Kale Salad with Feta Pecans Cranberries and Pickled Onion Dressing Salad Betrayal

SN - I forgive you and take you back.

All lovers in love have heard that sappy saccharine quote, "If you love something set it free and if it comes back to you, it was meant to be." I recently had an experience that made me think of that quote over and over and I questioned the veracity of those words.

One of my good friends loves my many kale salads. Every opportunity I have, I try and give her a kale salad to satisfy all her cravings. She always eats it with such relish and such willingness that in my head I was sure I had her undying devotion to my kale salads.

However, a few weeks ago, I was stunned to receive this text from her. "I cheated on your kale salad." Turns out she went to a local grocery store and PURCHASED A KALE SALAD BEHIND MY BACK! I am a jealous woman so I did not respond well.  I was stunned. I was shocked. I was hurt and part of me died a little. How could she go so easily to another kale salad when she had mine almost as much as she wanted? 

I sent a series of texts back to her.

Youre disloyal.

You dont deserve my kale salad.

Its over.

You cant ever get my kale salad again.

Youll never see any piece of my salad again.

She kept on interjecting in between my rant with empty words.

I liked yours more.

Yours tastes better.

I cant eat any other kale salad except yours.

Ive learned my lesson. 

Ill never stray away from your salads again.

I shut off my phone and refused to hear anymore from her and her useless words about how she would never stray from my kale salad again.  But in the night, I discovered that separating her from my kale salad out of pure spite and stubborness hurt me more than it hurt her.  

The next morning I texted.

I forgive you.  My kale salads forgive you.

Im happy to say that she went away from my kale salads and came back to them, so it must be meant to be.  My head was sure that she wouldnt stray, but now my heart knows she wont.  This harsh test of our relationship proves that we have what it takes to make it all the way, as long as my kale salad is involved.

To celebrate our reunion over kale salad, I made this new one for her, which has the exciting addition of pickled onions in the dressing, which just adds the right sharp and sour bite to a wonderful salad.  It touches on the Greek salad with the feta, but the richness of pecans mixed with the hearty kale just makes a truly satisfying salad.  Im confident that this salad will also help you maintain loyal relationships with those around you.

Kale Salad with Feta, Pecans, Cranberries, and Pickled Onion Dressing
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)

½ cup finely chopped red onions
¼ red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 cup pecans (small pieces are fine, as you’ll be processing them anyways)

½ dried sweetened cranberries
¾  cup crumbled feta cheese

Method
If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

In a large jar, add chopped red onions.  Pour red wine vinegar and sugar over onions and shake vigorously so as to coat onions with vinegar sugar mixture.  Add olive oil, salt, and pepper and set aside until rest of the salad is done, so that onions have time to pickle.  It’s okay if the dressing separates and the vinegar stays around the onions because it aids in the pickling process.

Preheat oven to 300.  Lay pecans on a cookie sheet.  Cook until fragrant and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.  Chop nuts finely, using a food processor.  Set aside.

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, pecans, cranberries and feta cheese.  Pour dressing over salad and toss.  The salad should get enough of the pickled onions for the full flavor.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

Printable recipe

This salad demands and commands loyalty.

Read More..

Shredded Kale Salad with Pecans Parmesan Cheese and Cranberries Learning isnt only winning

Both daughters finished an eye opening week of piano competitions and performances that made me say "WHAT?"  Ive seen the future of classical music, and while its alive and well, its probably not going to be driven by Daughters, which is perfectly fine with me.  Daughters competed for the experience, to hear wonderful music being played, and to practice and learn the value of taking a piece of music and working it on all angles to make it great.

Their great was good, but not as good as other peoples greats and that is still okay.  I never made it about the win (although I wanted a win, a little bit, secretly in my heart of hearts) and much more I wanted them to come out on the other side of the experience challenged, encouraged, but not discouraged.  I wrote a letter from #2 daughter to me, an imagined, fabricated one, but the one that represents what I hope she gained from this experience.

Dear Mom,

Thanks for the piano contest experience.  It was lots of hard work and I was angry when I didnt win.  You didnt seem angry though.  You were very calm, and your calm helped me to let go of my anger.  I really wanted to win and was surprised when I didnt, but you didnt seem to care much about the win, but kept on telling me that I had done a great job and you were proud of my effort.  I dont much like losing, but it isnt the worst thing to happen to me.

