Green Goddess Primavera Salad

Nothing better than a great salad! I love salads and all vegetables, well except eggplant, can't get my taste buds around that one. So the other night when I decided to make a salad to go with some grilled herb chicken I pulled out what I had from the fridge. As I looked at all the veggies on my counter, I noticed they were all green. Spinach, baby butter lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers...Huh? How can I top all this green? That made me think of Green Goddess Dressing. I pulled out my Penzey's Spices, Green Goddess Dressing Base. 
I like to call attention to certain products I like, not because I'm getting paid for it, but because they are so good and I think everyone should know about it and try it. And Penzey's Green Goddess Dressing is just that good. If you are not familiar with Penzey's, it is a Catalog/Internet/Retail store for all things herbs/spices/dressings and mixes for basically anything. You can find them at www.penzeys.com. However, here in Southern California we are lucky enough to also have 2 retail stores close by in Torrance and Santa Monica. It's so amazing to step over the threshold of that store. For someone who likes to cook, it's heaven. The sight of all those glass bottles of spices and sauces and bags of rubs, the smell of spices in the air...Aah!  The curry section alone puts me in a creative mind swirl. It's super fun to browse and dream up delicious meals to incorporate some amazing spices. You just have to see it to believe it. So this is what you can do. If you're planning a summer vacation and can't decide where to go, look at the Penzey's site and see where their retails stores are located and plan accordingly. Ha! Wouldn't the kids just love that? :)
I do realize that I've referred you to go buy something in order to make this salad but you don't have to. I've also included one of my Mom's recipes for Green Goddess dressing so you don't have to use Penzey's but it really is a great Green Goddess dressing and I recommend you try it. Or for simplicity, you can purchase a bottled dressing from your local market and pour it over a bowl of all green spring veggies! Enjoy!

Green Goddess Primavera Salad

Serves 4-6

1 cup baby spinach
1 head baby butter lettuce
4-5 large Brussels sprouts, leaves separated
1/2 cup asparagus, blanched and cut into small spears
1 cup broccoli, steamed and chopped
1 Persian cucumber, sliced and halved
feta cheese
chopped almonds

Wash and spin spinach leaves
Wash and spin baby butter lettuce. 
Separate leaves of Brussels sprouts, wash and spin. 
Blanch asparagus. I like to blanch my asparagus to brighten the color and crisp them up. Heat pot of water to boiling and toss cut asparagus into boiling water and cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.My asparagus were very thin so they were only heated for about 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon remove asparagus and place in an ice bath to stop cooking and cool completely. Remove from ice bath and drain excess water. 

Steam broccoli and immediately place in an ice bath to stop cooking and cool completely. 
Wash and slice cucumber.

Chop almonds and crumble feta cheese.

Toss all ingredients together and add Green Goddess Dressing. 

Penzeys' Green Goddess Dressing: (from label) Add 1 rounded T of Green Goddess Dressing Base in 2 T of water. Let stand for 5 minutes. Blend with 2/3 cup Mayonnaise or yogurt and 1 T vinegar. Refrigerate to cool and allow flavors to blend.

Green Goddess Dressing  (recipe from my Mom's Book)
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 ripe avocado, mashed
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 t. fresh tarragon, chopped (1 t dried tarragon)
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients in a blender. Store in air tight container and refrigerate until use. Shake well before serving.