Let’s talk about this healthy slaw recipe. It’s proof that sometimes, the most humble of ingredients can make for the best recipes.

Take cheap cabbage, with all of its potent antioxidants, and toss it with carrots, the humble root vegetable that is packed with beta carotene. Drizzle in a simple, garlicky lemon dressing (no mayonnaise or vinegar here). For extra texture and savory flavor, add some freshly toasted seeds to the mix. Toasting them makes all the difference.

Ta da! You have a colorful coleslaw that’s bursting with fresh flavor and amazing health benefits.

This slaw is one of my favorite simple side dishes, so I’m sharing it today with updated photos in the hopes that it captures your attention. It keeps well in the fridge for up to four days, so it’s a very easy way to add a burst of color and fresh flavor to your meals.

Of course, this slaw goes great with veggie burgers and grilled mains in the summertime. It would also be fantastic with my vegetarian chili, sandwiches of any kind, and rich meals that need something light for balance (even mac and cheese).

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I declare this strawberry number the Official Salad of Summer 2018! It’s fully loaded with colorful strawberries, radishes, red onion, basil, jalapeño, toasty sunflower seeds, and fresh arugula.

Creamy goat cheese and a simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette round out the sweet-and-slightly-spicy flavor profile. It’s an unexpected combination of flavors, perhaps, but they’re truly irresistible together.

This is a hearty summertime garden salad that you can serve as a light dinner, or as a side salad for a crowd. I think it would go well with smoky flavors from your grill.

I should mention that this is a big salad. I could barely manage to toss it all together on my largest serving platter. You could divide all of the ingredients in half—or better yet, store leftover salad and dressing separately and enjoy leftovers for a few days.

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Let’s hit restart with my favorite broccoli salad recipe! It will become your new favorite, too.

This is the best broccoli salad I’ve ever had. Why? It’s crisp, crunchy and fresh, which is exactly what I want broccoli salad to be.

It’s also seriously addictive, thanks to the sweet-and-savory combination of freshly toasted sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and cheddar cheese.

I borrowed the honey-mustard vinaigrette from my Brussels sprout slaw, and it plays up raw broccoli’s best features. Who needs mayo when you have creamy and tangy honey-mustard dressing?

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Apple season is here! I’m usually so sad to see summer and its glorious produce go, but I’m actually looking forward to slowing down this fall. I’m going to bust out my cozy jackets and boots from their hiding places and take my dog Cookie out to admire the changing leaves.

To celebrate the beginning of fall, I made a big kale salad with chopped apple and a lemony maple and mustard dressing. Goat cheese, cranberries and savory granola—yes, granola on a salad—round it out and make this salad a full meal.

I’m fully smitten with this granola-as-croutons concept, since I never have a loaf of crusty bread when I need it. You can toss it together in no time at all, and you’ll end up with plenty for two salads.

As you’ve probably heard already, old-fashioned oats offer a number of beneficial qualities—they’re a good source of fiber, vitamins and minerals—so these croutons are more redeeming than most.

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Have you ever ordered a kale salad on a first date and tried to gracefully consume a meal of giant, wayward kale leaves? Awkward. Regretful. Ugh. I’m on a mission to change that. I won’t quit creating new kale salad recipes until we can all walk into a restaurant and consistently receive a great kale salad. Based on some recent experiences, I declare that my work here is far from done.

Here’s how to make a kale salad that’s better than those sad restaurant salads. First, remove those tough ribs from the kale, chop it into bite-sized pieces, and massage it to minimize the poky factor and improve the flavor. (Yes, massage it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s worth it! See instructions below.) Drizzle in a bold salad dressing and toss until it’s completely coated (I always use more dressing on kale salads than other green salads). Add some fun flavors and textures and you will have yourself a great kale salad.

I say all of this to defend kale salads against mentions that they’re “too trendy” or overdone. But kale salads, when made properly, can make truly delicious, crave-able meals. Those kinds of meals don’t go out of style. Right? Let’s make kale salad a classic like pizza and mac and cheese. We’ll all be better off for it.

This salad is the mac and cheese of kale salads, if you will. It’s creamy thanks to a bold tahini dressing, which makes this salad seem way more indulgent that it actually is. I packed in more flavor and texture with freshly toasted sunflower seeds and briny olives and pepper rings that I cannot resist. Chickpeas offer some protein and up the hearty factor. I’ve been craving heavy, cheesy comfort foods lately, but I legitimately can’t wait to get home and polish off this kale salad. I hope you feel the same!

