a peek inside the fishbowl

Awhile back I had no groceries or lunch ideas, so I decided to check out the big salad bar at Farm Boy. Have you ever tried it? It’s pretty darn good. I went in with a strategy: to skip the leafy green offerings and sample my way through the grain and veggie dishes instead. My instincts were correct, because I ended up trying had a bunch of really good little salads, which you can see here. One that stood out was called “Detox Salad.” And of course, I had to look it up.

Farm Boy posts the nutritional information of its prepared dishes on their website (here’s the PDF for Detox Salad), and I quickly saw how easy this salad was to make. It hardly had any ingredients: Broccoli, cauliflower, raisins, Farm Boy Lemon Garlic dressing (lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper), carrots. It’s vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free too. (Yay!)

I did another search for Detox Salad and came up with this recipe over at Oh She Glows. It has a few things in common with the Farm Boy version, but it’s not quite the same. I will say this, both versions should be called “VIRTUOUS SALAD,” simply because you won’t believe how good you’ll feel after you’ve eaten it.

I made my own version and it was awesome. Look how bright and gorgeous it is:

I didn’t have carrots, but I did have a yellow pepper, so I added that. And I used cranberries instead of raisins. I made my own lemon-garlic salad dressing too. And it was REALLY GOOD. And you know what? I was really happy to have this for lunch this weekend, especially after all of the Halloween chocolate I ate. (But let’s just pretend that never happened, ok?)

The whole shebang only takes a few minutes to pull together too.

Andrea’s version of Detox Salad

• 1 small head of cauliflower, separated into florets
• 1 small head of broccoli, separated into florets
• Whatever other crunchy vegetable floats your boat (diced carrots, peppers, whatever!)
• Lemon garlic dressing (make your own – here’s the recipe I used – or buy prepared)
• Handful of dried cranberries
• Handful of raw pumpkin seeds

Using a food processor, pulse the broccoli until it’s in very small pieces. Dump it into a large bowl. Do the same with the cauliflower. Don’t overblend, just pulse until it’s well chopped. Combine it with the broccoli in the bowl. Add carrots or peppers, if using. Toss the mixture with lemon-garlic salad dressing. Top with cranberries and pumpkin seeds if you’re serving it right away. That’s it! Do note, this salad tastes great the next day too. (And the next… if you have any left by then!)

Let me know if you try this recipe. I’d love to know if it made you feel virtuous too. :)