I couldn’t resist the urge to have some fun with my food today. I found a recipe in a cookbook for a salad where all the ingredients spelled something out. So I decided to put together a salad based on the name of my cat, Panther. He won’t eat it of course - it was just for my own amusement.

Panther’s Salad

No measurements. I just through the ingredients together at random, in random amounts, and arrange them so they look pretty on the plate.

Peas

Arugula

Napa Cabbage

Tomato

Hearts of Palm

Endive

Radish

What kinds of acronym salads can you come up with? If you need help, here are two sites that offer alphabetical lists of vegetables.

• Christ and Nic’s Recipes 
• List of Culinary Vegetables on Wikipedia 

Those are the two lists I used. The N really had me stumped and so did the H. But it worked out. I was thinking of garnishing it with bacon pieces, but it didn’t fit into the acronym! I may just do it anyway, but don’t tell.

One of the best cooking tips that I know is to always keep a container of pesto in the house. You can either make your own or buy it - I get mine from either Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s - both are excellent. There’s so much you can do with pesto. I love making salad dressings or last minute pasta dishes out of it.  So, I thought I’d share with all of you some of the many things you can do with pesto.

• Make salad dressing. Stir together 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs vinegar, and one teaspoon of pesto for a delicious salad dressing.

• Use it as a marinade. You can prepare the dressing, above, and actually use it to marinate meat or chicken. You can also spread the pesto on chicken, seafood such as salmon, or steak before grilling or baking.

• Quick pasta dish. Toss pesto in with some pasta. I like using ziti or rotini but you can use anything. Sometimes I mix in a small amount of tomato sauce and cream.

• Roasted vegetables. Roast vegetables such zucchini and eggplant. (Sprinkle vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread them out on a baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.) When vegetables are done, transfer to a serving bowl and toss with pesto.

• Spread for crackers and bread. This is much tastier than butter! I like to spread the pesto directly onto those Wasa crackers or on a piece of whole wheat bread.

• Pesto Cheese Dip. You can mix 2 tbs of pesto with 8 ounces cream cheese for a quick cheese dip.

Do you have any ideas for things you can do with pesto? Share them in the comments!

My favorite part of spring is when the wild greens start pushing up through the soil. Dandelion is at its tastiest, and so are the wild chicory leaves. Chickweed is amongst the first greens that I spot. So, I pick them all and mix them with whichever greens I have in the fridge.

Scared to pick what’s outside? Don’t be. Just get a nice field guide to make sure you know what you’re picking. Also, don’t pick greens that are too close to the road or that were sprayed with chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides.

This salad recipe highlights these greens plus some roasted asparagus - another wonderful spring food. A lemon vinaigrette finishes the salad off with chives or scallions to garnish.

Serves 4

For the roasted asparagus

1 bunch fresh asparagus, woody ends trimmed

2 tablespoons oil

salt and pepper to taste

for the salad

4 cups mixed wild and spring greens

1/4 cup chopped chives or scallion

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tablespoons oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for about ten minutes until bright green but still crisp. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, cut into one inch pieces and set aside.

To assemble the salad, spread the greens on a platter. Top with the roasted asparagus pieces and garnish with the scallions. Mix the oil, lemon, salt, and pepper together in a separate bowl. Have everyone add the dressing to their salad at the table. Some of the greens are delicate and may wilt if there’s too much dressing on them.