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Home
Recipes
- Appetizers and Snacks
- Beans
- Beef
- Breads
- Chicken
- Desserts
  - Pies
  - Cookies
  - Cakes
- Drinking
- Fruit
- Holiday
- Lamb
- Main Dishes
- Pork
- Salads
- Sides
- Sauces
- Slow Cookers
- Soups and Stews
- Turkey
- Vegetables
Salad Brain
- Welcome to Salad Brain Creativity
- Salad Brain Exercises
Smoke and Fire
Nashville
New Mexico
- Red and Green Chile
- Southwestern Cooking
Rhode Island
About

Author

Min Merrell

Min Merrell

Salad Brain Recipes Salad Brain Exercises Salads Platter Salad

Salad Brain Exercise–Fig Salad for Brunch

by Min Merrell October 27, 2021

October 27, 2021

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salad brain greens on the side

Salad Brain Salad Brain Exercises Salads Platter Salad

Salad Brain Exercise–Salad Greens on the Side

by Min Merrell September 12, 2021

September 12, 2021

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Salad Brain Salad Brain Exercises Salads Platter Salad

Salad Brain Exercise–Green Bean

by Min Merrell August 27, 2021

August 27, 2021

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Salad Brain Salad Brain Exercises Desserts Fruit

Salad Brain Exercise–Strawberries and Marshmallow Fluff

by Min Merrell May 10, 2021

May 10, 2021

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Recipes Cookies

Linzer Cookies

by Min Merrell February 8, 2021

February 8, 2021

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Salad Brain Salad Brain Exercises Salads Platter Salad

Salad Brain Exercise–Grapefruit and Fennel Salad

by Min Merrell January 27, 2021

January 27, 2021

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Jim Lahey’s Famous No-Knead Bread

by Min Merrell January 23, 2021

January 23, 2021

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Recipes Cookies

Italian Sesame Seed Cookies

by Min Merrell December 3, 2020

December 3, 2020

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Recipes Desserts Cookies

Sugar Cookies

by Min Merrell December 1, 2020

December 1, 2020

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Salad Brain Salad Brain Exercises Platter Salad

Salad Brain Exercise–Cranberry Orange Gelee

by Min Merrell November 25, 2020

November 25, 2020

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Latest Posts

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork — Kitchen|Pit Barbecue
November 13, 2020
Salad Brain Exercise–Fig Salad for Brunch
October 27, 2021
Salad Brain Exercise–Salad Greens on the Side
September 12, 2021
Salad Brain Exercise–Green Bean
August 27, 2021
Salad Brain Exercise–Strawberries and Marshmallow Fluff
May 10, 2021
Linzer Cookies
February 8, 2021

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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork — Kitchen|Pit Barbecue
November 13, 2020
2

Banana Bread with Self-Rising Flour
March 23, 2020
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Cornbread Lab Manual
March 9, 2020
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Smoked Grilled Chicken on a Weber Kettle — Kitchen|Pit Barbecue
November 18, 2020

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hey.its.min

Tennessee tomatoes of all colors and shapes and my

Tennessee tomatoes of all colors and shapes and my favorite corn slabs. Look closely and you’ll see the fun parsley flower sprays that look like little fireworks. No basil. Went with oregano. Olive oil vinegar and coarse sea salt. A blue platter is always a plus. #tomatoes #salad #saladsofinstagram #platteralthinking #saladbrain

Littleneck clams are the easiest. Hot fire, five o

Littleneck clams are the easiest. Hot fire, five or so minutes, lid closed. Shake shake shake. This time with garlic and tomato. Makes its own sauce. Grilled @southcountybread a big plus.
#rhody
#rhodyeats
#littleneckclams

Well I don’t have enough sun for my favorite peo

Well I don’t have enough sun for my favorite peonies. Playing around with greens instead. These are my garden workhorses: Solomon’s seal, hosta, hellebore, itea. That itea is such a graceful shrub. Looks great against all these sturdy leaves.