Next year I want to win, but I know that it isnt the most important thing.  I know that learning is the most important thing and Im thankful that I had a chance to learn and try something new.  Thanks for being by my side.

Love,
#2 Daughter.

If only we could control the lessons that our children learn from different experiences.  More often we just pray and hope that the right lessons are being learned.

In terms of this kale salad, no one Family is really a fan of raw kale.  I blend it into smoothies, I cook it in soups, but eating it raw in a salad hasnt been the family favorite, until now - with this salad.  They have actually learned to like this garlicky, lemony, cheesy salad (not Son of course) and Husband loves this salad so much, hell eat it every evening as part of his dinner.  No one liked it immediately (except me) but because I keep eating it and preparing it, and shredding that kale, theyve all come to enjoy it and I have to say, its been worth it.  I generally like to prepare a bunch of kale and pecans and then simply put the salad together when I need to eat it, which is generally every evening.

Shredded Kale Salad with Parmesan, Pecans, and Cranberries
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)
1 cup pecans (small pieces are fine, as you’ll be processing them anyways)
3 large garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½ dried sweetened cranberries, for garnish
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Method
If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

Preheat oven to 300.  Lay pecans on a cookie sheet.  Cook until fragrant and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes.  Chop nuts finely, using a food processor.  Set aside.

In a food processor, or with a garlic press, create finely chopped garlic. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and whisk together.  (If you are using food processor for garlic, add lemon juice to the garlic in the processor and process.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper to processor and give a quick pulse.)

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, and dress lightly with dressing.  Depending on the actual volume of kale you may need less dressing that what you’ve made.  Carefully coat all kale with the dressing then toss in pecans, cranberries, and parmesan cheese.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

Printable recipe

Everyone can learn to love this.

Read More..

Macaroni Salad When Im not prepared

Yesterday the entire family was invited to a Memorial Day barbecue pool party, only it was overcast and kind of sprinkling.  Our family chose to swim in our local indoor pool as a family and then showered and headed over to the pool party just to enjoy food and conversation.

When we arrived, quite a few children were already in the pool and jacuzzi jumping back and forth and having a blast swimming.  The clouds were grey and the water was definitely cold but they didnt seem to mind.  I thought smugly to myself that I was happy to have swum with Children earlier in a warm pool and could avoid the ice cold bath under grey skies and slightly drizzling skies.

After the meal, as I sat and relaxed and chatted with old friends, Daughter #2 and Daughter #1 came over and asked if they might dip their feet into the pool.  "Its cold.  Just be careful and dont fall in."  As both girls are strong swimmers, I didnt need to worry much and I just let them be.

After a few moments of rest however, I heard a splash, a screech from #1 yelling at #2, and I got up to investigate.  What I found was #2 fully clothed, in the water, trying to stay calm and nonchalant as #1 screeched and worried like a mother hen on the outside.  I walked over calmly, told #1 to calm down, and asked #2 to step out.  As I maintained my calm exterior, because I did not want to alarm #2 into a tantrum, I calmly walked over to a changing area, and stripped off Daughter #2s clothes.  Meanwhile Daughter #1 couldnt stop exclaiming over what had happened and I could tell Daughter #2, who is by nature sensitive and tense, was getting tenser and more upset.  I asked Daughter #1 to leave, and I sat Daughter #2 and laid out some hard facts.

"I have no clothes for you.  Your clothes right now are soaking wet.  Im not sure what Im going to be able to do, but for now, youll have to stay here in the towel until I can figure it out."

In the meanwhile, my head began whirring as I thought of what clothing I had available in the car.  Yoga mat.  Nope.  Teaching bag.  Not likely.  Reusable grocery bags.  Not helpful.  I ran to the car with the thoughts that perhaps, I had stuffed, unbeknownst to me, a pair of underwear and an extra change of clothes somewhere in my vast minivan.  My hunt in the van gave me two sweatshirt tops and a pile of cereal that Son had spilled a couple days prior. Underwear and dry appropriate clothing were nowhere to be found.

