrette (keep scrolling for recipe)

Directions: 

  1. Rinse all greens and dry well. Be careful not to bruise the greens in the rinsing/drying process. I tend to use a salad spinner with a paper towel in it to spin off the water after rinsing.
  2. Toss the spring greens and micro greens together in your serving bowl.
  3. Disperse the honey walnuts, blackberries, and honey goat cheese throughout the salad.
  4. Top with pansy flowers.
  5. You can pre-dress the salad, but I prefer to serve the dressing on the side and allow everyone to dress their own portion. The dressing will weigh down the pansy flowers if you pre-dress and some people prefer less dressing while others prefer more.

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad | A Well Crafted Party

Blackberry Vinaigrette

This recipe makes 8 oz of dressing. You’ll need a small saucepan and fine mesh sieve to create this dressing.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 cup of Blackberries (frozen works best)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/8 cup of water
  • 1 Tablespoon of honey
  • freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions:

  1. Put the blackberries, water, and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat on a stovetop. Stir occasionally. Cook approximately 10 minutes, or when the blackberries have been cooked down.
  2. Strain the blackberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve saving the liquid.
  3. Mix 1/4 cup of the blackberry syrup, with the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 cup of olive oil, tablespoon of honey, and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Shake the mixture well. Add salt and pepper to taste, shaking well in between additions of seasoning.

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad | A Well Crafted Party

 

Here in Portland we have had a LOT of snow days recently. The cold icky weather is perfect for a comfortable movie night in. What goes better with a movie night than popcorn? If you are looking for a tasty alternative to the normal bowl of popcorn then you are in luck because today is National Popcorn Day and the internet is going to be inundated with tasty flavored popcorn recipes… including this delicious Peanut Butter Honey Popcorn. YUM.

Peanut Butter Honey Flavored Popcorn - A Well Crafted Party

The sweet peanut butter sauce tossed with the popcorn in combination with a salty bite and crunch of this flavored popcorn is divine. My husband is currently going through a no sugar phase so I created a batch of this with just honey and peanut butter with no sugar. It was delicious as well, but just a little less sweet.  The consistency was nearly the same.

You can make the popcorn with plain microwave popcorn, air popped popcorn, or stovetop popcorn. I personally LOVE stovetop popped popcorn. It is actually quite easy to make and the flavor is really delicious. You can pop the popcorn kernels with vegetable oil, canola oil, or coconut oil. The coconut oil gives a a bit of a coconut flavor to the popcorn which is fantastic for the sweeter toppings.

Peanut Butter Honey Flavored Popcorn - A Well Crafted Party

Favorite Flavored Popcorn Ideas:

  • Peanut Butter Honey Popcorn (See recipe below!)
  • Parmesan, garlic, and parsley (mix with olive oil and salt to taste and toss with freshly popped popcorn – this is one time I’d highly suggest using store bought grated parmesan)
  • White chocolate topping and sprinkles!
  • Melted butter and salt
  • Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and olive oil
  • Melted honey butter
  • Marshmallow Fluff
  • Rosemary, Butter, and Parmesan cheese

Want more flavored popcorn recipes? Check out my Pinterest board for popcorn!

 

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:7]
Creative Commons Photo via Stephen Oung's Flikr
Creative Commons Photo via Stephen Oung’s Flikr

Cleaning out the system…

In January I changed my diet. I hadn’t been eating foods that would generally be thought of as unhealthy, so I didn’t think this would be a very disruptive experiment. My wife and I had been directed to the Whole30 idea, which basically boils down to eating:

  • meat, pasture-fed and natural, if possible,
  • veggies, in-season are best,
  • some fruit, the higher percentage of water content the better (watermelon has less fructose than mangoes),
  • and a handful of nuts.

Slightly stricter than the Paleo diet it’s based on, it rules out all:

  • sugar,
  • dairy,
  • grains,
  • and legumes.

You’d be surprised how sneaky soy and sugar infest nearly everything in the grocery store. You may also be shocked at how expensive it is to shop for meat and produce, even cutting out those expensive processed foods, and alcohol.

