Spring Greens and Beet Salad with Creamy Maple Dijon Dressing

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Another week has come and gone.  Seriously?  How is it that time is going so quickly lately?  Last weekend my SIL had her baby girl (She's an absolute doll!  Red hair like mama.), and my husband's coworker had her little boy as well.  An old family friend's wife also had twins this last week.  This has truly been the week of the baby, and it made me stop in my tracks and look at little Ben who is not so little anymore.

At 8.5 months, Ben's personality is growing bigger every day.  He started crawling a few weeks ago and is on the move constantly.  Baby gates and serious baby proofing need to happen very soon in our house.  All of the new babies in the world really made me stop this week and savor those baby snuggles and admire Ben's tiny hands squishing his food, and wrapping around my finger when he nurses.  These moments will be gone before I know it.

We have a busy busy month coming up.  I have mostly been a SAHM, but have been kept on by my company as a temporary on-call employee when they get busy and need extra help.  I got a call from my boss last week to see if I would be up for going across the state to the Spokane office to help them with some organizing before the office has tenant improvements.  A company sponsored trip to go home and see family (and work a little I suppose)?  Heck yes!  I'm picking up a rental car tomorrow, and then Sunday Ben and I leave to go to Spokane for the week.  I'm lucky to have a mama willing and happy to watch Ben while I work for the week, and I'm excited to see some of my old coworkers.

After being in Spokane next week, we'll head back home and then spend the 4th of July holiday with Kevin's family on vacation in Ocean Shores, which is 2 hours away.  After we get back from that we'll turn around and leave the next day to go back to Spokane.  Ben will be staying with my parents over that next weekend while I go to Lake Chelan with my girlfriends for a friend's bachelorette celebration.  This will be the first time I'm away from Ben for longer than a half a day.  I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time relaxing and celebrating with my girls, but I know I'll miss him so much.

After the Lake Chelan weekend I'll go back to Spokane and spend the week there helping my hometown church with Vacation Bible School.  The next weekend Kevin will fly into Spokane and we will go to my friend's wedding and then Ben will be baptized on Sunday before we head back home.  It's a lot of travel, and I'm hoping Ben does well with the drives.  We've driven to Spokane once before a few months ago, and he did great as long as we had frequent stops to eat and get some wiggles out.

Anyways, you came here for the beet salad right?

Beets don't tend to be a very regular vegetable in our house, but when I get a craving for beets, I just have to have them!  Beets are high in phytonutrients and anti-oxidants, and have anti-inflammitory properties.  Beets are also high in folate, manganese, potassium, and copper.  I always think when we get plant-based cravings, it is our bodies needing an extra bit of something that that food is high in.  So, I picked up some beets, steamed them in my InstantPot, and enjoyed them in this salad all week.

Spring Greens and Beet Salad
with Creamy Maple Dijon Dressing
Time: 10 minutes 
Servings: 1 serving

Ingredients:
        1 beet - peeled, steamed, and thinly sliced
        4-6 cups mixed spring greens
        3-6 radishes, thinly sliced
        1/2 - 1 cup cooked brown lentils (you can sub in any bean you'd like)
        small handful of pecans (optional)
        Dressing:
            1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
            1 Tbsp almond butter (tahini, cashew butter, or sunflower seed butter would work well too)
            1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
            1-2 Tbsp water to thin

Instructions:
1.)  Prep all ingredients.  See my notes below on how to steam the beets and cook the lentils quickly in the InstantPot.
2.)  In a small bowl mix together the dressing ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Add in the lentils and stir to coat.
3.)  In a large bowl layer the spring greens, beets, and radishes.  Then top with the lentil dressing mixture.  Sprinkle some chopped pecans on top if desired.  Enjoy immediately.

Amy's Notes:
I would suggest steaming several beets and cooking a couple cups of lentils ahead of time to have in salads all week.  If you do this, store the ingredients separately and prep just before eating the salad.

