Stella de Oro Salad with Cucumber, Pecans & 2 Cheeses

and a Tequila Lime Vinaigrette

Today I outsmarted the deer in our back yard. I ate the day lilies. The deer usually eat them before I even get to see them. For years I didn’t know I even had day lilies because the deer ate the blossoms before I ever saw them.

About.com says Stella de Oro day lilies are deer resistant. They obviously never met the deer that live here! … but once I tasted these luscious flowers, now I understand why my deer eat them. They’re delicious! They have a lightly sweet taste and they are CRUNCHY! Most flower petals are so delicate and thin they have almost no texture, but these! These were like having orange crunchy greens in my salad.

I did check before I tasted them to make sure they aren’t poisonous. I found a lot of conflicting information about asiatic and oriental lilies, but day lilies are definitely edible. I even found some nutrition facts. Also, I don’t use any herbicides or pesticides anywhere in my yard. If you are going to go picking your day lilies for food, I would recommend that you never use any sort of sprays anywhere near them. I wouldn’t go picking the ones in the park or the neighbor’s house, either … you never know what they’ve been sprayed with.

The blossoms of these day lilies only last a day, so I recommend picking them just before you plan to eat them. I expect different kinds of day lilies probably taste different–I can only vouch for the taste of the Stella de Oro lilies in my back yard. Other parts of the day lily plant are edible too … people often fry up the “pods” (blossoms) before they open and the roots can be eaten too, although I didn’t try that. I don’t expect I will get that many of them before the deer discover what they’ve been missing.

Stella de Oro Salad with Cucumber, Toasted Pecans & Two Cheeses

• Mixed greens
• Cucumber, sliced and cut into triangles
• Red onion slices
• Several freshly picked day lily blossoms
• Thinly sliced Dubliner cheese (or Parmesan or Romano)
• Crumbled goat cheese
• Toasted pecans
• Tequila Lime Vinaigrette dressing (find the recipe below)

Tequila Lime Vinaigrette

(from Cooking Light Magazine)

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons tequila
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• Dash of salt

Directions:

This recipe was shared at Totally Tasty Tuesdaysl, Cast Party Wednesday, Best Healthy Salad Recipes, and Summer Salad Sundays.