I came back holding the sweatshirts and got Daughter to wear her own sweatshirt in lieu of a shirt and whatnot, and I managed to create a fabulous skirt with two side pockets out of Sons sweatshirt, but Daughter #2 balked.  She broke down in tears and said she didnt want to wear it and wanted to go home right then and there.  A part of me was frustrated and the other part was just tired.  I asked her to stay and I walked over to my friend and asked if she might have some clothes that I could borrow.  Fortunately she did and the problem was solved.

When we got in the car to return home, with Daughter #2 wearing borrowed clothing, I asked Children what todays lesson was.  Daughter #2 piped up, "Never lean over a pool."  I added, "When going to a pool party, even if you arent going to swim, bring a change of clothing anyways."

This macaroni salad was something I had planned to bring to the party but somehow didnt get around to it and instead took Asian Quinoa Salad .  I ended up making this today to satisfy this rather strange and bizarre macaroni salad craving that Ive been fighting for a week.  It captured the exact flavors that I was looking for and made me happy to eat it.

Macaroni Salad
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients
1 lb of macaroni
8 eggs

1 cup of celery, diced (smaller pieces are better)
1 cup of onion, diced
1 cup of dill pickles, diced
¾ to 1 cup of mayonnaise (more if you like it super creamy, less if you like it a bit lighter)

1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook pasta according to package directions.  Make sure to salt the water.  Drain, rinse and set aside.

Cook eggs.  Place eggs in a heavy saucepan.  Cover fully with water.  Bring to boil.  Once water is boiling, cover pot, turn off heat, and set aside for 10 minutes.  Once 10 minutes have passed, rinse eggs in cold water, and peel.  Chop and set aside.

In a large bowl add drained and cooled macaroni, chopped eggs, celery, onion, and dill pickles.  Add mayonnaise and begin to toss together.  Carefully fold in all the vegetables.  Add more mayonnaise if desired.  Add paprika.  Season with salt and pepper.

Cover and refrigerate.  Before serving, check seasoning one more time.  Season with salt and pepper if necessary and sprinkle a little paprika for color.

Printable recipe

Read More..

Caesar Salad Life in 15 minutes

To my fearless moms-friends who work around their 15 minutes like the pros they are; youre awesome.

I think that a lot of parents will relate to the following statement about living with children: life gets measured in 15 minute increments.

I find myself planning my life in 15 minute moments of activity and inactivity.  Getting lunches ready in the morning?  15 minutes.  Taking a shower and getting ready?  15 minutes.  Walking to school?  15 minutes.  Grocery shopping? 30 minutes.  My day from the morning to the end of the night is planned in 15 minute increments.  When Im driving kids to different activities (one or two 15 minute increments) Im thinking of and planning the next 15 minute increment.

My mom friends and I regularly pull out our calendars and plan drop offs and activities in 15 minute increments.  My friends will work schedules around 15 minute increments.  And suddenly every single moment of my life is about the next 15 minutes.  And the next.  And the next.

Most household chores are a done over a series of 15 minute chunks.  Ill sort and manage to get one load of laundry started and another will be coming out of the dryer and I can start folding it, but 15 minutes isnt enough time to finish it all.  Ill start but not finish before I have to rush off to pick up the kids or start work.  I generally can make it through stripping the bed sheets of all the beds in 15 minutes, but I cant put the sheets back on in 15.  So Ill do one or two and then have to do the rest later in the day.  Dinner is mostly a series of 15 minute increments.  Usually I try to make it in two 15 minute increments, sometimes grabbing myself a 15 minute earlier in the day to finish the meal with another 15 minute later in the day.  As long as the kids are awake and hustling, my life is being boiled down to 15 minutes.

Sometimes, like on my birthday, the best present comes to you in an unexpected way.  As I rushed back from work on my birthday,  (yes I teach on Saturdays sometimes), I had in my head on the drive home (two 15 minute blocks) all the 15 minute tasks I had for the rest of the day.  First and foremost was emptying the dishwasher and cleaning up breakfast dishes and the rest of the kitchen that I hadnt had a chance to do before rushing off to teach.   I had whittled down the tasks to their most efficient order so that theyd be done in 15 minutes so I could begin my next tasks of getting the family lunch.  However, when I walked in, three cheerful children greeted me with the beautiful sight of my 15 minute activity all completed.  They had, of their own volition, cleaned the kitchen, emptied the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher and organized things in the kitchen on their own (as a birthday present.)  I was excited because I got an extra 15 minutes back more than I was about the cleaning that the kids did.