To steam beets - Remove the tops and bottom root with a knife, wash thoroughly.  Place a steamer basket in the InstantPot with the whole beets and 1-2 cups of water.  Set to cook on high for 15 minutes.  Do a quick release or a natural pressure release when the timer is done.  Allow to cool, peel, slice, and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

To cook the lentils - Rinse and pick through 2 cups of dry brown lentils.  Place then in the InstantPot with 3 1/2-4 cups of water.  Set to cook on high for 10 minutes, and allow for a natural pressure release.  Drain any excess liquid and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

You can really tweak this recipe to be just how you like it.  Change your type of greens, use golden beets instead of red, use chickpeas instead of lentils, use honey mustard instead of Dijon.  The point is, make a salad and enjoy it!  I sometimes get lax about having a salad every day, but if I change it up from week to week with yummy recipes like this, I really look forward to my greens at lunch.

Health and Happiness,

Amy

Simple Greens and Quinoa Salad

I've been going for simple lately.  After having some tummy issues a few weeks ago (more on that in another post), I've been sensitive to more exotic foods.  To get my system back in normal digesting order, I've been sticking to simple recipes.

Since my actual volume of food I've been able to eat has decreased, I have been having a bit more calorie dense foods, such as nuts, dried fruit, and avocados.  For those of you who are following Dr. Fuhrman's more aggressive weight loss plan, try subbing 1/2 of the avocado in this recipe for the same volume of defrosted and mashed green peas.  You'll still get that avocado flavor, but with less calories.

The recipe below has been my go-to salad for the last week or so.  It has 5 ingredients!  5!  It doesn't get more simple than that.  Plus, I can prep and mix all of this with a cutting board, paring knife, fork, and large bowl.  I'm all for less to clean!

Simple Greens and Quinoa Salad
Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 2 main dish servings, or 4-5 side salad servings
Print this recipe!

Quick Collard Salad Wraps

Sometimes I get tired of salads.  There!  I said it!  Please tell me I'm not alone!

Sometimes I want something a little neater that has greens, but not coated in dressing.  Here was my solution this morning: Collard Salad Wraps.  These wraps are packed with veggies, super filling, and my little additions add a bit of zing without compromising the healthfulness.

These take very little time to prepare in the morning to take for your lunch, and even less time if you have the veggie stuffings already prepped and cut.

Quick Collard Salad Wraps
Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 1 serving

Ingredients:
        3-5 medium leafs of collard greens, thickest part of the stem removed.
        1 stalk celery, cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1 large carrot, peeled and cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1/3 cucumber, cut pencil-sized thickness and 3 inches long
        1/4 cup hummus
        1/4 cup chopped olives (I used green olives)
        sriracha or other hot sauce

Instructions:
1.)  At the top of each destemmed collard leaf, spread some hummus, then layer on a "line" of sriracha.
2.)  Pile on the olives, cucumber, carrot, and celery.  Make sure not to overdo it.  You still want to be able to comfortably wrap your... wrap!
3.)  Starting at the top, roll the collard once, tuck in the sides, and roll till the end.
4.)  Store in a small container stacked so that they don't unroll during transport.  Enjoy your not-salad salad!

Amy's Notes:
Like I said above, don't over-pile your wrap stuffings.  I used to do this when I first tried collard wraps and ended up with a big mess and no wrap.  Plus, the less you stuff into the wraps, the more you can eat, and that means more greens in your meal!  Win-win right?

An extra tip to keep your wrap tidy and clean is to make sure your washed and cut vegetables are dry with no excess liquid dripping from them.  That could cause your hummus to thin and ooze out where you don't want it to.

This wrap can be really versatile to what you would like to add to it/have on hand.  Some good ideas for stuffings could be sliced avocado, red bell pepper, snow peas, green onions, etc.

Health and Happiness,

Amy

Savory Smokey Oats - Recipe from "The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook"

Generally, our Sundays during football season are always spent in sweatpants, watching football and our Fantasy Football scores, while Kevin anxiously waits for his homemade pizza, and I spend time prepping meals for myself for the week.  This generally consists of cooking a large pot of grains like brown rice, wheat berries, barley, millet, quinoa, etc.  I also make sure I have enough beans to eat throughout the week, whether this be planning to eat quick-cooking legumes like lentils or black eyed peas, having stocks of canned beans, or cooking a crockpot full of a certain bean.

