Making a salad, making a start

Welcome to Pizza Dreams! This blog is devoted to two of my favorite pastimes, eating and sleeping, and the place where they frequently meet for colorful wrestling matches: in dreams. Hopefully what gets posted here will whet your appetite for trying new foods and exploring your own nightly short stories. Please feel free to comment and share your triumphs in the kitchen and your (family-friendly) adventures in Slumberland.

Yesterday my husband and I shared a very simple, very flavorful midday meal, and the two recipes I debuted seem like a proper start for this blog. Hope you’ll try them and like them, or find some new ways to adapt them to your taste.

The first recipe evolved from a suggestion I read once about adding toasted  sesame seeds to peanut butter. I do it occasionally, and with the addition of a little honey, it’s really quite elegant, if you can believe that. I make some version of it whenever peanut butter begins to seem a little homely all by itself.

The second recipe was inspired by this post from my lovely friend Mirjam, who is an excellent cook. I was smitten by her gorgeously oranged photo and decided to make her salad right away. Trouble was, I didn’t have one of the two main ingredients. So, true to my nature, I improvised. What I came up with was a new salad altogether, a cousin to Mirjam’s but with a sure family resemblance.  I think you should try hers and mine. 

Seedy Nut Sandwich Butter

• all-natural creamy peanut butter (Adam’s is a good choice)
• raw sesame seeds
• raw sunflower seeds
• golden flax seeds
• honey

Scoop into a small bowl as much peanut butter as you think you and any lunch companions will need for your sandwiches. In a small cast iron pan over medium-low heat, toast (without oil or butter) sesame, flax, and sunflower seeds, stirring frequently and watching closely so they don’t burn. How much you use and how long you toast them is up to you and worthy of experimentation. When they look and smell appetizing, add them to the peanut butter, drizzle on a little honey, and stir together. Taste. Add more honey if your sweet tooth is begging for it. Spread on bread and concentrate on the nice little crunch you’ve created. Yummy!

Carrot Jicama Salad

• carrot, grated
• jicama, peeled and sliced into tiny sticks and shreds
• fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
• lemon juice
• canola oil
• honey
• pinch of nutmeg, powdered or freshly grated if possible
• dash of sea salt

Basically, focus on your carrots and jicama, add as much fresh ginger as you can handle, toss, then simply dress to taste with lemon juice, oil, honey, nutmeg, and salt. Toss again. Eat and cry for joy.