Blueberry Blue-Cheese Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette

This salad hits you three ways with "blue" ingredients: fresh blueberries and blue cheese are tossed with baby spinach and pecans, then topped with a homemade blueberry vinaigrette. My favorite part is the blueberry vinaigrette. Fresh blueberries are blended into the vinaigrette which adds a nice punch of flavor and color to the salad without being overly sweet. The little bit of sweet from the berries is a perfect contrast to the tart, salty cheese. Enjoy the berries while they're still fresh this summer!

Lemony Orzo Salad

This is one of my favorite spring/summer pasta salads. The orzo is tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, where the lemon really stands out. The salad is tossed with peppers, olives, feta cheese, and several herbs. The vinaigrette makes more than you need, but I often add a little more than the recipe calls for and then save the extra to use as salad dressing or a marinade. Enjoy!

Mixed Green Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato and Jalepeno-Lime Dressing

This salad was inspired by a post on the NY Times website from Mark Bittman. I had some leftover roasted sweet potato, so I decided to turn his sweet-potato salad idea into a hearty mixed green salad. I tossed the salad with the same dressing that he used, which is a very simple dressing of lime juice, oil, garlic, and jalapeno. I used one jalapeno and it was definitely spicy! But jalapeno's vary in spiciness, so adjust accordingly. This dressing would also make an excellent marinade for chicken, fish, or beef.