This Sunday, I made quinoa and cooked a crockpot of garbanzo beans for the week.  The nice thing about these two staples is that I know Kevin will happily eat both of them, with different add-ins than me of course!

I also decided to pre-make a breakfast/any-meal-of-the-day dish from Ann and Jane Esselstyn's new cookbook The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook called Savory Smokey Oats.  I recently got this book on my Kindle after listening to Chef AJ's telecast with the two Esselstyn ladies discussing the recipes featured in the cookbook.

Now, I don't have heart disease, nor do I plan on getting heart disease in the future, but after hearing them discuss some of the delicious recipes, I just couldn't resist!  Plus, my work graciously just sent me a $25 gift card to thank me for my efforts in organizing our office Health Fair last month, so in a way I was able to get the cookbook for free!

So far, I have made it through reading the introduction, breakfasts, lunches, soups, and spreads/toppings.  I still need to make my way through the appetizers/sides, salads, salad dressings, dinners and desserts (I can't wait!).

I have really enjoyed all of the personality and family-feel they have put into the cookbook.  You can really tell that these are the recipes these ladies have in their arsenal of regular meals for their families.  I just hate cookbooks that don't have that practicality and familiarity in them.

I also really like the versatility of all of their recipes, especially the hummus.  They encourage you to use their no-oil, no-tahini hummus in and on anything and everything.  I plan on making some of this hummus this week with my cooked garbanzo beans for the week.

Now on to the Savory Smokey Oats!  This recipe caught my eye because I LOVE oats, but have always associated them with sweeter tastes and breakfast time.  This recipe breaks the oat mold for sure!  This Sunday, I was in the mood for a savory breakfast, but didn't want to spend the time chopping and cooking potatoes and veggies, so I went with the savory oats.

Due to copyright issues, I obviously won't be posting the recipe, but I will provide a link to the recipe and let you know how I tweaked it a bit.

Savory Smokey Oats
Time: 5 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking
Servings: 4 servings (double recipe)
Authors: Ann Crile Esselstyn and Jane Esselstyn
Recipe Link: Google Books

Amy's Notes:
I followed the recipe exactly as directed, but doubled the recipe.  I steamed chopped kale on the side to add at the end of the recipe.  Near the end of cooking, I thought the steel-cut oats seamed a bit soupy, so I added 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (1/4 cup for single batch), and cooked for an additional 5 minutes.  This allowed it to thicken up perfectly and come together like I imagined from the picture.

I served my oats with a bit of black pepper and my favorite Louisiana hot sauce.  With the hot sauce, it became the perfect savory breakfast dish.  The flavors blend together nicely, and I can just imagine that this is going to taste great reheated the next day!

So far, I would give this cookbook a thumbs up, especially when it comes to recipes with no-oil and VERY minimal to no added sodium and sweeteners.  All of the recipes are very approachable and seem to be adaptable to different family tastes.  Even if you don't have heart disease, this cookbook should be on your shelf to help you prevent heart disease in the most delicious way!

If you would like to purchase this cookbook AND support Amy's Nutritarian Kitchen, by clicking this link you will be directed to Amazon and a little bit of the book sale will go to me for advertising.

Health and Happiness,

Amy

Kale, Mac N Sweet Potato Cheese

This is day 3, week 1 of my Eat to Live 6 week challenge, and I am feeling pretty great!  I have noticed that my usual "time of the month" pains and woes are much less than they usually are, and for that, I am so grateful.  Here is my daily log and a recipe at the bottom: Kale, Mac N' Sweet Potato Cheese.

