One of the healthiest ways to use delicious and seasonal fruits and vegetables is in a salad. With Labor Day right around the corner, we asked a few of our authors to let us know what's on the menu…

Meadow Linn is an accomplished chef who’s been sharing her love of food since she was old enough to crawl into the cupboards to pull out ingredients.

Meadow suggests two recipes.

1. Caprese

A favorite Italian summer salad, but put it on a decorative toothpick, and suddenly you have an elegant (yet simple) appetizer for any summer gathering. Take a bite and welcome the energy of summer into your life.
 

Serves:12

Ingredients:

12 decorative toothpicks (about 4-inches long)*
24 cherry tomatoes (from 1 10-oz. pkg.)**
24 ciligiene, cherry-sized balls of fresh mozzarella, (from 1 12-oz. tub) 
36 small leaves of fresh basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Himalayan salt
* available online or at party outlets and some well-stocked grocery and liquor stores. I found mine at World Market
** in the photo I used sun gold heirloom tomatoes from my garden, but any variety will work.

Directions:

Plan on two tomatoes, two mozzarella balls, and three basil leaves per skewer. Alternately layer the tomatoes and mozzarella on the toothpick and place a folded basil leaf between each one. Once they’re all assembled on a platter, lightly drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt. Buon appetite!

2. Harvest Salad

This salad is a perfect balance of salty, sweet, sour and savory.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 6-oz bag of baby spinach
1 cup very thinly sliced red onion (about half an onion)
½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup raw walnut halves
1 apple cored and thinly sliced (Braeburn is a good choice)
6 oz crumbled blue cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and cracked black pepper

Directions:

Toss the spinach with the red onion, cranberries, and walnuts. Add the apples and blue cheese and toss to combine. Dress with a simple vinaigrette made from the rest of the ingredients. 

Both recipes can be found in Meadow's book, The Mystic Cookbook.

3. Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad

Kris Carr cooks up amazing recipes every day, she recommends her Warm Kale and Quinoa Salad. It's a great combination of healthy superfoods and at the same time wont leave you feeling hungry an hour later.

Serves: 4 to 5

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa
3 cups water
2 cups chopped or shredded kale
2 tablespoons pine nuts, raw or toasted, or slivered almonds
3 tablespoons currants, raisins, or dried cranberries
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.    In a small pot on medium heat, add quinoa and water, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with fork.
2.    Add the shredded kale on top of the quinoa and cover for a few minutes to allow the kale to steam.
3.    Add pine nuts, currants, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and serve warm or cold.

4. Farmer's Salad

In Kris's next recipe suggestion, the creaminess of the aioli combined with the peppery watercress and Dijon Vinaigrette, create a summer garden party in every bite. Fresh chives also have high levels of antioxidants and flavanoids.

Serves: 4 to 6

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of Basic Aioli
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons capers, strained
1 tablespoon minced chives or green onion
1 ½ tablespoons coarsely chopped tarragon
3 cups baby potatoes, boiled, cooled, and sliced in half
2 cups watercress or baby arugula
1 cup cooked fava beans, broad beans, gigantic white beans, or lima beans
2 tablespoons Dijon Vinaigrette
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.    Mix the aioli in a bowl with lemon zest, capers, chives, and tarragon.
2.    Toss the aioli mixture with the potatoes and set aside.
3.    In another bowl, combine the watercress, fava beans(or other beans), and Dijon Vinaigrette. Toss gently.
4.    Place a portion of the potato salad in the center of place and top with a handful of the watercress-fava mix.
5.    Top with bell pepper slices. Finish with freshly ground black pepper and serve.

5. Chopped Salad

The third recipe that came to us from Kris is full of "Parsley power". A couple of tablespoons deliver more than your daily vitamin K needs, which means stronger bones. Make a pilgrimage to pita Mecca by stuffing this salad inside a pocket with a few slices of avocado.

Serves: 2 to 3

Ingredients:

2 cups romaine hearts. Chopped
1 cup of cooked chickpeas (or one 15-ounce can, strained and rinsed)
3 tablespoons combination of sunflower and sesame seeds, lightly tossed
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons flax oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, toss gently, and serve.

All three recipes can be found in Kris's book, Crazy, Sexy, Kitchen.

Our third author this month is Liana Werner-Grey, She combines ingredients for their antioxidant qualities. Her salad recommendations should improve a variety of chronic health conditions.

6. Fruit skewers

High in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and nutrients. They make great entertainment food, are bright and decorative as well as delicious with a variety of flavors.

Serves: 8 

Ingredients:

8 grapes
8 blueberries
1 kiwi fruit, cut into eighths
1 cup pineapple, cut into 8 bite size pieces
1 orange, cut into eighths
8 raspberries

Directions:

Place fruit one by one onto the skewers.

7. Hydrating Salad

And finally here's salad that accelerates weight loss.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 head of lettuce (or kale or spinach)
1 avocado
1 lemon
1 ½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (or sesame seed oil)
¼ cup sesame seeds or hemp seeds

Directions:

1.    Tear the lettuce into bite size pieces and add to the salad bowl
2.    Massage the avocado into the lettuce
3.    Squeeze the lemon onto the salad
4.    Drizzle with olive oil, add more if you like
5.    Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Liana has these and other recipes for a variety of other conditions in her book, The Earth Diet.

Let us know what you think of these recipes by commenting below!