I was in the Walmart in Columbia TN and was surpri

When you go see the fabulous Alma Thomas show at t

When you go see the fabulous Alma Thomas show at the Frist, be sure to notice the companion exhibit as you enter called Nashville Art Teachers: Beyond the Classroom. Alma Thomas was more than an artist. She was a career art teacher dedicated to broadening the minds of her middle school students in Washington DC. I so appreciate that @streuliprofitt did just that for my kids at Hillsboro High School and now at Nasvhille School of the Arts. So glad to see her work in this very cool show. What a great idea. I’m sure Alma would have loved it. #frist #fristmuseum #hillsborohighschool

Happy New Year from Mr. Perfect. Wasn’t sure he

Happy New Year from Mr. Perfect. Wasn’t sure he’d make it to 2022. We got him in 2004. He was 2 or 3. Now he’s 20ish! We’ve all clocked a lot of good miles with him. What a good boy. #dachshund

Exactly what we needed for ramping up for a health

Exactly what we needed for ramping up for a healthy 2022. 6 grain rice. Makes an excellent chewy rice salad. I make it in my cheap little rice cooker. Perfect every time. Threw in some bell peppers green onion parsley. Dressed with olive oil and fresh Meyer lemon juice from my sweet neighbor’s lemon tree. Added cherry tomato wheels just before serving. Hit the spot. Ending 2021 in a salad bowl? Sure why not. Maybe the rice is the blank canvas here. Not the platter. So many directions to go in. #platteralthinking #saladbrain #plattersalad #salad2021 #salad #saladsofinstagram

Wondering about those six grains? Black rice, purple barley, rye berries, hulless barley, red rice, short grain brown rice.

Bittersweet is bittersweet. The vine is a big inva

Bittersweet is bittersweet. The vine is a big invasive pain, but doesn’t it add swing to an arrangement of winter greenery. I just cut a vine. Jammed it in there and let the curls do their thing. #holidaydecor #christmasdecor #christmasgreenery #flowerarrangement

Well sometimes the platter itself is a very loud c

Well sometimes the platter itself is a very loud conversation. I use this one in December obviously. I look at it all year long and wonder if I could create something that would soften the holiday vibe. Can’t figure it out. I really don’t want to store too much stuff that’s limiting but I guess I do. The actual salad? It’s fresh orange slices dotted with roasted cranberries. A sprinkling of coconut and some beautiful roasted Louisiana pecan halves that my sister sends me every year. I also threw on some coarse sea salt. Kind of ambrosia, it swings both ways. Serve as a fruit salad or with dessert. Simple salad, loud platter can be a good way to go. 🥗💪🏻
#platteralthinking #saladbrain #plattersalad #salad #cranberries #holiday

Your salad practice is all about parameters. Consi

Your salad practice is all about parameters. Consider this. Whether you consciously know it or not, every time you make a salad you ask yourself questions about the parameters of the situation. These parameters set you in motion and help you make decisions. So Julia says to me I’m making a cool easy cassoulet and I’ve got lettuce, an apple and vinaigrette made for a salad for dinner after mahjong. Bring some #plattersalad stuff. Okay. I know what she’s got going. I know the season and occasion. What have I got? What can I do without going to the store? Her apple sent me in the sweet savory direction. Post Thanksgiving fridge purge. Roasted sweet potato slices and cut them in quarters. Blanched Brussels sprouts. Pomegranate seeds and toasted walnuts. Slivers of red onion. Julia tosses me a bag of candied ginger! Boom! Last minute pure inspiration. Sprinkled on little slivers. I forgot to bring my roasted cranberries! Oh who cares. That too is a parameter. Tossed the Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes in her dressing which was all it needed. Can we call the sweet potatoes the croutons? Nice fall vibe. Earthy in taste texture and color. #saladbrain #platteralthinking #salads 🥗💪🏻

I love to make latkes. Perfect recipe for me becau

I love to make latkes. Perfect recipe for me because I’ve never been one afraid to make a mess. Years ago I wrote a story for the #tennessean about latkes and featured Mitchell Davis’ mom’s recipe that won the James Beard Foundation Latke Cook-Off. I’ve been using it ever since. The winning ratio is 1 onion for every 2 potatoes. I’ve always appreciated Mitchell’s thoughtful good sense around the home kitchen. He is @kitchensense and has a substack newsletter called Kitchen Sense. It’s fun to read. Start with the latke issue!
#latkes #substack

This was a hit with my peeps on #thanksgiving. Bee

This was a hit with my peeps on #thanksgiving. Beets brined in vinegar sugar and pinch of salt. Roasted cranberries. Just throw them in the oven with sugar and cook about 30 minutes until kind of candied. Oranges. Onions jalapeños and radish sprouts. Always looking to add color crunch and tang to all that brown mushy food!! The beets and cranberries are terrific together and exactly the same color. I like how this hits all the corners of taste. Sweet salty sour bitter hot and lots of earthy umami. No oil or dressing necessary. I’ll play around with beets and cranberries some more. Lots of directions to go. 🥗💪🏻
#saladbrain #platteralthinking #plattersalad #salads #saladsofinstagram