Food log:

• Breakfast: 2 apples
• Lunch: Dr. Fuhrman's Warm Lentil Salad, 2 slices of gf bread with hummus
• Dinner: Kale, Mac N' Sweet Potato "Cheese" (see below)
• Extras: 1 beer

Exercise log:

• Cardio: 30 minutes stationary bicycle
• Body weight exercises: calves, abs, back, core
• Stretching: 5 minutes before and after

How I feel:

I'm happy that I was able to get in some exercise today. I know because of that I will sleep a lot more soundly tonight, yay!  I have noticed that I really really felt hungry for lunch today. Once I took that first bite, it was so delicious!  Looking over my food for the day, I feel like I did not get in as many fresh fruits as I had hoped for.  I'm hoping to find some time tomorrow to crack into a pineapple I have been saving up.  Yum!  Tonight, I found some time to cook and needed to use up a sweet potato I had had in my produce basket for a while, as well as the rest of the tofu package I used for my last recipe post. What resulted was Kale, Mac N' Sweet Potato Cheese.  Hope you enjoy! (Please note, since I am posting daily, my pictures are not being edited, and these are the best ones I could do on my iPad at the time!)

Kale, Mac N' Sweet Potato Cheese

Ingredients:

• Pasta:
• 1 cup dried macaroni noodles per person
• 1-2 cups chopped fresh kale

• Sauce:

• 1 sweet potato, baked and peeled
• 6 oz or 1/2 package silken tofu
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a boiling pot of water, begin to boil the macaroni. 
2. In a high speed blender, blend together all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.  If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add non-dairy milk one tablespoon at a time. 
3. Once the pasta has become nearly al dente (with 3-5 minutes left to cook), add the chopped kale and stir.  Frequently stir the pot until the pasta is fully cooked. Drain the kale and pasta in a strainer. 
4. Return the kale and pasta to the pot and drizzle on the desired amount of sweet potato "cheese" sauce for the entire dish.  Return to the stovetop on low heat.  Remove from heat and serve once the sauce has become hot. 

Amy's Notes:

This dish actually came together very quickly.  For the noodles, I used rice macaroni that I had gotten from the bulk bins at the grocery store.  To be honest, they are not my favorite on their own, but this sauce definitely makes them worth eating.  I would suggest that you use a whole wheat pasta instead.  When I made this, I used about 1 cup of kale per one cup of macaroni.  I found that this was a little less kale than I desired, so make sure to overestimate for the greens, they tend to shrink down!  If you don't have kale on hand, you can always use another dark green like collards, mustard greens, or spinach.  Keep in mind that lighter greens like spinach will take much less time to cook in the boiling water.  For the sauce, I have experimented with making several different types of vegan "cheese" recipes including those that are nut base, some that use corn starch to thicken, and some with pretty interesting ingredients.  I found that this has been my favorite one so far.  The sweet potato and tofu add the right thickness and color, while the spices add a great, but subtle kick to it. 

What types of vegan "cheese" sauces have you tried making at home?  Which ones have been your favorite?

This post was submitted to Healthy Vegan Friday.  Thanks to one of the hosts, Carrie from Carrie on Vegan for giving bloggers such a fun stage for recipe creativity!
(Backlink: http://www.carrieonvegan.com/2013/05/10/healthy-vegan-friday-recipes-my-favorite-submissions/)

Indian Chickpeas and Greens

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We have been experiencing the first real spring-like weather here in Eastern Washington, and I am very much enjoying the sunshine and lighter-jacket-weather.  Kevin and I had quite a few adventures this weekend, including attempting to move our new couch into our apartment.  This attempt ultimately failed, not because the couch was too big, but because our door is at such and angle to the stair railing.  Oh darn!

After Kevin and I talked about some of our complaints and needs, we decided we needed to look for a new place.  I have been desperately wanting a new couch for months and months, pretty much since we got married.  Since then we have been using Kevin's college futon, which is anything but comfortable.  So, a few weeks ago, Kevin caved-into my request under the condition that we get one at a discounted store.  OK!  Fine by me, as long as I get a couch I can knit and relax on!  We found the perfect one and a matching recliner from Big Lots, but had to wait a few weeks to pick it up.  Well, as the story goes, it was not a success and we ended up having to store the couch at my parent's place for now.

