Salads

Karen’s over-the-top exclamations about this salad turn out to have been understatements. “It is so good”, according to Karen, “that you will want it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!” We do. Karen adores her gardens, sheep and Japanese Chin dogs as if they were all her children. Her husband Gary Hayre is a willing gardening accomplice and an ice wine maker extraordinaire.

A wonderful specialty foods catalog, Stonewall Kitchen has a mouth-watering array of exceptional jams, jellies, mustards, chutneys and sauces with which to jazz up traditional recipes or create new ones all your own. For their terrific cookbook, condiments or unique kitchen accessories, visit www.stonewallkitchen.com or phone (800) 826-1752 for their catalog. “With a bottle of Roasted Garlic Peanut Sauce in your pantry, this vegetarian dish can be put together in no time. Add a cup or two of sliced cooked chicken, left-over sliced steak or cooked shrimp, as you wish.”

Shelburne Farms is a 1,400-acre working farm, National Historic Landmark and nonprofit environmental education organization whose mission is to cultivate a conservation ethic by teaching and demonstrating the stewardship of natural and agricultural resources. Created in 1886, it has a magnificent inn on the shores of Lake Champlain with a renowned seasonal restaurant and a breathtaking landscape designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. whose vision guided the development of the farm, fields and forest. Purchase their award-winning farmhouse cheddar cheese and new cookbook, “Cooking with Shelburne Farms: Food and Stories from Vermont” by Melissa Pasanen with Rick Gencarelli, Viking Studio, at www.shelburnefarms.org.