What a wonderful day out on the Westford Town Common for the 40th Annual Strawberries ‘N Arts Festival! Until next year, please think warm and sunny for June 18, 2016!
I wanted to thank Sarah for such a wonderful blog post on Saturday! It totally made me blush. Sarah also shared a few delicious ideas in my stead (for those new to this blog, Sarah and I usually alternate days writing the posts). The last several days have been such a whirlwind for me that not too much concocting has been taking place, save for the power smoothie. The trifecta of smoothie ingredients this week included kale ribs, spinach (wild and from Springdell), and, of course, strawberries! The alternating ingredients have included ground peanuts, coconut water, banana, wheat germ, fresh yogurt, and blueberries from the chest freezer. I am convinced that these nutrient packed elixirs are the only reason I’m still standing after an extremely busy week. That being said, on to the recipe of the day!
The greens that haven’t made it into the power smoothies are feeling a bit slighted and would like some attention. What better way to attend to them than to dress them up with some fresh and local goodies?
The Rhubarb vinaigrette recipe is from a gentleman named Russ Meyers over at Just a Pinch (thanks for sharing, Russ!) It started with a tablespoon of Springdell honey, and 2 tablespoons of water heated in a small saucepan until just boiling. 1/2 a cup of loosely packed thinly sliced rhubarb joined the party in the pan for a few more minutes.
Next went in a few grates of ginger (in place of lemon zest) and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar. This all cooked for about 5 more minutes (the original recipe calls for longer cooking times, but things reduced quickly with the smaller amounts in the pan). 
When whisking in a tablespoon of olive oil, I was half expecting to need to run things through a food processor, until the rhubarb just dissolved into the vinaigrette as I whisked.
As all my kale stems are destined for more smoothies, the leaves were massaged and chopped before covering with the warm dressing.
My other half instead chose to have his dressing chilled and on the heirloom lettuce.
A handful of gorgonzola crumbles and chopped walnut finished off the kale salad, and milder goat cheese crumbles and sunflower kernels worked well against the lettuce. Each salad had very thin shavings of rhubarb to offset the sweetness. I’m afraid I missed the photos of these additional toppings, but you’ll have to take my word for it. The salads are now, as my dear Pappy used to say, “solid gone”.