I love kale. Seriously, I do. Besides Swiss Chard, Kale is my favorite vegetable. Hearty and packed full of nutrients, it’s the ultimate plant-food. However, I know few share my same sentiments. I often get quizzical looks from my clients when I ask them if they’ve ever tried Kale. My question is either quickly dismissed with “Don’t like it” or “Don’t know how to prepare it.”
I gave a talk on Breast Cancer and preventative nutrition last week and was racking my brain on what I could bring for a recipe demo. After playing around in the kitchen a few weekends ago, I came up with this: Raw Kale Ceaser Salad. I figured it was familiar enough for everyone to be willing to try it and also highlights Kale.
Raw Kale Ceasar Salad
Ingredients:
Dressing:
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juice and zested
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. white miso
1 bunch Tuscan Kale
1/4 cup good-quality bread crumbs (or make your own-very easy!)
1 cup white northern (Cannellini) beans (if using canned, drain and rinse)
3 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Rinse and pat dry kale leaves. Stack leaves and roll up like a cigar. Starting at the end, thinly slice “ribbons” of kale, like a wide chiffonade and set aside in a large bowl.
Make dressing:
*Using food processor: Combine all ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend until creamy.
*By hand: Make a garlic paste: thinly mince the garlic and place into a pile. Using the back of a large knife, press the minced garlic down and scrape until a paste forms. Add the garlic to a bowl with the garlic, salt, lemon juice, zest and miso. Mix together and whisk in the extra virgin olive oil until smooth and creamy.
Toss with the kale and let sit for 10 minutes. This allows the kale to “wilt”.
Add the rest of the ingredients- the beans, the cheese, and the breadcrumbs. Toss to combine and enjoy!
Per serving (4): 219 calories, 12g fat, 19g CHO, 6g fiber, 8.4g protein
How do you like to prepare Kale?
Happy Food Day! A nationally recognized day devoted to “Eating Real” started by one of my favorite groups, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI is all about encouraging people to support healthy, affordable food grown in a sustainable, human way. Music to my ears and exactly what this blog is all about. Showcasing how delicious and often simple whole foods are.
The CSPI through Food Day is asking to you Eat Real! Since most of our food consumption is backed by lobbyist and big agriculture, the CSPI is asking you to take a stand to promote better food. DK is on board, you can send your message here:
To nail down the massive problems with our food supply Micheal Jacobsen, executive Director of CSPI came up with these six guiding principles:
1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers
My favorite quote from Micheal Jacobson sums up what Food Day is really about,”CSPI does a lot of work on food safety, but that causes fewer deaths than heart disease and cancer related to diet, we thought it was important to bring in food justice issues. When you think about our food system, it’s really made possible by the animals that are living in misery and the farmworkers who work in miserable conditions with low pay. Workers especially in slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants—dangerous, dangerous places—are usually not unionized.”
What are you doing to promote Food Day? I am gathering friends over for a Food Day potluck, everyone has to bring their favorite “real food” meal. I’m making my newest obsession, Kale salad. That recipe will be posted on Wednesday.
Have a wonderful Food Day!
Time for another Recipe Redux and this month’s theme is appropriately “Fresh from the Pumpkin Patch.” A delicious and versatile vegetable, pumpkin can be used in sweet dishes (like my pumpkin pancakes) or savory entrees. Fresh pumpkin is very easy to use but feel free to substitute the canned variety. I am a huge squash lover, I think I ate zucchini almost every day this summer and am starting to do the same with pumpkin. I can’t get enough. Besides eating it I recently made this body butter, a perfect way to use up leftover canned pumpkin- I highly recommend it!
These enchiladas are amazing. Homemade tortillas stuffed with black beans and pumpkin (can sub sweet potatoes) topped with a smoky chipotle-pumpkin sauce. These orange and black enchiladas would also be perfect for Halloween!
Black Bean & Pumpkin Enchiladas
Filling:
1 1/2 cups pumpkin and/or sweet potatoes, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 zucchini or squash, chopped
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
Flour tortillas (or corn tortillas)
Enchilada Sauce:
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 tsp. cumin
3 tbsp. enchilada sauce
4 dried chipotle chilis
salt/pepper
To make sauce: Reconstitute dried chipotle chilis in hot water. Let soak for 10 minutes. Drain water off chilis and place into a blender. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and puree until smooth. If too thick, add a bit more broth. Set aside until enchiladas are prepped.
To make enchiladas: Cook onion in a medium sauce pan with 2 tbsp. olive oil. Add spices and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the pumpkin/potatoes and cook for 15 minutes adding a bit of vegetable broth if potatoes start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the squash and cook until soft. Stir into black beans.
Now you are ready to make the enchiladas. Pour 1/2 cup of the sauce into a 9X13 casserole dish. Place 1 tortilla on a cutting board and add ~1/4 filling, may need more or less depending on the size of your tortilla. Roll up and place seem side down in the casserole dish. Continue with the rest of the tortillas and cover with the rest of the enchilada sauce. Top with cheese, if using, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Enjoy!
Check out what my other Redux-ers made with pumpkin this month:
I completely forgot how useful the crock-pot was until recently. Tucked away in my kitchen closet, my crock-pot usually gets used for the Superbowl to hold chili dip and that’s about it. We were out searching for a new home this weekend and I made this soup to come home to. It was so easy, healthy and delicious. To make a quick weeknight meal, try it over quinoa instead of brown rice, which cooks in just 15 minutes.
Ingredients:
4 large carrots (about 1/2 cup chopped)
4 squash (about 1/2 cup chopped)
1 medium onion
1 red pepper
8 celery stalks (about 1/2 cup chopped)
3-4 potatoes, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
3 cups vegetable broth
Spices:
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or less if you like it less spicy)
1/2 tsp. chili powder
large pinch of salt/pepper
Stove top directions: Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large sauce pan. Add chopped onion, minced garlic, pinch of salt and sweat until translucent. Add vegetables and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Add spices and broth. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes. Serve over cooked quinoa.
Crock pot directions: Turn power to high. Add olive oil, onion, garlic and spices. Stir a few times to combine and cook for 5 minutes. Stir the vegetables in and add the broth. Turn down to low until ready to serve.
*If you have more time, cook the vegetables in a sauce pan like the stove top directions and add to the crockpot with the broth on low heat until ready to serve.
Per serving 8: 209 calories, 8g fat, 6g fiber, 6g protein
What’s your favorite crockpot meal?