Luckily our lease was up at the end of this month (it would have gone month to month after that), so on Sunday we went around town all afternoon looking at places, and finally decided on some apartments that were a bit older than ours, in about the same location, is almost the same in rent, and has way more things we need/want.  (1) A door and angle big enough to fit our new couch and recliner, (2) an in-unit washer and dryer, (3) an on site fitness facility, (4) plenty of parking, (5) everything else our old place has.  I'm pretty happy with our new place, and we are both very excited to move (AND HAVE MY DAMN COUCH)!

Well that is what is new with my life, other than this amazing Indian dish... that I have made three times already.  Seriously!  It is that good!  I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 small can fire roasted chiles (mild)
• 1 tsp minced or paste ginger
• 3-5 cups dark greens, washed and well chopped (kale, spinach, green collards, etc.)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 Tbsp corriander
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• salt to taste
• whole wheat naan or brown rice for serving

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend together the canned diced tomatoes, canned chiles, and ginger paste, until smooth.
2. In a skillet on High, bring 1/2 cup of water to a very very rapid boil.  Toss in the cumin seeds, and while continually stirring, let the water boil off.
3. Once the water has nearly boiled off, pour in the pureed tomato mixture and the rest of the spices.  Cook on Medium High at a simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the dark greens, stir them in, and cover for 5-8 minutes, until the greens have wilted down.  
5. Add the chickpeas and simmer on low for 8 minutes, adding more water if need be to maintain a gravy consistency.
6. Serve hot over brown rice or with whole wheat naan bread for dipping.

Amy's Notes:

• I have made this dish with a few different types of greens and found that I like baby kale or spinach the best.  Regular kale and collards take a bit longer to steam, and gives the dish a bit more of a greens-bitter taste.  So, if that's what you like, keep that in mind.
• If you happen to have garam marsala in your spice repetoir, I would suggest using 1 tsp of that and leaving out the tumeric, cayenne, and cloves.
• If you would like to make your own homemade whole wheat naan, this is the recipe that I use, but minus 1 Tbsp of oil.
• If you are not a fan of spicy foods, eliminate the cayenne pepper, or replace it with chili powder.  Also, make sure to get a can of MILD roasted chiles.

This was my very first try at making Indian food and all I can say is... I'M HOOKED!  I have been doing some research about Indian food and found that a large portion of the population in India are vegetarian.  I'm thinking I can hopefully nutritarian-ize a few tradtitional recipes that are already vegetarian. 

Do you have any favorite vegetarian or nutritarian Indian recipes?

Mixed Potatoes with Kale

Hello!  I'm pleased to announce that I have come back to blogging after my nearly 4 month hiatus!  Over the last couple of months Kevin and I have been getting settled into married life and the new habits and schedules that ensue.  While I was gone I've seem to have a constant inner-battle about what foods I should be eating.  One week I would be spot-on Nutritarian with no added meats, dairy, sugars, or oils... then the next it was Thanksgiving dinner with temptations, or after Christmas with tons of goodies brought home.

All I can say is making the daily decision of what to put in your body is HARD!  It's hard for me to listen to my voice of reason (my Nutritarian voice), and silence my food-addict's taunts.  I think a good first step is to admit it... right?  Well, new readers and old, I hope you continue to follow me on my journey of trying to figure out what works for me, struggling with what doesn't... oh, and all of the awesome recipes that are produced in between!

Since Kevin and I got married last September, we have finally worked out a food and shopping budget to fit our recently-graduated-newly-wed-still-want-to-have-fun lives.  As a Nutritarian, my staples have become the bulk food section with dried grains and beans, as well as frozen and fresh vegetables when I find them on sale.  Some of Kevin and my favorite foods are potatoes (oh my gosh, we can actually agree on something food-wise!).  This weekend I decided to make a potato-based lunch for the both of us.  Kevin requested mashed potatoes, and while those were cooking, I came up with something a bit more nutritious for me.  Hope you enjoy :)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. mixed potatoes, washed and cubed (peeled if desired)
• 4 cups of chopped kale
• 1/2 red onion finely chopped
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp celery seed

Directions:

