Fresh Roll-Ups

Saturday lunch time rolled around and I faced decision time again. With a fridge and counter top filled with a new supply of fresh produce, the options were plentiful. What to have for lunch?

I'd brought home two ears of yellow corn, small but well filled out. Young ears, picked before the kernels had reached full maturity, and definitely before they'd lost a lot of flavor and tenderness. With veggies, smaller is most often better. It's late in the season to find ears of corn still in the husk, with the corn silk not all dried out. I knew I'd best use them up quickly to get the most nutrition and best flavor.

The veggie bin held some odds and ends and while I'd brought home a nice array of organic, vine-ripened tomatoes, they still needed a few days on the window sill to reach their best flavor. But I had a couple dozen grape tomatoes, red and juicy sitting on the counter begging to be used up quickly.

Armed with half a large red bell pepper, a few slices of red onion, a medium sized green jalepeño pepper and some bright green outer leaves of Romaine—I set about preparing lunch.

Aside from the many nutritional benefits derived from eating fresh raw fruits and vegetables, is the added advantage of the ease and speed with which a meal can be prepared. I quickly sliced the kernels from the cobs, minced up the couple of slices of red onion, minced the piece of red pepper and the jalepeño and just for the novelty, instead of simply slicing the grape tomatoes in half, I sliced them up, too.

Once all tossed together, I added the zest from a lemon and the juice from half the lemon. Some fresh herbs would be an interesting optional addition. The large romaine leaves made juicy, fun wraps for scoopfuls of the veggie medley. Have an abundance of napkins handy.

OR . . .

For those who prefer their salad eaten with a fork rather than out of hand, and for those who are not looking for a 100% raw rendition, here's the same salad tossed with the Romaine leaves torn into bite sized pieces, tossed with a little olive oil and a dash of apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of crumbled goat cheese. Still a great way to include lots of fresh veggies to a meal or as a meal.

Eating out of hand, with no processed additions, is juicy good and lots of fun!

Till next time . . . to eat well; eat raw.