Salad Season!

It's Spring. To me that means the beginning of 6 months of fresh and local produce BLISS. We live right next door to the Portland Farmer's Market at the Portland State campus, so every Saturday we grab our reuseable bags (that's so Northwest) and trot on over to the abundance of fresh cut flowers and ripe berries and greens. It is heaven on Earth. It's like a true salvation when we submerge from a winter of buying "organic" produce at Fred Meyer, that has been shipped thousands of miles, to stepping outside our door and grabbing some real, nutritionally loaded, organic kale that was grown just down the road. Just for us.

With the change in seasons, so comes the change in the way we eat. Sunshine = salads galore + fresh fruit. Oh, and bee pollen! This is a bit of a side note, but the BEST bee pollen you can get in Oregon is from Boyco Foods. They bring delicious raw honey and colorful bee pollen to the Farmer's Market and the guy is one of the most vibrant people I have ever met. This stuff is like the elixer of life. And if you suffer from seasonal allergies, local honey and pollen is supposed to help. You can eat it by itself, or sprinkle it on salads ;)

Last night I made one of the best salads I've ever eaten. Inspired by Mark Sisson at marksdailyapple.com (a reader submitted this recipe to him and he posted it), I changed just a couple things for mine. It's main ingredients are chicken, bacon, and avocado. 'Nuff said.

*Unfortunately I did not take a picture of my salad before I devoured it, so this pic is borrowed from the original recipe post at marksdailyapple.com

Ingredients:
3 cups Spinach
1 nice, big Chicken Breast
6 slices nitrite-free Bacon
1 whole Avocado
1/4-1/2 cup Walnuts
1 Apple, whatever kind you like
Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing (I know, not truly primal food, but none-the-less one of the best things on the planet)

Method:
1. Chop up the spinach so it doesn't hit your face when you are trying to put the fork in your mouth
2. Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook in skillet
3. While the bacon is cooking, chop the chicken into bit-sized pieces
4. When bacon is done, cook the chicken in the same pan, with the bacon fat (this genius idea is from the original recipe)
5. Let the bacon and chicken cool
6. Chop apple, avocado, and walnuts and toss with the spinach and poppyseed dressing
7. Put salad on 2 plates and top with the chicken and bacon.
8. Prepare for elation. EAT.

~Laney