I hope everyone is planning to bake real #cornbrea

I hope everyone is planning to bake real #cornbread for their cornbread dressing. This pic show that you can get pretty good results even if you don’t have a cast iron skillet. Just be sure to heat up the pan good and hot. Not as crusty but not bad. So bake it a little more. Get some self-rising cornmeal or self-rising cornmeal mix. Both have perfectly blended leavening and salt. The only difference with the mix is that it also has a small amount of wheat flour blended in there. Both make great cornbread. I prefer a big skillet for a better ratio of crust to soft insides. You can make any size recipe you like just remember 2 tablespoons of fat per cup of cornmeal. Add an egg (or not) and as much buttermilk or milk to make a creamy pourable batter. Remember dry clumpy batter makes dry cornbread. Happy Thanksgiving. 🦃
#cornbreaddressing #thanksgivingsides

Just for fun. Here’s the progression of my favo

Just for fun. Here’s the progression of my favorite #gingko. I love the yellow carpet. #yellow

I so appreciate that I get to drive by this #gingk

I so appreciate that I get to drive by this #gingko tree all the time. I don’t even believe in perfection. This may be it. #yellow.

@elsitadunn shared this pic she took last Thanksgi

@elsitadunn shared this pic she took last Thanksgiving of my #plattersalad. I’d forgotten about this. My #saladbrain was really kicking in. Idea A+. Execution meh. But it was delicious and I still love the idea so thought I’d share it to get your #platteralthinking engaged as you start ruminating about Thanksgiving. This is not about perfection. It’s about trying ideas and learning. You know all that traditional brown mushy food is begging for color crunch and acidic tang. Traditional/modern blobs of cranberry gelee and fresh orange juice gelee topped with green apple and orange rounds and tangerines satisfy that parameter. Jello snobs stay with me. You can call it gelee. All you need to remember is that each plain gelatin packet gels 2 cups of liquid. Soften enough gelatin in a little of the cold liquid (juice) in your recipe before you heat part or all of it to dissolve the gelatin. Then mix it all up and chill to set. Molded shapes are nice but unnecessary and maybe a bit rigid. You know that doesn’t work for an ENFP. Or use your usual jello recipes and serve them in a new free form way. That’s cool too. Accent with more of an ingredient in the recipe. So many directions to go here. I wrote a book proposal about new gelatin cookery about 20 years ago called GET SET. Couldn’t sell it but it still makes me chuckle. 🥗😂🙋🏼
#thanksgiving #cranberries #gelatin #salads #myersbriggsrecipes #myersbriggs

There are no unbreakable #saladbrain rules. Is th

There are no unbreakable #saladbrain rules. Is this concoction too busy? Yeah so what. I could have eliminated a few things. What should be booted off the platter? Arugula roasted cauliflower fennel and red pepper. Capers oil brined olives. Chick peas. Green raisins. Pistachios. Parsley fennel fronds. Pecorino cheese. Olive oil lemons. Can you have too much umami? #sicilian inspiration.
#saladsofinstagram #salads #plattersalad

Happy color accident. Blue morning glories all ov

Happy color accident. Blue morning glories all over this volunteer yellow and orange cosmos. #octobergarden #color
Thank you @sunnybax for those seeds so many years ago. They just keep on giving!

Fall #saladbrain kicked into action. Parameters: b

Fall #saladbrain kicked into action. Parameters: brunch with cool friends. Didn’t want to let them down. Although they’d still like me anyway. Red fruits. The mint in the garden gets a second life in the fall cooler weather. Use some of that. The result. Plums fresh figs cut two ways. Red grapes. Greek yogurt as the dressing underneath half so you don’t have to have any. Drizzle of date syrup. Fresh mint leaves. A nice green counter color to the warm reds and oranges. Chia seeds because I couldn’t find any roasted and salted pistachios in the pantry. Dang. Next time. 🥗 There’s always a next salad.
#saladsofinstagram #salad# #figs #brunch #plattersalad #platteralthinking

Little bit of time for a walk before the #ldei21

Little bit of time for a walk before the #ldei21 final dinner. Thanks San Antonio! Even ran into a wedding on the #riverwalksanantonio. I’m coming back! #sanantonio #briscomuseumofwesternart #alamo

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