The Breakfast Salad {early greens}

Tags

arugula, breakfast salad, farmers market, greens, healthy breakfast, raw, salad for breakfast, spinach, summer heat, vegetarian

Saturday is a beautiful day. It’s full on weekend without needing to worry about the next day, since Sunday is off too. I like to be busy on Saturday, doing sports, meeting friends, making time for my boyfriend or family and spending some time doing things I am passionate about: like learning french, reading a good book (more on that in tomorrows post) or catching up on blog posts I bookmarked to read later on. Saturday is also the day I clean my flat and do the laundry. As you can see – I am a busy bee when it comes to the weekend and that is exactly how I like it… except: 

When it feels like 37°C outside. C’est intolérable! So I decided to make the best of the morning and hit the farmers market while the morning air is still fresh.

Isn’t it the loveliest thing to meet the people who grow the vegetables and fruits they sell? I will always choose local above organic. It’s crazy to me how people can buy organic apples that flew around the world, when they can buy some that grew on a farm in the neighborhood. This time I hit the farmers market to purchase ingredients for two meals I wanted to make this weekend: a) greens for an unusual breakfast, which is the topic of this post and b) eggs for Jenn’s mouthwatering Sweet Potato and Spinach Frittata, which will not only be a great Sunday dinner but also the perfect lunch to bring to the office the next few days.

But let’s talk greens now. It is all Katie’s fault, she started the whole revolution in my head and made me crave salads the first thing in the morning. Sounds crazy? But then think about it: adding a ton of fruits (fresh or dried), some nuts, some goat cheese, a drizzle of honey… the idea of making salad your breakfast base, instead of yogurt or oatmeal and top it of with all the stuff you love to eat in the morning… Doesn’t it sound like the smartest thing to do when summer heat hits you?

Breakfast Salad Revolution

So I purchased a bag of baby spinach leaves fresh from the farmers market, some arugula and blueberries and had my canvas to start and get creative.

Number one, which I ate Saturday morning, was made of:

• baby spinach and arugula
• blueberries
• hazelnuts
• soft goat cheese
• honey

The goat cheese, honey and hazelnut mix was exactly what my taste buds needed first thing in the morning. The arugula added a nice bitter component to balance the sweetness of the honey. And the blueberries gave the salad juiciness and a fresh crunch.

This one is a keeper. Especially after I found out that I can get small fresh goat cheese rounds on the farmers market, that come from a farm in a neighbor town.

Number two, was today’s breakfast:

• baby spinach and arugula
• blueberries
• nectarine
• avocado
• lime juice
• soaked almonds

I love the consistency nuts get when they are soaked. First time I ate soaked nuts was actually a few years ago on my first trip to China. They love to let their peanuts soak and serve them as one of many side dishes to the meals they love to share (you rarely see Chinese people eat alone, even for lunch break they make sure to hit the restaurant with a big group and order a lot of small dishes to share). Peanuts are not actually my favorite nut, I rarely eat them but in the form of peanut butter. So almonds were the perfect choice for this salad. I let them soak in water overnight, rinsed them thoroughly in the morning and used them to top of my salad, which I had tossed with some avocado cubes and lime juice. Fresh juicy fruits as nectarine and blueberries made this one perfect for breakfast.

So I am curious to hear what you think about “the Salad For Breakfast revolution”! Do you think SFB could actually be the next blog thing, like OIAJ have been like three years ago? Any ideas what else to top them off with? I already thought about making a tropical variation with pineapple and fresh coconut or grilled peach slices, blackberries and walnuts.