Mediterranean Kale Salad

Now that it's starting to get dark at 4:00, and there's a chill in the air, the thought of eating a cool, crisp green salad seems less and less appealing. Enter in my favorite hearty, wintry green leaf veggie, KALE. This salad gives you that fresh, raw veggie feel, with a bit more substance. Feel free to mix and match your veggies here, as well. Olives or some grated carrot might be nice. OR, switch out the edamame for roasted chickpeas or some grilled seitan.

Mediterranean Kale Salad

1/2 pound kale, veins removed, chopped

1/2 large yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 cup cucumbers, chopped

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 apple, chopped

1 cup edamame, shelled

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1/4 cup marinated tofu (in the style of feta cheese)

For the DRESSING

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2  teaspoon agave nectar (or honey)

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp salt, or to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the dressing.  Whisk well until ingredients are completely emulsified. Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking: Sometimes I like to add a bit more sweetener to cut down on the “tangingess”.

Place your chopped kale in a large salad bowl. Add about a third to a half of the dressing, a little salt, and massage the kale leaves with your clean hands until the leaves start to soften and wilt, about 2-3 minutes.  Add remaining vegetables, and part of the remaining dressing, to taste. Toss to combine and serve!

Millet Salad with Carrots and Kale

So, I went a little overboard with the free samples from Bob's Red Mill at Vida Vegan Con 2013, and have now found myself overrun with MILLET (which is not necessarily a bad thing)!

As part of the new packaging on their Grains of Discovery series, the lovely representative from Bob's Red Mill was armed and ready with simple size packets of several unique and interesting ancient grains which have nourished many of the world's civilizations since the dawn of time.  Some were quite familiar to me such as quinoa and farro, others like amaranth and kamut, were not.  Millet I had heard of, but had never cooked with it before now.

For those of you unfamiliar with millet, it look like quinoa's cousin, tiny pellets without the quinoa "tail". You might also recognize it as the #1 ingredient in most bird seeds...  (I kept that part to myself, as this might be a tough sell for my better-half). I have read that millet is highly nutritious, expands quite a bit when cooking, and has the tendency to become mushy if overcooked.

So what to make with this "rediscovered" ancient grain...

One of my favorite talks at Vida Vegan con was Terry Hope Romero's Recipe Creation and Testing, where Terry discussed, in depth, her recipe development process. One of her tips was to let yourself be inspired by food and food trends, and not just VEGAN food trends.  She takes inspiration from Sauveur, Bon Appetite and the Washington Post, publications not know for vegetarian or even vegan dishes.  So instead of typing my usual:  "MILLET RECIPES VEGAN" into Google, I left the 'vegan' out, and found this:

Warm Millet, Carrot and Kale Salad With Curry-Scented Dressing

  -from the New York Times Website.

With a little tweaking I came up with this adaptation, which I veganized, and added some ingredients I had on hand

Millet, Carrot & Kale Salad

12 kale leaves, stemmed and washed thoroughly

Salt to taste

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup millet

1 cup vegetable broth

1-2 tsp Tandoori Seasoning (Penzey's)

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 pound carrots, peeled halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup pickled red peppers (leftover from Indian take away)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 TBSP nigella seeds sesame seeds, toasted, plus onion powder to taste

For the Dressing:

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

2 TBSP seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp sweet curry powder (Penzey's) 

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 

2-3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup buttermilk sunflower milk, plus 1 T Tofutti Sour cream

Now because I was making this on a weeknight, I decided to skip the kale prep. TWO ways from the original recipe, and just go for blanched (or in my case, steamed) kale. Chop kale leaves into strips and steam for about 5 minutes until bright and vibrant green.  Rinse in a colander under cold water and set aside, drain and squeeze out excess water. Kale can be chopped a bit more, at this point (especially nice if you have a kale hater in your house like I do)!

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat in a heavy 2- or 3-quart saucepan. Add the millet and Tandoori seasoning and toast, stirring, until it begins to smell fragrant and toasty, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of vegetable broth and salt to taste, and bring back to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, until the liquid in the saucepan has evaporated and the grains are fluffy. Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.  At this point I also added the sliced carrots and my leftover pickled red peppers from Indian takeaway the previous night.

 Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a measuring cup.  At this point, the original recipe had suggested reheating the whole mixture with the dressing in a skillet, but I thought it was just warm enough.  Add the chopped kale to the millet and carrots, add dressing (I only used about 3/4 of the dressing) then stir to combine.  Mix in the sesame seeds and  chopped cilantro, (I like to save a bit of each to top the final salad) and serve!

Juicing Romaine? Another Green Juice - Based on the Ritual Cleanse

Yet, another Green Juice - based loosely on the Ritual Cleanse

I think of all the juices I make, GREEN juice has to be one of my favorites.  I've been researching tons of Green Juice variations, as well as copy-cat "cleanse" recipes online (Ritual Cleanse, Blueprint Cleanse), and many of the green juices I come across contain Romaine lettuce.

