Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

This healthy green salad features crisp lettuce, edamame, chopped cabbage, bell pepper and broccoli in homemade carrot-ginger salad dressing. So delicious! Recipe yields 4 medium-sized salads.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 ounces chopped butter lettuce or romaine
• 1 ½ cups edamame, preferably organic, defrosted if necessary
• 1 ½ cups chopped purple cabbage
• ¾ cup chopped red onion
• Florets from 1 head of broccoli, finely sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• ⅓ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 batch of homemade carrot ginger dressing

Carrot Ginger Dressing
This salad dressing tastes remarkably fresh, creamy and light. It would pair nicely with other recipes with Asian flavors. Recipe yields about 1 ⅓ cups salad dressing.

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ⅓ cup rice vinegar
• 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped (about ⅔ cup)
• 2 tablespoons peeled and roughly chopped fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 ½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a blender, combine all of the salad dressing ingredients as listed. Bend until completely smooth. Taste, and add additional salt if the dressing doesn’t make your eyes light up. If it’s too sour (it should have some zing to it), blend in a bit more honey.
2. Recipe keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 1 to 2 weeks.

SALAD INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large serving bowl, combine everything but the dressing. Toss to combine.
2. When you’re ready to serve, toss in enough dressing to lightly coat all of the ingredients—or, if you intend to have leftovers, store the salad separately from the dressing, and toss individual servings with dressing just before serving. The salad will keep well this way for 3 to 4 days.