Sprout a little happiness

 

Aren’t they cute?  Admit it, you can hear this little collective chanting “Eat me!”.   Grown in my kitchen without the need of seasonal consideration, soil, or even sunshine, these little sprouts have a destiny with my tummy, and a recipe that is as beautiful as it is tasty.

If you aren’t yet ready to be a sprout wrangler yourself, head on down to your local grocery store and pick some up, then scroll down for a wee bit of happiness on a plate.

This salad has three parts: Salad, Dressing, Topping.

For the Salad:  You’ll need sprouts and  broccoli slaw. Broccoli slaw can be found in your local grocery store, veggie department, precut and bagged in the refrigerated area of the veggie section.

For the Topping:  Chicken Ramen (yes those $1 a bag little dried ramen soups), dried cranberries and chopped raw almonds.

Open the ramen, take out the soup mix packet, and place the ramen in a zip lock baggie.  With a rolling pin, can of soup, or just your fingers, crush the ramen into little bits – don’t pulverize it into dust, just little crumbly bits.  Heat a pan with a small pat of butter and add said crumbly bits and the chopped almonds.   Stir well and cook until browned – you don’t want to overcook the noodles, and the heat will bring out more flavor in the almonds as they toast.  Place this mixture onto a plate or cookie sheet lined with paper towels so the noodles stop cooking and any excess butter comes off.

For the Dressing mix altogether:
1/4 cup soy sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
~1/2 cup of Mayo
2 Tablespoons of freshly grated ginger
2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
1 Teaspoon of dark sesame oil (normally found in the Asian section of the grocery store)

Now it’s as easy as assembling your salad.  Because the dressing will separate when stored in the fridge, I make a small salad portion at a time instead of mixing everything and storing it “pre made”.   So with that in mind, mix sprouts, slaw, cranberries and some dressing in your bowl, then sprinkle on your topping and enjoy!  As I mentioned, the dressing will separate when stored in the fridge, just stir it well each time before you use it, it’ll keep about a week.

Isn’t it yummy? When it comes to sprouts, and sprouting your own, you’ll soon discover that resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.