Farmers Market Vegetable Salad is a simple healthy vegetable salad that’s fun, delicious and too pretty not to enjoy. The perfect healthy choice to brighten any meal.
Farmers Market Vegetable Salad
Contrary to popular belief, cold weather is not vegetable salad friendly.
When the winds are blowing in the temperature starts dropping, usually our first inclination is to head to the hot and hearty chili’s and heavy soups to warm and comfort us while we lose feeling in our fingers and toes. The thick aroma of savory meats and broths that greet us from the kitchen as we walk in from the cold is a sensory overload that brings us back to life when the winter has drained it all away. No where in that picture of piping hot goodness is a cold bowl of lettuce. Look again… nope! No lettuce..
Here in Florida, we are experiencing the coldest night we have had in decades. In just a few short hours our temperature will be holding strong somewhere around 30 degrees and while the rest of the northern nation has been battling temperatures even lower than that all winter, this is the Sunshine State for a reason. Endless summer days full of blistering infernos with 179 percent humidity? Yeah.. we got that. Thirty degree winds with frost and freeze warnings?… not so much. So on this night of covering our plants with sheets and breaking out the BIG blankets (yes, northern friends who have been snowed in for the past week .. that’s how Florida prepares for cold weather down here.. sheets and sherpie blankets), what’s simmering on the stove or cooking in the crock pot, you ask?
Nothing. Nada. Zilcharoni.
The reason being is this Farmers Market Vegetable Salad. I absolutely love this vegetable salad. I named this the Farmers Market Vegetable Salad because we have a beautiful market right around the corner from our house that sells nothing but fresh, local grown fruits and vegetables that are so good that they make you reconsider everything you ever thought you knew about healthy foods. There is simply no comparison when it comes to local grown foods and in this time when our most basic of foods are being injected with chemicals and sprayed with pesticides and cloned into who knows what, there really is a good feeling that comes over you knowing that what you are buying and feeding to your family was picked out of the ground 1/2 a mile from your house.
I made a huge bowl of this last weekend and have eaten it everyday since. Now I am ready to go make another big bowl and finish that off, as well. As previously discussed, This Girl is all about the foods that your mother warned you about. Salad is something that I usually force myself to eat when I start on a health kick to go along with my four whole days of working out before I fall off the band wagon and chase down any random pizza delivery guy unlucky enough to travel down my street. That is, until this salad combination came to me and ever since then, I am converted.
The End.
No, really. That’s pretty much it. However, I should say that the corn is my favorite part of this salad. If corn is not in season or you are unable to get corn on the cob at the time, you certainly can use canned or frozen corn but fresh corn is best. Place in your microwave for 3 or 4 minutes, remove and set aside to cool and then peel off the husks and with a sharp knife, cut the corn from the cob. It really makes a world of difference.
The only thing that I would suggest is if you are planning on extending the life of this salad as I have this week, maybe consider leaving the lettuce out and and adding it as you prepare each individual bowl. By day four, the lettuce is starting to lose its omph.
Please notice that I did not include any dressing for you in this recipe. To each their own, this salad would be lovely with a honey vinaigrette or a lemon dressing. Myself, I like just squirting lime over my bowl and then diving in. It’s just that good!
Happiness and Blessings!
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Farmers Market Vegetable Salad
Farmers Market Vegetable Salad
- 1 medium head romaine lettuce , chopped
- 1 medium jalapeno , seeded and diced
- ½ medium red onion , diced
- 1 medium zucchini , diced
- 2 medium tomatoes , seeded and diced
- 4 ears corn on the cob , sliced off the cob
- 1 cup sugar snap peas , diced
- 3/4 cup canned black beans , drained and rinsed
- ½ cup finely chopped cilantro
- Chop and dice all of your ingredients and combine them in a big bowl.
- Drizzle with your favorite dressing or a squeeze of lemon or lime
Look at all that gorgeous color!
It’s the prettiest salad in town :)…. yummy too!!
Hello, GORGEOUS! That is one beautiful salad. Our family loves all those ingredients, except maybe not the black beans but I’ll find a substitute. Love your site!
Thank you so much!! .. I absolutely love this salad!! I’m not a huge fan of large amounts black beans either so I put just a few in there… but there are so many other things you could substitute in this… there is just no way to go wrong .. lol!!
Hi Heather — This looks tasty! I write for ParentMap.com and would love to include this idea in a roundup of Farmer’s Market Recipes. We would describe the recipe in our own words, and link back/credit your site and use one image. Would you be OK with this?
Hi Sharlyn… absolutely! Let me know if you need anything from me 🙂
That’s great! Thanks, Heather!