Kale and Red Pepper Salad with Garlic-Tahini Dressing

I just made this for lunch and had to share. It was inspired by the Tunisian Kale Salad in Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet, I created my own variation here.

*note: I do not really measure when making salads, so everything is an approximation and can be adjusted to your preference.

serves approx. 2

Ingredients

For the Salad:

• 1-2 cups kale, de-vined
• 1/2 cup shredded green cabbage
• 1/2 cup pea shoots, chopped (you can get these at Trader Joes or use other spout-like variations)
• cilantro, chopped
• basil, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• handful of sunflower seeds

For the Dressing:

• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast
• olive oil and water (use as much or as little of each as you like)
• juice of 1 lemon
• agave, to taste
• ginger
• cayenne
• garlic salt

Instructions

Combine all the veggies in a big bowl.

Combine all the dressing ingredients.  Depending on how liquid, oil-based or water-based you prefer your dressing, use as much or as little oil/water combination as you like.

Pour the dressing over the salad and gently coat.

mangia! 

Eat Your Greens!

These are a couple of my go-to salads lately.  They are fairly simple to put together and have quite a bit of flavor, crunch and texture.

Super Green Salad

Ingredients

• 1 stalk romaine
• 1-2 cups kale
• 1/2 cup roasted corn (I like Trader Joes frozen)
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• olive oil

For the Dressing:

• salt, pepper, cayenne
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1 lemon
• olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.  Drizzle kale with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in oven for 7-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop all ingredients in place into a bowl.  When kale is crispy, add to the salad.

For the dressing: Mix olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, pepper and cayenne until blended.  Pour over salad and give it a shake so the salad is coated with all the dressing.

Sweet Asian Salad with Soy-Lime Dressing

Ingredients

• 1/4 head red cabbage
• 1-2 cups crispy kale (roasted as explained above)
• 1 stalk romaine
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1-2 pears
• 1 avocado
• fresh parsley

For the Dressing:

• 1 lime
• Soy Sauce
• Olive Oil
• Rice Vinegar
• Honey
• Salt, pepper, cayenne

For the salad: Prepare the kale as explained above, and chop the remaining ingredients.  Add the kale to the salad.

For the Dressing: Blend all ingredients together and then pour the dressing over the salad. Shake and coat and enjoy!

mangia!

Juice For All!

I’ve been into juicing for a while now, but recently Matt has gone a little juice crazy.  We drink a green juice almost every morning, but as of last week we’ve been experimenting with all sorts of combinations. Some of you have been asking for recipes, so I thought it would be helpful to post some of the delicious combinations we’ve come up with.  Also, if you are interested in why juicing is good for you, check out ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead‘ or read Kris Carr’s ‘Crazy Sexy Diet‘.

Note: To make this juice, you will need a juicer.  The Breville Ikon Juice Fountain is a good middle-ground juicer, but depending on your budget there are others that work nicely both more expensive or cheaper.

All these recipes make about 16oz of juice.

Super Green Juice

• 1 cucumber
• 3-4 stalks of celery
• 3-4 carrots
• 2 apples/pears (or 1 of each)
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 lemon or lime
• parsley

Purple Sunrise Juice

• 1/2 head red cabbage
• 1 beet
• 1 apple
• 3-4 carrots
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 lemon

Spicy Green Juice

• 1 green chile pepper
• 1-2 cups kale, chopped
• 3-4 stalks celery
• 2-3 carrots
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 lemon

Rainbow Juice

• 1/2 head red cabbage
• 2-3 carrots
• 2-3 stalks celery
• 1 green apple
• 1 inch ginger
• 1 lime

Apple Pie Juice

• 1 butternut Squash
• 1 sweet potato
• 2 apples
• cinnamon
• nutmeg

Color-Me-Green Smoothie

They say ‘greens’ are the best nutrition we can get. So, drink up and start your day off right!

serves 1

Ingredients

• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 of a lime
• 1/2 of a kiwi
• a handful of kale
• splash of soy milk and/or orange juice

Instructions

Chop if necesarry, blend and drink!

mangia!

A Reason to Celebrate

Birthdays are the best these days because they’ve become a reason to cook delicious meals.  So for KARs birthday last night, given the recent transistion of spring air, we decided it would be appropriate to celebrate in a green fashion – with a well-balanced vegan, green (get your greens in!) meal.  The menu included a beautiful Spring Green Pizza (recipe below), Roasted Kale, Easy Breezy Broccoli Soup (below) and for dessert (drumroll please….) we went for the ever-fab, decadent carob-ice cream-sandwiches (which actually ended up as sandwich blobs, but still tasted yummy).  So there you have it.  A birthday feast.  And I bet you want to be my friend now, dont you :)  Well, truth be told, when you have good people + good food, it only means one thing..eat, drink and celebrate!