The Whole30 program works like a detox: eliminating food groups that are the usual suspects for food allergens for 30 days, then reintroducing them one at a time. Some symptoms I looked forward to getting rid of: congestion in the mornings, overall fatigue, and once a month headaches. With some skepticism, we decided the pros outweighed the cons, and started the day after New Year’s Day.

We struggled through the first week without too much complaining. Going without half and half in our coffee was a tiny challenge with a nice boost of pride. “Room for cream?” the barista asks. “None for me, thanks; I like it black,” I would smugly say. Going without a glass of wine at dinner was less satisfying, and cutting out beer made me sad. I think I compensated for my lack of beer by over doing the caffeine. My next detox diet will be to go 30 days without caffeine – crazy, I know.

What was most noticeable during the month was the fact that I was always thinking about my diet – even when I wasn’t hungry. It became a part of my identity. I was someone with dietary restrictions. With no history of known food allergies, I’d never had to really think about what I ate. Now, every bite was first mentally reviewed, and queried with the database of “compliant” foods. When my son left a good spoonful of yogurt uneaten, I had to catch myself from finishing up after him. But I felt good – I had clear sinuses each morning, steady energy levels all day, and I felt confident because of my self-discipline.

awcp-portland-local-jerky

Snack, snack, snacking…

When you cut out most carbohydrates – and rice, bread, and potatoes previously made up a large portion of my meals – you’re often left hungry. It takes a while for your body to look to proteins and fat for quick energy, when it’s used to getting its fix from carbs. The Whole30 authors also encourage refraining from over-snacking. Somehow, I was supposed to get by on three filling meals and be done with eating. Maybe someone with a slower metabolism could hack that, but I need to eat!

For snacks, I chose:

  • bananas
  • avocados
  • almonds
  • tuna
  • boiled eggs, until they became part of my very essence (seriously, the return on investment for owning chickens has got to be undeniably high).
  • Yams, which are very easy to cook in the microwave.

awcp-portland-made-beef-jerky

Snackable Whole30 Compliant Protein from Shurky Jurky

But it was difficult to find snack-able proteins. I liked the idea of finding a good beef jerky for snacking. However, most beef jerky in grocery stores have sugar, added flavors, preservatives, and on and on. With serendipitous timing, the guys from Shurky Jurky had recently sent us a sample of their Whole30 compliant beef jerky. If you want to be adventurous, there’s also their chocolate covered jerky. I’m highly tempted to order their monthly subscription – monthly meat, delivered to my door. I’m not usually a fan of jerky – I find it too peppery and spicy – but this was different. It was chewable, smoky, and delicious beef. And it filled the gaps between meals.

Back to Reality…

January is over, and I can go back to eating whatever I want. It’s a little scary, to be honest. Even though I had to follow a restrictive regimen, my body felt good, and I didn’t have to guess what was causing annoying symptoms, aches, and fatigue. I weathered the gentlest cold virus ever over the last week. I’m not going to attribute mystical healing powers to the Whole30 (c’mon, you gotta admit diet programs can be a little cult-like). But I do think my immune system was strengthened. I’m looking forward to spring in the Pacific Northwest, and testing my immunity against the evil hay-fever. I think my body adjusted to higher amounts of protein from beef, pork, chicken, fish, vegetables, and nuts, and lower amounts of starchy foods. And I don’t want to ruin all my hard work. I’m in a difficult position of deciding how to proceed.

Do I want to keep certain food groups out of my diet, even though my experiment is over? Who does that make me – Brian, who doesn’t eat grains or drink beer anymore? Now, I get to choose.


A Well Crafted Party received a complimentary package of the Whole30 Compliant Shurky Jurky for purposes of review. All opinions are those of  A Well Crafted Man. The portable protein snack is created from beef, bison, turkey, or pork. It is Paleo, Gluten-Free, Primal, & Whole30 compliant. Check out the Shurky Jurky website for more information and to purchase your own gourmet jerky.