Therefore, I present to you my favorite 15 minute Caesar Salad.  I love this one because it doesnt use egg or mayo in the dressing, but rather relies on mustard to help emulsify the dressing.  The croutons are baked in the oven quickly, and while they are baking, lettuce is quickly cut and washed, and dressing is made.  It takes 15 minutes if your lettuce is pre-washed, and for some who arent so quick with the knife it could take 30 minutes.  However, the more you practice, youll get it down to a 15 minute chunk of time, and oh - is it worth it.  Rich, tangy, satisfying.  Sometimes I throw some chicken on top, but most of the time I just sit and enjoy it for what it is - 15 minutes of heaven.

Caesar Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
½ loaf crusty French bread
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons anchovy paste (available near the canned meats section of your supermarket)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (balsamic makes it nice and rich)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
Juice of a whole lemon
½ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper

3 hearts of romaine, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces
Shredded Parmesan

Method
Preheat oven to 425.  Cut loaf of bread into bite sized pieces.  Toss with olive oil and salt.  Place on baking sheet.  Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden.  Set aside.

While croutons are baking, in a food processor (or mini food processor) put anchovy paste, dijon mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and the juice of the lemon.  Process together and then slowly add olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss romaine with about ? of the dressing.  Sprinkle with parmesan.  Taste.  Add more dressing if desired.  Top with croutons and more Parmesan.  Finish with another sprinkling of black pepper.

Serve!

Printable recipe

Absolutely worth 15 minutes.

Read More..

Spiced Warm Chickpeas and Fresh Vegetable Salad When your student becomes your teacher

EDM - now we are even.

One of the most amazing things about teaching is the mastery that comes from teaching that thing that you know.  Im a better writer now than I was 20 years ago, because Ive been teaching writing for the past 20 years.  I often think back to high school and college and wish I had the depth of knowledge about writing I have now and shake my head at my innocence, my inexpertise, and my lack of writing ability.

If there is one thing Ive learned on this long journey as a teacher, Ive learned that when you can teach something well, it means you know something well.  If you cant teach it well, it often pushes you to learn it better so that you can teach it well.  This is why, for the past three years or so, Ive hired and paid my students to teach my own kids different skills.  Ive had a girls softball whiz, soccer stud, lefty baseball all-star, and my latest hire is a student drummer.  Hes worked with Son on his drumming for a few weeks, and my own arms and heart longed to take a few lessons myself, if only to pick up some of those small skills I think I need to become a decent drummer.  Unfortunately his availability and mine do not work out, so I havent been able to take a lesson.

However, last week, I had a really amazing opportunity and that was the chance to take a lesson.  Suddenly I found myself rubbing my hands with glee, not so much for the drum lesson itself, but for the opportunity to GET EVEN.  My drum playing student isnt exactly the model easy student to teach.  Everything comes with a question, a challenge, a refusal, a denial, and a mini argument before I get what I want out from him.  Dont get me wrong.  Im not angry about it, upset about it or think that its beyond my job.  It is my job and the questions, the challenges, refusals, denials and arguments all make me a better teacher.

But I was going to get to be in the drivers (students) seat for a bit, and it was going to be fun.  I planned in my head the things that I wanted to do, the behaviors I would exhibit, and the frustration I would cause him and I laughed the evil maniacal laughter of a true mastermind. [insert maniacal laughter here.  MUAHHAHAHHAHAHA.]  When the lesson started however, all thoughts of my torture flew out of my head because I was suddenly so keen to impress my student.  I discovered myself doing any number of insane things, all to impress my student with my mad skills.  (I dont have any, but still.)  He would call out and ask me to create certain basic rhythms and I would do my darnedest to perform them properly. Several times during the lesson I became so focused I tuned him out and he had to raise his voice (remember drums) to be heard.  At one point he raised his arms into the air and said, "THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!" when I refused to listen to him and instead insisted on showing him the beat that I could perform.