1. Prepare all ingredients.
2. In a large skillet, bring a couple of tablespoons to a boil and add the onion and garlic.  Water saute these until fragerent, but not until the onion is translusent.
3. Add all of the cubed potatoes and about 1/2 cup of water.  Cover and let it simmer/steam on medium heat, adding more water as necessary.
4. Once the potatoes have softened so that you can fork them, stir in the dried basil, dried parsley, and celery seed.
5. Next, place all of the kale on top of the potatoes and cover to steam.  Make sure that there is still a small amount of liquid at the bottom of the pan so that the potatoes don't stick and the kale has steaming water.
6. After about 3 minutes, check to see if the kale has wilted to your liking, and remove the skillet from the stovetop.  Allow to cool with the cover off.
7. Serve as a side dish for the family, or a main dish for up to 4 people.

Amy's Notes

• Feel free to use whatever potatoes you like.  I used two russets, a few red potatoes, and one yam/sweet potato.
• While cooking make sure that all varieties of potatoes are soft enough to fork before you move on to the next step.  I know my yam took a bit longer to cook than the rest of the potatoes.
• Please customize the spices to your liking.  This weekend I felt like basil, parsley and celery seed, but I bet this would be great with cumin, chili, cajun, or curry seasonings!
• I served mine topped off with a homemade "Cheeze" sauce.  I'm still perfecting this recipe, so I won't share it at this time, but there are many recipes you can find online that are anywhere from nut or tofu based, to bean or non-dairy milk based.
• Other great toppings for this dish could be salsa, tabasco sauce, vegan sour cream, or vegan shredded cheese.

What voices do you hear in your head when you are making food decisions?  Who often wins, and why?

Purple Kale Curry

Grr!  I'm mad at myself for not sticking to the blog schedule!  Things come up, and well, you know how it is...  For today, I will be showing you guys what I got on a trip to the local farmer's market with a good girlfriend of mine, and how I used some of the ingredients in a curry I made in bulk to have for my lunches this week.

 At the Farmer's Market I picked up...

• 3 purple bell peppers- $1
• 1 bunch blue kale- $1
• 2 large zucchini- $1
• Ambernut squash- $4
• Basil

 My parent's neighbor asked me to water her plants while she was away for the weekend and asked that I take any tomatoes that were ripe so they didn't go to waste.  From that I got several large tomatoes and dozens of small, sweet orange tomatoes.  They are so flavorful!

I was inspired by the purple bell peppers and blue kale to make something unique for my weekday lunches.  Here is what I came up with:

Purple Kale Curry

Ingredients:

• Curry paste:
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp saffron or tumeric
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tso ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)
• 1 Tbsp brown rice syrup (or honey)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• Curry:
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 3 small bell peppers, diced (any color, I used purple)
• 4 cups kale, chopped (I used blue kale)
• 1/2 c fresh basil, chopped
• 1 can Coconut milk
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• low sodium soy sauce, to taste

Blue Kale (I think it looks more purple)

Purple Bell Peppers

 Directions:

1. Combine curry paste ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan or dutch oven water saute the onions and peppers until tender but crisp.
3. Pour in the can of coconut milk, and measure in one can of water into the saucepan.
4. Bring the saucepan to a simmer, and add in curry paste.  Stir until well mixed in.
5. Maintain at a simmer and add the kale and basil.
6. Turn off heat and stir in kale and basil until the kale has lightly wilted.
7. Add red pepper flakes and soy sauce to get desired taste.
8. Serve over brown rice.

Amy's Notes:

In the picture above I serve the curry on top of brown rice with black eyed peas.  You can of course serve it over any type of grain and with or without any beans you desire.  In this recipe feel free to use any type of bell pepper you have on hand.  Also, use any type of dark green in place of the blue kale, such as collard greens, curly kale, dinosaur kale, or spinach.  Enjoy!

What unique things have you found at your local farmer's market?

