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Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt

Forget the make your own pizza party and get your guests involved in making their own garden salad, complete with edible dirt. I bet your kids will love this fun serving idea too. Includes Paleo version too.

Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt_

This fun to make garden salad with edible dirt is was too cute not to share it on here as well.

While I consider myself to be an inventive cook, sometimes like in the case of the Quinoa Sushi, the credit goes to others. In this case it was the launch of Theresa Cutter’s revised The 80/20 Diet Cookbook that introduced me to the idea of building your own garden salad in little pots. It was loads of fun and delicious as well, but everyone was highly intrigued by the dirt and what was in it. It was so dark and soil-like in looks! I mean, wouldn’t you be?

Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt

The base of the soil was made from Dutch Pumpernikel bread. It’s perfectly dark and dense for the job.

Black tahini added a touch of richness and moisture to it, but for a gluten-free and Paleo version I think a mixture of cooked buckwheat and black tahini would work just as well.

Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt

I also liked the idea of dolloping a range of dips onto the soil instead of standard dressings – something I practice a lot of in my daily mish mash concoctions.

Added vegetables are a fab bonus. As for the veggies – well, the choice is yours. I find that lightly blanched beans make good “snakes”, steamed cauliflower and roasted carrots provide sweetness and soft texture against crunchy cucumbers and pops of tomato flavour.

Who knew salad could be so much fun?

Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt-3

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5 from 3 votes

Fun Garden Salad with Edible Dirt

The base of the soil was made from Dutch Pumpernikel bread. It's perfectly dark and dense for the job. Black tahini added a touch of richness and moisture to it, but for a gluten-free and Paleo version I think a mixture of cooked buckwheat and black tahini would work just as well. As for the veggies - well, the choice is yours. I find that lightly blanched beans make good "snakes", steamed cauliflower and roasted carrots provide sweetness and soft texture against crunchy cucumbers and pops of tomato flavour.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the Edible Dirt:

  • 3-4 slices Pumpernikel bread
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 tablespoon macadamia or olive oil

For the Paleo Gluten-free Edible Dirt:

  • 3/4 cup cooked buckwehat
  • 2 tablespoons tahini
  • 1 tablespoon macadamia or olive oil

For the Garden Salad:

  • 1 cup finely shredded lettuce
  • 1 bunch dutch carrots roasted for 15 minutes
  • 1 cup blanched green beans ends trimmed
  • 3-4 red radishes greens trimmed
  • 250 g cherry tomatoes
  • 1 cup steamed cauliflower florets
  • 1 cup blanched or raw broccoli florets
  • plus your favourite seeds and herbs

For the dressing:

  • 1-2 cups different vegetable purees or dips of your choice

Instructions

  • For the Edible Dirt,process 3-4 slices of pumpernickel bread in a food processor or chopper until crumbly. Rub in tahini and oil to moisten the crumbs
  • Provide a selection of favourite raw and steamed veggies and salad greens for everyone to arrange in their bowls. Dollop on some dips and enjoy.
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9 comments

JJ - 84thand3rd November 6, 2014 at 10:26 am

How cute! Love the pumpernickel bread idea – edible dirt always seems to be chocolate-based. I recon adults would go just as mad over this as kids ;D

Reply
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef November 6, 2014 at 12:56 pm

What child wouldn’t love that!

Reply
Vicky November 6, 2014 at 2:38 pm

What an incredibly novel idea! Looks pretty easy to replicate and very delicious.

Reply
David crichton November 6, 2014 at 7:26 pm

Looks amazing. Now, what could we make an edible log out of?

Reply
Bec November 9, 2014 at 3:33 pm

This is SO FUN! An amazing recipe with a twist and some ingenius ideas to gets kids playing and eating well. Great work!

Reply
Ally @ Om Nom Ally November 15, 2014 at 11:33 am

Gorgeous! How inventive and nutritious (including a nourishing dirt base instead of chocolate), this salad is so much fun :)

Reply
Amanda@ChewTown November 18, 2014 at 4:21 pm

So cute – love this idea.

Reply
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[…] Martyna Angell / Via wholesome-cook.com […]

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Julie August 18, 2016 at 6:34 am

I thought this was going to be a quinoa recipe….instead it’s pumpernickel bread! I love both, so all is good (literally!)

Reply

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