In the end, I got a little bit even.  And it was so worth it.  It was fun and I learned something.  I think my student also learned how tough it is to teach the know-it-alls and how teaching, at the end of the day, can be back-breaking, spirit-changing, brain-numbing work, but it is worth it.  During the lesson I wasnt able to recreate a certain rhythm on the drums, but after my lesson, I practiced that rhythm over and over more than 30 minutes, and suddenly I mastered it.  I sent him a video, and his mom responded, "I think he was impressed."  I actually think he was impressed that he was able to teach me something.

Now this salad impresses me all the time.  Whenever I make it (and Ive made it multiple times) I find myself saying, "Dang.  Im a great cook."  It really is only salad but somehow the addition of the warm spiced chickpeas takes it to a whole different place.  I love it with a little bit of yogurt and I love it as the side dish to the cardamom chicken dish I posted earlier.  Impress yourself if youd like and make this fantastic salad.

Spiced Warm Chickpeas and Fresh Vegetable Salad
Adapted from Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
Serves 4

Ingredients
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼  teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 small cucumbers, cut into a ¼ inch dice
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and deveined, cut into ¼ inch dice
½ of a small red onion, peeled, and cut into small dice
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
¼ cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley

5 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon zested
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 clove of garlic crushed
salt and pepper to taste

Method
In a small bowl, toss together chickpeas, cumin, cardamom,cinnamon, salt and olive oil.  Toss and coat chickpeas well.

In a large bowl, place cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, cilantro and flat leaf parsley.

In a jar or a sealable container, mix together olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, garlic and salt and pepper.  Set aside.

In a fry pan, add spiced chickpeas and fry over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until chickpeas are slightly golden and warm.   Keep warm.

Serve salad by tossing vegetables and herbs with dressing, and adding a bit of warm chickpeas on top.  A dollop of yogurt is also a nice condiment.

Printable recipe

With Cardamom Chicken Rice with a dollop of yogurt

A really wonderfully inspiring cookbook. The pictures make me so hungry

Read More..

Gorgonzola Tomato Salad Riding without training wheels

I am finally done with training wheels.  Im finished teaching Children how to ride without their wheels. Son learned how to ride on his own, without his two helper wheels a couple of days ago, and Im thrilled to be done with this phase of life.  Now everyone can ride their own two wheelers and its one less thing I have to worry about teaching them.  

Each time Ive taught Children how to ride, its been difficult, because there is fear in learning how to balance.  There is fear about falling and there is fear of failure.  They each wonder if they wont be able to actually ride the bike.  Each child dealt with these fears in different ways.  Daughter #1 closed her eyes, clenched her teeth and faced her fear head on.  Daughter #2 calculated her fear against the benefits, and adamantly sat on the sidelines refusing to do it.  Son kept on wanting to try, but needed continual reassurance that someone was right nearby to catch him, should he fall.

And each child managed to overcome his or her fear and learn to ride.  I did have one rule for all of them, and it was try it 10 times before they could give up.  Daughter #1 kept on trying it way beyond the 10, and mastered it quickly.  Daughter #2 and I fought for every single one of those tries - each one was a battle of her screaming and my cajoling her and reminding her, reassuring her and finally forcing her to finish her 10 tries. (She was riding by try 11.)  Son only wanted to try 2 times, but I explained that no one could learn it in two times, and that each time it would get better.  Each try for him was a look of fear on his face followed by whines of reluctance and complaints of how he didnt like his bike anyways.  

And it made me think about different fears that I have.  What do I fear?  And what can I try over and over again 10 times and see if I cant overcome my fear?  After all, Ive asked Children to do it - what can I do?  It came to me.  I want more practice praying for the impossible.  Ive had experience praying for healing for others, and praying for things for other people - but I want more practice praying boldly for me.  I want more practice asking God boldly for what it is that I want.  I dont want to fear failure, lack of faith, or disappointment.  I want to practice asking boldly.  10 times as it were.  So Ive begun this prayer.  10 times to ask for what it is that I think that I cannot ask for.  Ill let you know how it turns out.

In the meanwhile, I challenge all of you who are scared to cook and scared to try new things to try this simple salad.  You cant mess it up, I promise.  If youre invited to a bbq in the next couple of days or to a potluck dinner where you know the host is cooking up some nice steak or tri-tip, bring this.  