Hale to the Kale Salad

Today I am shipping out Unprocessed by Chef AJ to this giveaway's lucky winner, and thought that I would feature my favorite recipe I've tried so far from the book: Chef AJ's Hale to the Kale Salad.  I have to say, this recipe had opened me up so much more to the world of raw kale!  Previously, I used kale most often in soups or sautes, but very rarely did I eat it raw other than in smoothies.  The dressing for this recipe does have almond butter in it, so it is not low in fat, but it is oil-free.  I find that it has the perfect blend of spicy, savory, and tanginess.  Just delicious!

Before we get to the recipe, here is some great information about this awesome green vegetable that I found on Pinterest.  To follow my Pinterest boards follow this link.

Hale to the Kale Salad

Ingredients: 

• 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, washed, and roughly chopped
• 1/2 c almond butter, natural and raw
• 1/2 c water, or coconut water
• 1/4 c fresh lime juice, or lemon juice (~1 lemon)
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1/2" fresh peeled ginger
• 1 Tbsp low sodium Tamari, or soy sauce
• 2 pitted dates
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, more to taste

Directions:  In a high-powered blender, add all ingredients (except for kale) and blend until smooth and creamy.  Dip a leaf of kale into the dressing to taste, and adjust seasonings to your preference.  Pour some of the dressing onto the chopped kale leaves and massage the salad with tongs or your hands.  Add more dressing if needed to cover the salad completely.  Save any leftover dressing in an airtight container in the fridge.  Serve the salad cold plain, or with any seeds or nuts you prefer.

Amy's Notes:  The recipe for the dressing I have featured is half of the original in Chef AJ's book.  I found it plenty to cover 1 bunch of kale, but the original recipe is for 2 bunches of kale.  Next time I make it, I will be making the full recipe with 2 bunches because it is just that good!  I like to sprinkle Chef AJ's recipe of faux parmesan (recipe found on this blog post) on top of this salad for some cheezy flavor.  This salad also keeps very will in the fridge.  Chef AJ notes in her book that "Like a woman, this salad gets better with time."  My pictures of the recipe include spinach because I didn't have quite enough kale.  I found this to be a good addition to get even more greens in!

What is your favorite way to eat kale?

Potatoes with Fresh Baby Greens

I hope everyone is having a good start to their week.  I'm in the summer mode where I am loosing track of which day of the week it is since I have nowhere I need to be.  Believe me, the job search is in full throttle!  Wish me luck in finding something soon!

For now, my days have consisted of making healthier food for myself, job searching, and blogging.  One fun part about being home right now is getting to watch my parent's garden start to grow like crazy!  They made a modest-sized raised-bed garden in our backyard and have planted it with green leaf lettuce, kale, spinach, onions, green onions, basil, carrots, beets, and radishes.  So far, everything is above ground, but the beets and radishes seem to be growing the fastest.  The other day, I helped by pulling some of the beets and radishes so that they don't crowd out each other and grow a bit better.  My mom ended up Googling that beet and radish greens are edible, so I thought I should try to make something with it.

Potatoes with Fresh Baby Greens

Ingredients:

• 4 red potatoes, washed and cubed
• 1-2 cups fresh baby greens, washed
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• several mushrooms, sliced
• 2 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
• fresh ground pepper 

Directions:  In a large skillet on medium heat, water saute the garlic and union until onion is tender.  Add the potatoes and cover, adding water as needed to not allow ingredients to burn, and stirring occasionally. "Steam" the potatoes for several minutes, until you are able to just pierce with a fork.  Add the mushrooms and stir until they are lightly cooked.  Add in basil, pepper, and any other spices you desire.  Finally, place the greens on top and cover with a lid once more for 2 minutes.  Once greens are lightly "steamed", stir them into the dish and serve hot.

Amy's Notes:  This was a really satisfying recipe that came together quickly.  It could easily be a great breakfast food (with a bit of hot sauce).  Because the greens came from our garden, the radishes had small red roots that we minced up and placed on top (that you can see in the serving photos), obviously this is not needed, but gave the dish an extra spice to it.  It would be equivalent to one normal sized radish minced.  If you don't have baby garden greens, spinach, arugula, or kale would work great to replace the greens.

What is your favorite type of fresh produce to get from your garden?  What vegetables do you want to have in your fantasy garden?