Spring Green Pizza

serves about 4

Ingredients

• 1 Pizza Dough Crust
• 1 cup of Vegan Basil Pesto

For the ‘Ricotta’

• 1 cup tofu
• salt, pepper, garlic salt, cayenne
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• juice of 1 lemon

For the Toppings

• 1 cup broccoli, steamed
• 1 cup spinach, sauted or steamed
• 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• olive oil
• fresh basil, chopped

Instructions

Make the pizza dough and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the Basil Pesto and set aside.

Next, for the ‘Ricotta’ crumble up the tofu until it resembles ricotta and add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic salt and cayenne.  Then blend in the nutritional yeast and add 2 tbsp olive oil.  Set aside.

Next (or simultaneously), steam the broccoli and spinach (separately) and set aside.

To assembly the pizza:  Stretch out your dough (making sure to add enough flour or cornmeal to the bottom of the pizza stone or pan).  I like to cook my dough for about 5 minutes on 425 degrees prior to dressing it up (it creates some structure to the crust).

Drizzle the crust with some olive oil and spread the pesto on the bottom.  Then spread the broccoli and spinach next.  Then sprinkle the ‘ricotta’ and sun-dried tomatoes.  Top it with some fresh, chopped basil.

Drizzle again with olive oil and hot pepper flakes if desired and place in oven for about 15-20 minutes (just until the bottom is lightly brown).

and voila!

…and to precede the pizza pie, a nice, healthy bowl of soup.

Easy Breezy Broccoli Soup

Serves about 4

Ingredients

• 2 heads of broccoli, chopped and steamed
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp veggie base or cube
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic salt to taste

Instructions

Boil water and add veggie broth base until blended.  Meanwhile, in a separate sauce pan, steam broccoli and strain. Then, puree in food processor and slowly add veggie broth.

Put pureed broccoli + broth back into sauce pan and simmer on low heat.  Add lemon juice, nutritional yeast and spices to taste.  Serve warm with rustic bread.

mangia!

Crispy Kale and BBQ Tempeh

Im back in the kitchen, after a short hiatus.  The many visitors in town over the last couple weeks kept me busy entertaining, however not busy cooking. (Lucky for me though, we enjoyed some fav DC restaurant spots including Founding Farmers, 2Amys and Sawatadee).

Tonight, I started with kale and tempeh and ended up with two delicious recipes to share.  Prior to this, Ive primarily used a simple olive oil and sea salt marinade for the kale – which is good, but basic.  I have to say the noosh + lemon juice + cayenne add something special.  Crispy and light, salty and spicy.  You never knew kale this good.

Crispy Kale

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of kale, rinsed and chopped
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1/8 cup nutritional yeast + 1/3 cup water
• sea salt, fresh ground pepper, paprika, cayenne (all to taste)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Place kale in a large bowl and set aside.  Combine marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix until blended.  Pour marinade over kale and coat it completely.
Lay out kale on cookies sheets and place in oven for about 1 hour or until kale is crispy.*

*Note: cooking on low heat for an extended period of time is an alternative to dehydrating.  To get the kale very crispy, it is important to use this method.  However, if you are short for time or prefer the kale in a more soggy, marinated form, cook at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Tempeh soaked in Homemade BBQ Sauce
serves about 2

Ingredients

• 1 package of tempeh

For the BBQ Sauce

• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/8 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 agave nectar
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine all ingredients for sauce in a small sauce pan over medium and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Slice tempeh into strips and combine with 2/3 of the BBQ sauce and let sit for a couple minutes.  Set aside the other 1/3 of the sauce to serve with later.  Place BBQ sauce soaked tempeh on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve with extra BBQ sauce on small buns or solo with kale.

mangia!

Maple-Grilled Tempeh with Quinoa and Kale

The marinade is great for anything.  I like to marinate portobello mushrooms or tofu in it or drizzle it on veggies before roasting.  This recipe is for tempeh and delicious served on a bed of quinoa with a green vegetable (broccoli, kale, spinach or a combo).

serves about 2

Ingredients

• 1 package of tempeh, cut into triangles
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• 1 bunch of kale, chopped

Marinade

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 2 clove of garlic, chopped (or garlic salt works too)
• 1 tsp tabasco, hot sauce or cayenne
• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water or veggie broth

Instructions

Slice tempeh into small triangle.

Combine all marinade ingredients together and soak tempeh for a good 15-20 minutes.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan and saute tempeh until browned.  Use the remainder of the marinade to coat the broccoli/kale and add to the tempeh in the saute pan.  Cook for just about 3-4 minutes, until veggies are soft (but not overcooked).

Meanwhile, combine quinoa and water (or veggie broth) over medium heat, cover and simmer until water is absorbed.  Once quinoa is cooked, add it to the tempeh and veggies mixing all together and serve.

mangia!