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I have a story for you. I can’t believe I haven’t told you already! A few Fridays ago, I drove out to Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Missouri. The clouds grew ominously dark on my way out there, so I knew we were in for another storm.

We watched the clouds roll closer and closer as we sampled some amazing cheese and wine (if you live in the Kansas City area, you really must go). Soon, it was pouring rain like it had the night before. Lighting! Thunder! Electricity zig-zagged across the sky. Then, the tornado sirens started wailing.

I really love a good storm, and we couldn’t have picked a better place to get stuck in one. We picked up our cheese plate and our wine glasses and headed down to the basement, making friends with a few ladies on a birthday trip on the way. The representative from the vineyard refilled our glasses, and the tornado never touched down.

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See that salad? I just ate leftovers for breakfast. After my annual too-many potato chips session at the lake with my family, I’m craving fresh, bright, satisfyingly crunchy things. Surely I am not the only one!

I really want to tell you all about Oklahoma, and how the trees shrink into broccoli florets and the dirt turns red on that familiar drive south on I-35. I want to tell you about meeting my newest cousin and how she let me hold her for over an hour (maybe I hogged her a bit). And how extra-cute Cookie is after a few days apart. She’s snuggled up under my right elbow now.

I just got the manuscript back for my cookbook, so I have a busy week of editing and drinking too much coffee ahead of me. I can finally see the finish line. I’m excited to wrap it all up and get back to hanging out with you guys in the comments and on Instagram. I’ve really been missing you.

Anyway, this salad is inspired by one that I reached for at Trader Joe’s a couple of weeks ago. They call it the “Mega Crunchy Salad with a Bite.” I grabbed one of the last ones before they closed, so it wasn’t quite as crunchy as it should have been, but I recognized the potential.

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Kohlrabi. It’s one of those alien-like vegetables that I avoid eye contact with when I’m walking down the produce line. Remember that scene from E.T., when his face shows up in the middle of all the stuffed animals? It’s like that. Eeeek.

What is kohlrabi, anyway? The name is a fun combination of German/Swiss words for cabbage and turnip, which is perfectly descriptive. It’s a knobby, imperfectly round, tennis ball-shaped vegetable with a spout of leaves, which makes it looks like a turnip from Jupiter.

Kohlrabi comes in green or purple, but the flesh is white either way. Its dense insides remind me of a broccoli stalk. It smells kind of radish and tastes ambiguously cruciferous.

I almost couldn’t find kohlrabi at the store, but I finally spied one sad, limp bunch and took it home with me. I used a vegetable peeler to peel off the rough brown spots and sliced it up, along with an apple. The crisp radish/sweet apple thing seemed a little odd at first, but soon I couldn’t resist snacking on it.

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Food blogging has its perks. Sometimes, people offer to send me cookbooks. Sometimes, I find recipes in said books worth sharing with you all. This recipe, by Gena Hamshaw of The Full Helping and the author of Food52 Vegan: 60 Vegetable-Driven Recipes for Any Kitchen, is one of them.

This recipe jumped out to me since savory sweet potatoes, kale, quinoa and pesto are a few of my favorite ingredients. It also seemed like a salad that would pack well for yesterday’s flights, and it did. I feel so accomplished when I arrive at the airport with a healthy meal in tow. Which, to be clear, is almost never. It’s a miracle when I remember to bring socks!

I found the final kicker in Gena’s headnote, which suggested that this is a salad for August or September, when basil is plentiful at farmers’ markets and sweet potatoes are just becoming available. Since September is almost over, I thought I’d better hurry up and make it.

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Here’s my spring-to-summer side salad solution. It features chopped baby spinach, plenty of fresh berries, tangy goat cheese and a zippy balsamic dressing. For the berries, I used raspberries and blueberries, but sliced strawberries would be another great option.

The skillet-toasted, candied maple sunflower seeds are a simple addition that adds crunch and subtle heat from a dash of cayenne pepper (which is totally optional). They’re an unexpected addition that sends this salad over the top.

The result is a little sweet and a little spicy. It’s healthy, yet irresistible. It’s perfectly balanced. It’s truly a fantastic side salad, and a fun alternative to my classic spinach salad.

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