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Hi! Happy Monday! I am SOO incredibly in love with this salad.

Yes, my salad obsession is in full swing. In fact, it seems to be getting bigger and bigger… and better and better. Hello!!! Fresh CHERRIES in a salad…with crunchy sweet and savory granola, YESS. My kind of salad! 🙂

SO. Before we dive into this salad, I kind of feel like we should talk about everyone’s weekend. Like how was yours?!?! What did you guys do? If you follow me on Snapchat (follow hbharvest) than you know I was kind of all over the place this last weekend. I started things off with a quick trip to Napa Valley. I was there as a guest of Castello Cheese, whom I am partnering with this year to bring you guys some KILLER cheese recipes (yeah!!). I did a quick one night trip, but YOU GUYS, Napa Valley is gorgeous, I mean like, is that heaven on Earth or what?!?! I got to eat all the cheese (like ALL the CHEESE), hang out with Micheal Symon and tour maybe one of the prettiest vineyards ever….and all in less than twenty-four hours. Whoa.

And Micheal Symon, he’s seriously awesome. Plus, he’s from Cleveland, and no matter where I am living, I will always be a Cleveland girl… born and raised. ?

So I flew in Thursday night, took the red-eye home Friday night and the rest of my weekend was pretty jam-packed. I needed to do recipe testing for an upcoming project. I did a fun snapchat video making these KILLER ice cream sandwiches. And I also worked at finishing up the cookbook. I can’t lie, my Monday is looking slightly daunting, but I’m ready for it, and just looking at this salad has me feeling all energized and happy!

OH, and a lot of you asked last week where my family is going on vacation to at the end of month. They are headed to La Playa Del Carmen, south of Cancun. I am going to try my hardest to make it there with them, but um, life is kind of crazy and hectic at the moment, especially with my book deadline looming, so I can’t say it’s looking good.

I did get my passport though, so that’s all good! We were all worried that was never going to happen. But finally, after a lot of hair pulling and many hours spent making calls (there is no place to go up here in the mountains without a few months notice), my mom helped me to get it done. Whoa, now at least if the opportunity arises I will be ready to go at a moments notice! Cool!

Alright, but let’s chat about this Sunflower Seed, Kale and Cherry Salad.

I know I said this earlier, but I am in LOVE with this salad. Ok, I’m basically in love with any recipe that involves cherries, but especially this salad! Here is how this salad goes. You marinate some kale, grill some fresh summer squash + zucchini, add the grilled squash to a large salad bowl along with the kale, fresh sweet corn, fresh cherries, cooked white beans and a handful of fresh microgreens. Then finish it off with a heavy sprinkle of savory/sweet sunflower seed granola and a good drizzle of the most delicious toasted sunflower seed and parmesan vinaigrette.

Sounds so good, right?!?! IT IS.

So you got the salad part, now I need to go into detail about that savory granola, because oh my gosh, it’s the best thing to ever happen to a salad. It’s slightly sweet, but salty and crunchy, and SO perfect!! Honestly, this is my new go to salad topping. It makes salad fun and crunchy and hearty! YUM.

And the vinaigrette?? Well, it’s pretty awesome too! The sunflower seeds really add an incredible flavor, while the lemon and parmesan keep it super light and fresh.

Perfection when paired with those sweet summer cherries (so, so, so excited about cherry season!) and dark kale greens. It’s definitely not your average salad, but I feel like that’s a really good thing, because personally, average salads are just so lame in my eyes.

Hip, hip hooray for big ass, color packed, flavor packed… cherry packed, salads.

Ok and yes, I am way too excited about the cherries. Sorry – not sorry. 🙂

Also, did you notice the cheese? There’s almost none, and yet I still LOVE this salad. Weird.