This guest post is from Primal Kitchen: A Family Grokumentary:

source: Primal Kitchen

In my family’s corner of the world, charmingly moderate spring temperatures were almost totally skipped this year! We went from winter weather to summer weather in the blink of an eye.

While one of my favorite ways to pack real food lunches in wintertime is to integrate some leftovers from the previous night’s dinner for reheating, the spike in temperature tends to make reheating a lot less appetizing. I’ve had to recalibrate our menus these days – including packed lunches – to incorporate more summer-friendly options.

These “un-salad” salad options are handy and delicious ways to get add lots of fresh veggies in you diet through unconventional salad adaptions! If you’d like to add other fresh vegetables, you certainly can but remember: not all vegetables do as well as spaghetti squash, broccoli slaw, and kale when sitting in a dressing overnight or even for a few hours. It may be useful to chop your other veggies and store them in a separate container to add to the rest of the salad immediately upon serving. Remember that vinaigrettes and other dressings, usually being acidic, are best stored in glass, ceramic, or stainless steel containers.

Here are my 3 favorite basic “un-salad” salads:

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Spring is finally in the air, and that means we’ll be seeing more green, blossoming flowers, an abundance of seasonal produce at our local markets and—once the jackets and long sleeves are put away until next year—lots more skin. Will you be ready?

Don’t shy away from that extra sunshine! Start now by consuming more of these five key nutrients. When summer arrives, your skin will be in top shape to don those sleeveless tops and shorts.

Learn how to help your skin glow!

Curry-Roasted Kabocha Squash with Rosemary

This time of year is when I start to get spring fever. Not so much as it relates to warmer weather – I live in Texas, and it’s not like we have long, cold winters. I’m talking about the availability of local, fresh produce. I’m thankful I can maintain a winter garden, so I have access to the few things that can survive a few nights below freezing temperatures. But let’s be honest – we all know that even my little homegrown kale plus the grocery store variety can never be as good as a farmer’s market in June.

So, what do I do to keep that spring fever under control in the meantime? I boost the flavors in my favorite dishes. There are a lot of things you can do to completely change the flavor of a dish – and most require very little effort, and can still be healthy.

Here are three ways to change up your flavors and keep meals fresh and fun while you wait for the first produce of spring!

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