Inspired by Organics!

Have you heard of Groupon? I've been enjoying unbelievable bargains these last few months including yoga, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and now local organic farm delivery through Groupon. The deals are really a "foot-in-the-door" way to introduce products and services to those who'd ordinarily not indulge, in hopes the new customers will become regulars.

I got a large box full of organic goodies delivered to my door for $19.95 instead of $35.00. The large box is actually called "small" and "tiny" is also an option for the future, so I guess that's what I will do from now on. Receiving "mystery" veggies (whatever's seasonal and plentiful) is fun, but does require more planning than my lazy brand of veganism usually affords. I pulled out the cookbooks.  This luscious salad utilized a couple of beets, arugula, romaine and an orange from my local/organic box. I started with Sheryl Crow's recipe from her If It Makes You Healthy cookbook. Besides the aforementioned organic gems, it also contains sauteed shallots and candied almonds. Sheryl's recipe calls for raw purple onion instead, but I had no purple onion, and I prefer sauteed, so I did it my way. Also, ditto on the pecans she used. I veganized the candying process, scratching the egg white, and just using oil, sugar, cinnamon and chipotle pepper powder instead. The dressing couldn't have been simpler: orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I also squeezed a lemon over all of it because, well, I love lemon on everything. This salad was amazing.

Stay tuned for more of my organic experiments.