Gorgonzola Tomato Salad
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1 lb cherry tomatoes (a variety is lovely)
½ cup finely chopped red onion
½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Slice cherry tomatoes in half. Place in bowl. Add chopped onion and cheese. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over. Toss and season with salt and pepper.

If you are taking this to a potluck, place tomatoes, red onion, and cheese in a bowl. Add olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper right before serving.

Printable recipe

Read More..

Asian Quinoa Salad Late nights in the kitchen

Because Husband works long hours, I often have to serve a second dinner (I eat with Children at a normal hour) closer to 9 or sometimes even 10 pm.  This means setting the table a second time, laying out dishes, reheating, or preparing another meal at the later hour, and  as Husband is particularly against eating alone, sitting with him while he consumes food.

The other evening, as he sat in front of an uninspired meal (his opinion not mine) he suddenly lit up and said, "Oh!  I ate this REALLY yummy thing, kind of couscous like, but not really, kind of rice like, but not really, kind of pasta, but not that either.  It was AWESOME!"

He looked so excited I began racking my brain and asked, "Was it quinoa?"

"Keen who?  I have no idea with that is."

I rummaged around and showed him a couple of pictures, and said, "Was it something like this?"

He nodded slowly and said, "I think so.  This one was AWESOME!  It had orange segments and some sort of dressing" and he waxed on and on about the number of servings he had of the dish as I mentally thought, "Quinoa?  Ive been making it for you and you keep rejecting it."

And so, because of my nutty need to be the source of all yummy food, I set out to make a yummy WOM version of quinoa.  I wanted light and bright Asian flavors, and just something that would taste good next to nearly everything.  I wanted it to be sturdy enough to take on picnics and bbqs this summer, and mild enough that everyone could enjoy.

This is the salad I made, and it is yummy.  I do think it tastes better chilled as it is refreshing and the little crunchy bits of bell peppers just make it taste extra fresh. If you wanted to venture out and add cilantro (I would love to only Husband is not a fan) I think it would also taste really good.

Asian Quinoa Salad
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup finely chopped scallions
1 cup finely chopped bell peppers (red, orange or yellow)

Method
In a large heavy saucepan add quinoa, water, and salt.  Bring to a boil uncovered, and once boiling, cover, and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until all water is absorbed.  Check to see that quinoa is translucent and the germ is visible (the fine line).  Remove from heat and remove quinoa from pot to cool.  Set aside.

While quinoa cools, whisk together oil, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and salt and pepper.  Pour over quinoa and toss.  Add bell peppers and scallions.   Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Can be served at room temperature or chilled (which I think tastes even better!)  Allow to cool and then refrigerate if you want to have it cold.

Printable recipe

The measuring cups where I love to whisk my dressings.  Awesome kitchen tool.

Read More..

Shredded Kale Avocado Salad Have you had enough kale yet

I know inwardly youre groaning.  AGAIN Joanne?  MORE KALE AGAIN?  Whats with the kale?

Every week, the farmers in my neighborhood comes by and I go and buy armloads of fresh Tuscan kale.  I bring it home and spend about an hour washing, drying and shredding the kale so that I can always have a kale salad, at the ready.  I love kale salad because they are hearty, hold up well, and taste great in a number of different permutations, and this avocado kale version is one inspired by a friend of mine who told me that Whole Foods makes a version that always gets picked over because people take all the avocados.

In your home version, however, you can just add so many avocados (or as many as youd like) so that NO ONE can pick out all of your avocados.  I love this version of kale salad for its brightness combined with the richness of the avocados.  You are satisfied after consuming it and probably your insides are happy to be so green with all of those great antioxidants.  Dont knock it until you try it (I know you there are kale haters out there) and a little bit of kale goes a long way in making you feel pretty darn great.

If you’ve never dealt with dinosaur/lacinato kale, you’ll need to remove the stem before trying to eat it.  I’ve found the fastest way is to simply grab the stem with one hand, and with the other, start at the base of the leaf, and it a quick motion, strip the leaf upwards until the stem is left stripped.  I save the stem and chop it finely and put it in my vegetable soups.   I find it much easier to wash the kale after the stem has been removed.  Wash, dry very well in a salad spinner, and then shred.  The smaller the shred, the better the texture in the salad.

