I was craving a salad yesterday,
but I wanted something a little different.
I rarely have avocado in the house
since I developed a sensitivity to it
when I was pregnant with Middle Hawthorne.
I can still eat a few bites,
but there's a line drawn somewhere out there
that I simply cannot pass.
And unfortunately that line is not static.
(With Daughter Hawthorne it was cantaloupe.
Thankfully, I suffered no prohibitive gastronomical issues
from Youngest Hawthorne's incubation period.)
And that really bums me out because
I love cantaloupes and avocados.
A ripe cantaloupe with lemon juice and freshly ground pepper ...
A slice of avocado with a few squeezes of lime ...
Ahhh ... guacamole.
Sniff. Sniff.
Those were good times.
But back to the salad.
I had 1/2 an avocado left from dinner the other night
with the homemade pasta, spicy shrimp,
and avocado cream sauce to tame the heat of the shrimp.
I also had some strawberries in the fridge too.
Harris Teeter has had them on sale lately,
so I've been having lots of strawberry smoothies for breakfast.
Love my smoothies.
The brand I've been buying is produced by Driscoll's Berries,
and I've found their strawberries to be the best in supermarkets.
They do market a superior product.
I wanted a light salad using both the strawberries and the avocado
and a dressing that wouldn't overpower
the delicate flavor of the avocado
but would still go with the fruitiness of the strawberry.
I'm thinking a poppy seed dressing.
but I wanted something a little different.
I rarely have avocado in the house
since I developed a sensitivity to it
when I was pregnant with Middle Hawthorne.
I can still eat a few bites,
but there's a line drawn somewhere out there
that I simply cannot pass.
And unfortunately that line is not static.
(With Daughter Hawthorne it was cantaloupe.
Thankfully, I suffered no prohibitive gastronomical issues
from Youngest Hawthorne's incubation period.)
And that really bums me out because
I love cantaloupes and avocados.
A ripe cantaloupe with lemon juice and freshly ground pepper ...
A slice of avocado with a few squeezes of lime ...
Ahhh ... guacamole.
Sniff. Sniff.
Those were good times.
But back to the salad.
I had 1/2 an avocado left from dinner the other night
with the homemade pasta, spicy shrimp,
and avocado cream sauce to tame the heat of the shrimp.
I also had some strawberries in the fridge too.
Harris Teeter has had them on sale lately,
so I've been having lots of strawberry smoothies for breakfast.
Love my smoothies.
The brand I've been buying is produced by Driscoll's Berries,
and I've found their strawberries to be the best in supermarkets.
They do market a superior product.
I wanted a light salad using both the strawberries and the avocado
and a dressing that wouldn't overpower
the delicate flavor of the avocado
but would still go with the fruitiness of the strawberry.
I'm thinking a poppy seed dressing.
My ingredients:1 TB chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground mustard
a few grinds of pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil (I used canola.)
1 heaping TB poppy seeds
The onions, salt, mustard, and pepper
went in my mini-processor. 
Juice of 1/2 lemon. 
Cider vinegar. 
I like this shot of the sugar splashing off
the thingie in the middle.
Finally I added the oil through the topwith the machine running to get a nice emulsification.
Stir in poppy seeds at the end.
I did a taste test
and this dressing lacked nothing.It had a nice sweetness, but not cloying.
The oh-so-slight sourness of the vinegar
lingered pleasantly in the background.
Hint of lemon.
(Note to self: Next time use the whole lemon.
But you know by now I'm a lemon freak.)
Hmmm. Ground mustard.
Probably wouldn't have missed that.
Need to do a taste test comparison of with and without.
I always have a hard time describing tastes and flavors.
How does one describe the flavor of poppy seeds?
I was thinking nut-like.
Perhaps seed-like?
A nutty seed taste?
A seedy nut flavor?
Well, I just didn't know how to describe
the taste of poppy seeds and
Mr. Hawthorne is certainly no help here.
"What the hell do you mean, 'What do poppy seeds taste like?'
They taste like POPPY SEEDS, fer cryin' out loud!"
So I Googled it and found out that this site,
described the flavor of poppy seeds thusly:
"Their creamy-nut like flavor is really worth getting to know.
You won’t regret trying, I assure you."
Hmmm. "Creamy?"
I don't think I would've come up with that one.
For what it's worth, I bookmarked that site,
so you may be seeing some Cooking With Consciousness recipes forthcoming.
Because I always like to be conscious when I'm cooking.
My salad:mixed greens from the garden
carrots
red cabbage
red onion
cucumber
avocado
strawberry
Drizzle the dressing over top.
This salad was pleasantly and totally differentfrom your regular, run of the mill salads.
The sweet dressing was a perfect complement
to the avocado, strawberry, and cucumber.
Just plain good flavors all around.
And I liked the way the dressing coated my tongue.
Sweet and sour and poppy-ish flavors
danced playfully on the epithelium of my tongue,
teasing my buds with Odyssean Siren songs.
I loved the creamy-firm texture and greenness of the avocado,
the sweet, fruity, juiciness and redness of the strawberry,
and the crisp, watery, crunchy freshness and earthiness of the cucumber.
The poppy seed dressing just brought it all together in a delightful synergism.
And it's so pretty!
Love all the different colors in your salad!
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