Redbud Chef Salad

Redbud Chef Salad.....strange sounding, isn't it?

This is a Redbud Tree in bloom - they are beautiful............
and just this year, I found out that they are also.... edible.  Hmmm.

I like finding wild edibles and learning how to use them, so I went right out to our tree and ate 2 of the flowers. They were a bit sweet with a rather mild flavor.

The Redbud tree looks more purple when seen at a distance..... as shown here.  Up close, they look more pink.

We have had redbud trees for years and I never knew they were at all edible. As I study more and more wild edibles, it is amazing how many things God has provided for us.... many of them in our own yards. Remember though, to always be very sure before you eat anything you are unsure of... there are also many toxic plants out there. Do your research and be safe.... and enjoy.

Here are the redbud flowers we picked for our salad.  Actually, I had already made a salad with a few redbud flowers in it a week earlier, and everyone ate the salad. One son needed a reminder that not cleaning up the plate meant no dessert, so............ he ate it reluctantly. He did agree that they didn't seem to taste bad, but it was odd to eat flowers....especially pink ones!

Here is our base salad..... Romaine lettuce, carrots, and oranges.....

Yes, this is a big bowl.... we have a rather large family and for this meal, we decided to have a chef salad with baked Cheesy Tortilla Triangles. My daughter, who writes Wholesome Joy Photography blog wrote a post on these. They were really delicious and went well with the salad. Even our guys were content with the salad meal, although they had their doubts at the beginning! :)

These are the Redbud flowers after being washed and sorted a bit. We still removed more of the stems after this picture, but we did not remove all of them.... and we didn't even notice them when we ate.

Now I have added :

Hardboiled eggs
Tomatoes
Marinated Chicken breast

Next came.....

Redbud Flowers
Shredded Cheese

Another picture..... I LOVED how colorful this salad was......

One thing I wanted to put on the salad was red onion slices.... I think it would have added greatly to the flavor, but we were out of them.

I would also love to add peppers and cucumbers and broccoli.... and there are so many other possibilities.

Next, I put Ranch Dressing all over it........  There are many other dressings that could have tasted great also... but this time, we used Ranch.

After tossing the salad, we served it on the plates and then added....

Sunflower Seeds
Bacon
More Shredded Cheese









   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                Redbud Chef Salad     
Romaine Lettuce - 2 heads, washed and torn
Carrots - 2-3 sliced
Orange - 1 - peel, cut each slice into 3 or 4 pieces
Marinated Chicken Breast - 1 cup or more
Tomato - 1 large - cut up
Hard boiled Eggs  -5 peeled and sliced
Redbud Flowers - washed and stemmed 
Sharp Cheddar Cheese - 1 cup
Ranch Dressing
   Toss all together, then serve on plates and add the following to the top of each....
Sunflower Seeds
Bacon
Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Optional additional ingredients: peppers, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, or anything else you like. 
Serve with Cheesy Tortilla Triangles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cheesy Tortilla Triangle is shown on the far left of this picture. I did not take a good picture of it and I should have..... they were very good and my daughter did a great job of making them.

You can go to her post here.....

Cheesy Tortilla Triangles

  So, you can see that even though this was only a salad meal, it was quite substantial and all were satisfied and did not leave the table hungry. The Cheesy Tortilla Triangles really helped complement the salad. We heard many comments of "This meal is SO good." That was funny because the guys had not been too excited about eating another flower salad... or a salad-only type of meal....... so they were surprised at how tasty and filling it was.

  Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I hope you have a wonderful day. :)

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