Now, up until this point in our juicing journey, I was going SUPER-green by using KALE as my leafy green of choice.  I never in a million years thought to juice Romaine lettuce.  To me, Romaine is SALAD.  I can eat that plain, in a bowl, any day. Why would I squeeze all the liquid out of its leaves?

But there it is: Romaine is in almost EVERY green juice I see.  So today, I decided to finally add some in to ours.

Ritual Cleanse Green Juice -Variation #1
6 romaine lettuce leaves
4 kale leaves
2 celery stalks
1 large cucumber
3 pineapple spears
1" piece of ginger
juice of 1/2 lemon

Now, I love me some kale, and there's been some mighty fine Tuscan Kale on sale at the Colt State Park Farmer's Market this Summer.  But, I have to say, the Romaine lettuce added something really mild, crisp, and fresh to this juice.  It was delicious! And, as an added bonus, it adds even more gorgeous, green color, and MORE liquid to the juice. (Which is good because I've been blowing through celery and cucumbers like nobody's business since we got the juicer)!

So, what exactly is it about dark green leafy lettuces like Romaine that make them nutritional powerhouses? 

Well, for one, the greener the leaf, the stronger the nutritional profile.  Sorry Iceberg, you just do not stack up here.  For juicing, be sure to go for the nice, dark green, outer leaves.  Lettuce juice, I've discovered, is a rich source of vitamin A, K, E, C, and folate, while also being high in the minerals silicon, manganese, calcium, magnesium and chromium.

Every time I juice a new ingredient, I always like to read up on what makes that particular fruit or vegetable so nutritious.  

Here we have some fun facts from Juicing for Health.com:

Health properties of lettuce juice:
Anti-anemic:  Lettuce contains a relatively high amount of chlorophyll and iron, which are essential for the synthesis of hemoglobin in blood red cells.
Anti-oxidant:  Lettuce is rich in anti-oxidants, especially beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E.  These substances help cleanse the body from toxins, prevent the damage caused by free-radicals, prevent premature aging and lower the risk of chronic diseases and cancer.
Bone health: There is evidence that lettuce has a protective effect on bone health, due to its high content in vitamin K which is required for the synthesis of osteocalcin, a bone protein which helps strengthen bone tissue.  This bone protective action is particularly effective in preventing osteoporosis-related fractures in post-menopausal women and older adults.  Lettuce is a good source of calcium and phosphorous, as well, which play a key role in bone structure and health.
Constipation:  Thanks to its high fiber content, lettuce and its juice can help stimulate the function and motility of the intestinal tract, relieve constipation and cleanse the colon.
Cough:  Lettuce juice contains anti-cough agents, which can help relieve irritable cough, as well as the symptoms of asthma and bronchitis.
Hydration:  Lettuce juice is an excellent source of hydration at the cellular level. They are refreshing, thirst-quenching and help rehydrates our cells and releasing toxins and harmful fats from our congested cells.
Purifying:  The purifying effect of lettuce is the result of the combined actions of anti-oxidants (which help neutralize harmful substances accumulate in the body), potassium (which promotes diuresis, thereby helping eliminate toxins from the body) and fiber (which helps cleanse the colon).
Sedation:  Lettuce latex has been used for centuries by physicians as a substitute for opium, due to its natural sedative and painkilling properties. Today its medicinal use is limited to treat sleep disorders, nervous excitability, anxiety and restlessness, especially in children and elderly persons.  Drink a glass of lettuce and celery juice an hour before bedtime to have a restful night’s sleep.  Also helpful whenever you feel anxious or nervous, to keep yourself calm and relaxed.

Not too shabby for one of the most common leafy green vegetables.  I almost always have Romaine lettuce on hand.  Throwing 3 or 4 leaves into our green juice will really stretch the life of our produce, and boost the vitamins and nutrients in the final juice as well ^_^

Super Green: Just like Kermit

This new juicer has really got me hooked!  Today's gorgeously GREEN selection is:

1 Cucumber
1 Celery stalk
4 Kale leaves
1 1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1/2 lemon, peeled
1/2" piece of ginger

No need to peel.  I only do if the cucumber has wax, or if it is not organic.  Then, juice away.  This stuff is fantastic, so bright and fresh from the lemon and ginger.

A little background here:

My better-half is not only NOT vegan, but a die-hard carnivore. (A very vegan friendly carnivore, but a meat-eater, nonetheless).  This fact makes for interesting meal-times, BUT my vegan cooking has managed to win her over.

However, there are some ingredients that she won't touch.  My aversion to cow's milk and a hunk of steak is the equivalent of her hatred of LEAFY GREENS.  Now, all hard-hitting vegans with any nutritional sense at all know that kale, swiss chard, spinach, and collard greens are regarded as nutritional goddesses in the plant-based world.  But, my dear L will not touch them.  Whole, raw, cooked, or OVER-cooked (not by me, mind you) she runs from greens like they were a steaming bowl of toxic waste.

This makes me sad, as I do love me a big plate of sautéed greens, but just as she does not bring meat and dairy in our home for me to cook, so do I choose NOT to base a whole meal around dark, leafy greens.  That's just not fair... (I wait 'til she's somewhere else for dinner, and then go crazy)!

