i have fallen in love…

with a new salad.

bc, of course, i have!

i was down a rabbit hole of some of my favorite bloggers, and stumbled on baked by melissa founder melissa ben-ishay’s tiktok, which is a feast (literally) of quick-hit, veggie-forward recipes.

borderline asmr with the chopping, scraping and sizzling; melissa’s 30-60 second clips make me want to get in the kitchen even more! she soups, salads, toasts and vinaigrettes, making her my soulmate sous chef.

my favorite recipe of the bunch is melissa’s green goddess salad, which is a dump of green cabbage, cucumbers and a luscious herb-forward dressing. i swear, i have eaten this 10x in the last 21 days, and feel less bloated with fewer cravings for the heavy stuff when i’m at home. it came into my life during a perfect storm of work/personal travel, holiday shindigs and general q4 overindulgence.

follow my lead, and make this salad often and don’t even bother plating– straight from mixing bowl to mimi’s mouth!

my tweaks on melissa’s 25M(!)-viewed recipe:

salad base

• 1/3 head of green cabbage, chopped into rough chunks– melissa recommends confetti size, because cute!
• 1/2 english cucumber, fine diced

dressing

• two cloves of garlic
• juice of two lemons
• splash of apple cider vinegar (optional!)
• pinch of salt/pepper + a bit more to finish the salad
• generous glug of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of basil
• 1/4 cup of parsley or spinach
• handful of cashews (or any nut on hand)
• 1/2 avocado
• grated parmesan to taste

i like to chop the cabbage + cucumber and store in the fridge for extra crispness while blending the dressing. one major thing i omit from her recipe is the shallot– to me, it overpowers the other flavors. once the dressing is prepared, douse your salad so it is truly jolly green giant green. add another pinch of salt + pepper and anoint with olive oil to fully activate the herbs in the dressing.

i do follow melissa’s lead and scoop with tortilla chips for a salad + dip experience. it’s just dec 20, so i expect about eight-ish more of these green queen meals.

mangia! Xx