Quick to make which is mandatory in summer! Luscious. How else can one describe a salad that incorporates velvety smooth, emerald-green oil together with easy-to-digest avocados?

Ta-dah! Introducing pumpkinseed (aka pepita) oil! Made from Austrian pumpkins, which yield seeds with no hulls, the oil is the darkest color of any oil I’ve seen. The seeds are dried, crushed, mixed with water and salt, which is said to make them more digestible, then roasted to evaporate the water. Once they are dry, seeds are pressed to extract the oil. It takes over five pounds of roasted seeds, or the equivalent of seeds from about 35 pumpkins to produce one liter of oil! High in mono-unsaturated fats with goodly amounts of vitamins E, B1, B6 and A, C, and D and the mineral zinc, studies show pumpkinseeds and their oil are effective in the treatment of prostate problems and help reduce cholesterol. The oil is sensitive to heat so don’t use it to fry or saute at high temps.

There are pumpkinseeds in the salad too, which, if eaten regularly, help dispel intestinal parasites.

Serves 6
Salad:	Vinaigrette Dressing:
6 cups mixed baby salad greens (mesclun)	2 tb ground cumin
2 avocados, peeled, cut into chunks	½ cup pumpkinseed oil
1 cup pumpkinseeds*	4 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup diced celery or fennel	1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups diced small cucumber (skin on is fine)	salt and pepper to taste
½ cup minced red onion, optional

Place salad ingredients into a large bowl with ample room for tossing. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a measuring cup or little bowl. Pour over your salad and toss to heart’s content. Oh le.

While this salad needs nothing more, you can add your favorite salad ingredients like pitted kalamata olives, feta cheese, scallions, cherry tomatoes, radishes. Cubes of seasoned tofu or leftover turkey.

*I use spicy, roasted pumpkinseeds – you’ll find them in our refrigerated nut case -- which gives a little kick to the salad. Alternatively, the tamari roasted pumpkinseeds are great!

I would rather give up a night on the town than reduce the amount of oil in this salad, but use less if you want. I’m a firm believer that good fats (and nuts and seeds) keep us slim, our skin supple and our hair shiny. Good fat coats our cells so they don’t become brittle and crack. The good fats keep us from drying out and wrinkling up, important in all seasons, but doubly important if you’re in the sun.