So, a while back, we watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netlfix.  We are truly documentary gluttons, and can crank through 4 or 5 in one sitting if the mood strikes.  This particular story struck a chord in L, and she toyed with the idea of possibly wanting to try a juice fast, or at least add raw juice into our diets.  But juicers are expensive, and noisy, and messy, and I needed another appliance like I needed a hole in the head.  Plus with L's intense hatred of leafy greens, I though the whole juice fast idea would go down in flames with her first sip of a freshly pressed curly kale leaf.

Fast forward to the week of July 4th, 2012.  Provincetown Vacation - one whole week of fun and sun!

There is the most fantastic organic market in town:  141 Bradford Natural Market which is a vegan's dream come true.  It's a tad on the pricey side, but when you rent a beach house for the week, and bring in all your own food, it's nice to know there is a place where you can run in, and pick up hummus, freshly baked bread, soy coffee creamer, kombucha or even Daiya cheese, if you want!

They also have a RAW JUICE BAR.

We wandered in the there on day 2 of our vacation, just to check the place out.  L found herself in line at the juice bar, and ordered herself up a big, tall glass of GREEN juice: kale, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger, to be exact.  With her hatred of all things green, I thought to myself "why on Earth..."?? So, I waited with baited breath at her reaction to her first sip...

Well, she thought it was FANTASTIC, and I, well let's just say, I was thrilled. And, it was there I knew, that juicing was in our future ^_^

My Favorite Sauteed Kale

Photo by Spongebob Chefpants!

Today, I am sharing one of my favorite kale recipes, as well as sharing the photo talents of some of my online cooking buddies over at Food.com. 

Now, as food bloggers, we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.  But sometimes timing, lighting and HUNGER are not always on our side!  I have yet to snap a decent picture of my sauteed kale, but some of my internet cooking friends, who were nice enough to take the time to make and review my recipe, did!  Photo credits with links under each pic!  I encourage you to check out their recipes on Food.com, and while they might not be vegans, they are both 'veggie friendly'.  After all, they did both take the time to make sauteed KALE, (quite beautifully, I might add), so I think that maybe gives them an honorary degree...



Photo by Rita~

 MY FAVORITE SAUTEED KALE

I LOVE kale and this is how I like to make it almost every time. It is simple and delicious.

Now, I am a hot pepper flake chick, but if that's too much for you, just leave it out. Great as a side dish, but I can eat this as my main meal, maybe just add some chickpeas or cannelini beans in at the end of cooking time. If stems aren't your thing, leave them out.  I usually de-stem the leaves, then chop up the tender parts of the stems, leaving the rough ends behind.


INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 lbs kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1/2 cup vegetable stock or 1/2 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
• Add crushed red pepper flakes, if using, and let them sizzle a bit in the oil.
• Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored.
• Raise heat to high, add the stock and kale and toss to combine.
• Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
• Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all (most) the liquid has evaporated. I like the kale to still remain bright-ish green.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.





Photo by Rita~

Minstrone with Kale

"Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite."   Auguste Escoffier




From Color Me Vegan, by Colleen Patrick Goudreau:

"The Italian word minestrone, refers to a large, hearty soup. The soup itself is part of what is known in Italy as cucina povera - literally 'poor kitchen,' referring to the necessity of creating dishes based on what was available and in season. As it has been passed down through the ages, there is no fixed recipe and lends itself to many variations".

There are many things I love about this recipe:  First of all, it is simple, hearty, and tastes wonderful.  And second, it contains one of my all-time favorite leafy greens: KALE! 

Here are four fun (little known) nutritional facts about kale:

1. Kale eases lung congestion and is beneficial to the stomach, liver and immune system
2. It contains lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect the eyes from macular degeneration
3. It also contains indole-3-carbinol, which may protect against colon cancer
4. Kale is an excellent source of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and chlorophyll

Another component to this recipe that I really like, is the step of boiling the small pasta separate from the soup itself. That way the pasta doesn't get overcooked, or soak up all the broth by the time it's finished cooking. The addition of bay leaves REALLY adds a wonderful depth of flavor; a flavor that my 'chicken soup loving, dark leafy green hating' family gobbled up eagerly.  There was barely one bowl's worth left, which always makes me happy ^_^

If you do not already have this gorgeous book, there are some sample recipes listed here, and the Minestrone with Kale is one of them!

I did make two small changes from Colleen's original recipe: First, I added 3 stalks of chopped celery along with the carrots, because you can't have soup without celery! It just gives it that special home made soup "taste".  And second, I used chickpeas instead of cannellini beans.  The first time I made this delicious soup, I didn't have white beans on hand, so of course, I subbed my old-standby: CHICKPEAS.   Well, I enjoyed them so much that I now use them every time I make the soup.  As they simmer in the both, they get so wonderfully soft and tender and compliment the hearty kale very well.  This soup is nice sprinkles with a bit of Vegan Parmesan.

"Soup of the evening, beautiful..." Lewis Carroll