I made him a big salad using some of the dandelion greens (very good for purifying the blood and liver), roasted beets, finely chopped Parsley and chives, and I threw in some chopped up mandarins.
Roasting Beets - I like to roast beets simply. I cut the greens off, but leave the crown on so no actual beet is exposed. I trim the tail if it is too long. Basically I make sure the skin on the beet stays in tact. Give it just a quick rinse then wipe dry. Put the beet(s) on a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to seal up, drizzle on some olive oil and a sprinkling of salt. Roast in the oven at 425 F until fork tender, timing completely depends on size of the beets. When done, remove from the oven, keep wrapped and allow to cool enough to handle. I cut the top and tail off, then the peel should slip off easily. Chop and cool for your salad.
Wash the spinach well, and spin to dry. Wash the dandelion and chop. I like to add finely chopped parsley and chives to my salads which sometimes I add to the dressing, sometimes I just toss in. I peeled a couple of mandarins, then chopped the individual segments into thirds so I could easily pop out the seeds.
For the dressing I used some fresh OJ from one orange I had leftover from the previous week, plus I added the zest from the orange. Used about 1 tsp of grainy mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Mixed it all well then drizzled in some olive oil and added a 1 to 2 TB of yogurt. I was going for more of a slightly creamy, less oily dressing. Put all the salad fixings in a large bowl, poured on some of the dressing, tossed well and tasted. Added some more dressing to my liking and saved the rest for later. A few raisins, nuts, feta, or blue cheese would be nice additions to this salad.
Mashed Potatoes with a Spring Garlic Twist
This was super simple and added a really lovely subtle garlic flavor to the potatoes. I was cooking enough potatoes for probably 4 people (I love mashed potatoes and the leftovers we turn into potato cakes for breakfast). While the potatoes are gently boiling add one stalk of Spring Garlic, tough outer skin removed. I only used thebottom portion, and saved the greens for something else. The garlic dissolved somewhere into the potatoes because I never found the stalk!