Shredded Kale Avocado Salad
Serves 3 to 4

Ingredients
3 medium bunches Lacinato/dinosaur kale, washed and rinsed well, finely chopped (8 cups chopped)
2 or 3 large ripe avocados, cut into large chunks
3 large garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼  cup extra virgin olive oil
¼  teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Method
In a food processor, or with a garlic press, create finely chopped garlic. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and whisk together.  (If you are using food processor for garlic, add lemon juice to the garlic in the processor and process.  Add olive oil, salt and pepper to processor and give a quick pulse.)

In a large salad bowl add shredded kale, and dress lightly with dressing.  Depending on the actual volume of kale you may need less dressing that what you’ve made.  Carefully coat all kale with the dressing then toss avocado chunks so that they are also coated with dressing.

Serve.  Because of the sturdy nature of kale, you can actually dress this salad and serve even 30 minutes later and it’s still delicious, although my preference is to eat it immediately.

Printable recipe

Keep all the avocados for yourself.

Read More..

Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea Salad My practical side

My friends often sit by and cringe as they watch the choices I make in the name of practiciality.  For example, to commemorate 19 years of relationships with Husband, I chose to purchase (for myself) a brand new dishsoap dispenser for my kitchen.  The other one I had was corroded and really beyond good use, and this was a lovely change of pace to something new and fantastic.  (I happen to really love my choice, which I picked up on a whim.)  Husband offered to take me out and buy me something, and instead, I chose my soap dispenser.  One girlfriend sarcastically commented that her relationship her husband was 23 years old and what should she get?  The automatic trashcan shes been wanting was my response.  For me, every time I do the dishes, and I press down on the dispenser, Im reminded of how long our relationship has lasted.  Its the practical gift that keeps on giving!

In case you also want to experience a practical and fantastic gift, link below.  

I say this not to brag, but simply to wonder aloud - have I become TOO practical?  I wonder if perhaps a bit of softness might be good for me, or perhaps, maybe what I may need may be some romance.  However, Children, Husband, Job, Work, Volunteering take up a lot of my time and therefore my default is simply practicality.  I cant have everything, I cant do everything, I cant be everything, but I can stay focused and be practical.  I know that there are husbands out there who are silently wishing that their wives would be super practical as well, but let me give you the caveat that no - its not really as good as it sounds.  (Ill have Husband detail to you on that aspect.)

Nevertheless, practicality wins out, and no place more than in my kitchen.  I like my food easy to prepare, and delicious to eat and if it does both of those things, its a winner in my book.  Therefore, when I saw a recipe in Gwyneth Paltrows Its All Good  for cauliflower and chickpeas together in a salad, I couldnt turn my back on it, and in fact, I simply had to make it.  I tweaked her version (addition of golden raisins - my friend SHs fabulous idea) as well as the use of lemon juice instead of vinegar, simply to be ornery.  This salad is lucious, delicious, easy to make, tastes good and is good for you as well.  Its the perfect salad to serve at room temperature (or even warm) and youll be surprised at the chewy texture of the chickpeas as well as the zing of the dressing.  Its definitely a keeper in my kitchen as the simplicity of preparation makes it super yummy.   Great as a side to grilled chicken, or as the perfect vegetarian entree, with some toasted bread.

In the Name of Practicality!

Roasted Cauliflower Chickpea Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients 
14-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained and dried in a kitchen towel
1 head of cauliflower, outer leaves removed and discarded, cut into bite sized pieces
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (dressing), and 3 tablespoons for drizzling
salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon seeded mustard
Freshly ground black pepper
? cup golden raisins
¼ cup chopped Italian parsley

Method
Preheat the oven to 400ºF and set the rack in the middle.

Toss the chickpeas and cauliflower together in a large roasting pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a big pinch of salt.

Roast, stirring now and then, until everything is golden brown and the cauliflower is tender,  30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the lemon juice, mustards, and ¼ cup of olive oil with salt and a few healthy grinds of black pepper.

While the chickpeas and cauliflower are still warm, toss them with the mustard dressing, raisins,  and the parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Printable recipe

And in case you were thinking about her new book, its really a great read with lots of interesting ideas on how to eat better and improve your health.

Read More..