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.

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
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.
 

Photos: Flickr / Vegan Feast Catering, Lifeinbalancemacrobiotics.com