Chopped Winter Salad

Marigold at Goat Philosophy 101 requested the recipe for the chopped Winter Salad that I mentioned in my recent Dark Days Challenge post. Well, it was probably actually the Goatmother; although, if you swapped out the pecans for peanuts, I'll bet Marigold would eat this up! ;)

This is one of those recipes where there really aren't any hard and fast measurements or rules. It all depends on how many you are serving and what you have on hand.

This is my own dressing recipe. I had some extra lemons to use up and didn't like the sound of the rather sweet, lemon poppy seed dressing included with the recipe. I don't usually make vinaigrettes, opting instead for mayo type dressings, but this is wonderful and I will definitely be making it again...and again...and again!!
Here is the original salad recipe, from grouprecipes.com, with my changes in red.

Winter Salad

1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped (I used half iceberg lettuce and half red cabbage)
1 carrot, grated
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 apple, cut up
1 pear, cut up (I used all apple because I didn't have a pear)
1 cup slivered almonds (I used toasted pecans, chopped)
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese (I used crumbled goat cheese)

Combine all ingredients.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1/3 cup lemon juice
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon diced shallot
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake well. Add to salad to taste and toss all together.

I have been trying to eat more in-season foods recently and was tickled to find a salad recipe that fit the bill. After eating garden fresh, homegrown tomatoes for the past several years, I just can't bring myself to buy the tasteless, overpriced, hot-house grown tomatoes in the grocery store anymore. I feel fortunate to live where I do with our longer growing season AND to have a friend with an awesome garden and a greenhouse! We haven't had any real hard freezes yet so her lettuce and cabbage is still growing beautifully.
Linking up with Wildcrafting Wednesday.

Vitex agnus-castus

This has got to be one of my favorite bushes/trees! Many years ago, I was studying herbal medicine of the Southwest and was given some Vitex seeds to be used to make a tincture. The next year, I had several volunteer plants coming up and I don't remember having the seeds outside at all! Ever since, I have considered this to be my special herbal partner. When the plants are small, they kind of resemble marijuana with their five-lobed leaves and I had to ask my herbal teacher what in the heck it was! :)

Vitex is a deciduous Mediterranean native hardy to Zone 7. It grows quickly and is easily started from seed. Here is a purple flowered plant that I dug up as a volunteer at a local nursery about six years ago. At first glance, it looks as though the ends of the branches are bare but those are the seeds that follow the flowers. There are a LOT of seeds on this one!

I bought a white flowered bush a few years later that we planted out front. It has done okay but it hasn't grown and thrived the way the purple one has; although, it did freeze to the ground during our 100-year freeze event in 2010 so I guess it's doing fine.

Then, last year, I had two volunteers come up in one of the barrels in the back yard. When they bloomed this year, the flowers were PINK!! Hmmm...I guess the plants cross pollinated. My plan is to transplant these two out near the garden to provide some shade and to attract more bees to the garden since they LOVE the flowers!

The pink flowers are just getting ready to open again. There is an initial heavy blooming period in late spring/early summer but they keep putting on more blooms as the summer wears on.

Not only are the plants beautiful when in full bloom but the seeds are used to make tinctures for womens' health issues covering all stages of life from puberty to menopause. Other names for the plant are Chasteberry Tree and Monk's Pepper because it is said to have an anti-aphrodisiac effect on men. When the seeds are fully ripe, they resemble black peppercorns.

Rosemary Gladstar's book "Herbal Healing for Women" and Susun Weed's book "Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way" provide the following information:
Vitex has a stimulating effect on the pituitary gland, which, among other functions, regulates and normalizes hormone production. It also increases production of luteinizing hormones, enhancing the progesteron cycle. At the same time, it inhibits the release of the follicle-stimulation hormone FSH and normalizes the estrogen cycle. It is beneficial in treating painful and irregular menstruation, infertility, PMS, menopausal problems and other hormonal imbalances. No side effects have ever been reported from extensive and extended use. It is one of the most useful herbs for women. It is a slow-acting herb and results become evident only after two or three months of daily use; permanent improvements requires about a year of daily use but the results are worth it.

Linking up with Wildcrafting Wednesday, Rural Thursday and Farmgirl Friday.