I am lucky enough to eat Karen’s food a lot. My husband calls her the food wizard. We both took her cooking classes like ten years ago, and she is gifted in the kitchen. If you want to get healthier and learn a ton, run to this conference. It sounds great!

Summer's End Chopped Salad
By Karen

The farmer's market is bursting right now with summer squash and heirloom tomatoes! Here is a recipe to take advantage of the end of summer bounty. Serve with some long rice & corn and some watermelon wedges and you have a beautiful lunch or light dinner.

Ingredients
(use organic when possible)

2 small yellow summer squash, diced
2 small zucchini, diced
2 cups of red cabbage, chopped same size ad dice
1 to 2 heirloom tomatoes, diced
1 small head of frisee'
2 cups of wild arugula
1/2 cup of pitted kalamata olives, chopped
1 cup of cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup Lemon or regular basil leaves, finely minced

Click here to find out what fruits and veggies are in season right now!

Dressing:

1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Sea salt, (I like to use Herbamare)

Instructions

Bring a small pot of water to a boil on stovetop. Cook the following vegetables individually until color is bright (30 seconds to 1 minute) and remove with a slotted spoon: yellow squash, zucchini, and lastly red cabbage. Transfer to a mixing bowl and set aside to cool. Mix in the tomatoes, kalamata olives, chickpeas and basil.

Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to mix thoroughly.

Add dressing to bean and vegetable mixture, Serve over a bed of arugula and frisee.

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Karen will be teaching at the LA Macrobiotic Conference in October. It’s the first conference of its kind in LA – if you live in the area and are interested in going superhero, it sounds like a great event to attend. Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, October 13
Time: 9am – 8pm
Location: Holy Nativity Episcopal Church
Address: 6700 West 83rd Street, Westchester 90045
Cost: $200
Get more details here.

Have you attended any great cooking classes recently?