Kale and White Bean Caesar Salad

I highly recommend this salad! Just not the dressing (I tried a healthy raw vegan caesar dressing which turned out to have a check beside every important category except 'tasty' - it wasn't bad, the salad was still yum, but we can do better).

Go find yourself a good caesar dressing recipe (UPDATE: I suspect this one might be perfect!!) and make this delicious, beautiful, healthy salad.

Kale & White Bean Caesar Salad

1. Chop up a whole ton of dinosaur kale.  I mean really chop it. I hate big leaves in my salad, and for kale you especially want to "tame" it by chopping it to bits with a big chef's knife.
2. Massage the leaves with your (good) caesar dressing. Besides coating the leaves very well, massaging helps tenderize the kale, so they say.
3. Toss in some sundried tomatoes (in oil, or dried ones reconstituted by soaking in warm water for 15 minutes), navy or other white beans (isn't it ironic that navy beans are white?), and homemade croutons (cut bread into squares, toss with oil and salt, toast under a double broiler).
4. Season heavily with black pepper. If your caesar dressing isn't salty enough, you can add salt to taste to the salad.

Sexy tattooed arms not included.

Fun Vegetable Tray for Nori Burritos

I've said this before.  I most enjoy cooking and eating when I can have fun with the food.  My little veggie tray isn't anything impressive, but I had fun building it all the same.  I filled it with fun foods, things I love to eat.  Some foods, like the Georgia peaches and heirloom tomatoes, I've eaten since I was a baby.  Others, like the daikon root, are new to me.  And I included a food I've never tried before, a picked cabbage called kim chee.

I always get excited about trying new food!  If you like pickles, you will like kim chee.  It comes in a jar in the refrigerated produce section. I loved it.

From left to right, there's kim chee, avocado, daikon, blanched zipper peas in their pods, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, and peaches.  We drizzled ume vinegar over some of the vegetables, others we used to make nori burritos.  You can see the nori sheets in the background.  Nori is a sea vegetable which is just about as good for you as a food can get.

And of course, I sprinkle seeds on everything for crunch. Those are pumpkin seeds in the background.

I think I've talked enough about The Kind Diet so it's clear I'm a fan.  But since the book really has helped me change the way I eat, I can't tout it enough.  Four months ago, I'd never even heard of shoyu-roasted seeds, ume vinegar, nori, or daikon.  But the Japanese have been eating this food for a long, long time.  The Kind Diet has made this information available to us.  It's an amazing resource and I'm grateful for it.

Salsa and Guacamole

Okay, I'm finally posting on my own recipe.  Actually, it isn't my own recipe, I'm pretty sure they've been doing something similar in Mexico for centuries.

Start with the things you see here. Roast one of the jalapenos; leave the other one or two jalapenos raw. DO NOT OMIT THE SEEDS as I mistakenly did, because you want this salsa to have a little kick.

Do you see how truly lazy I am about recipes? I can't even bear to measure so I take a picture and hope you get the gist.  I wonder... if I ever want to be a real chef or write a cookbook, if I'll have to be exact with my recipes.  They tell me, on NPR, that a good recipe must be very detailed.

Back to the salsa.  I don't like pico de gallo.  So, while you can chop all this and combine, I like mine pureed.  Blend all of the above in a food processor.  That's plum tomatoes, cilantro, onion, garlic, red bell pepper, jalapenos (one roasted, the others raw), and the juice from one or two limes.  The spices you see are salt, pepper, and chili powder.  I use cherry or plum tomatoes, especially in the winter, because they have better flavor than regular, out-of-season tomatoes.

If you make the salsa the day before you want to eat it, the flavor will be better.

...On to guacamole.  I've made guacamole a million times.  I was busy the other night, so I asked Chris to make the guac.  Granted, I set out all the ingredients for him.  But I am the expert, right?  So I thought I might have to tinker a little with his finished product.

Wrong.  His was better than when I make it.  I think it was because he only had one task, which was to make guacamole, while I am usually juggling several dishes.  :)

Black-Eyed Pea Falafel

It seems I'm working my way through The Kind Diet.  The recipes are so good, and just what I crave, that I've no incentive to try anyone else's recipes right now.  When summer comes, I'll start branching out.  Alicia Silverstone follows a macrobiotic diet, thus she eats alot of winter-friendly root vegetables, greens, dried beans, and rice.  When summer gets here, you better believe I'll be taking advantage of all the gorgeous tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, and strawberries!

I should say that while I never intended to eat "macrobiotically," I naturally eat this way because a macrobiotic diet is largely about eating what is fresh and in season.  I've also found that the macrobiotic recipes in The Kind Diet have made me feel really good in every way.  They comfort, calm, and replenish.  They seem to soothe both physical and mental anxiety.  I may sound wacky here, but I bet you understand what I mean whether you realize it or not.  It isn't a crazy concept, anyhow, that the most natural thing to do is eat what's in season.

I mean, for you Southerners out there, who know what it's like to grow, harvest, and cook your own food - when you eat a big plate of cream corn, collards, zipper peas, and cornbread, don't you feel nourished?  That feeling is what I'm trying to describe.

On to the black-eyed pea croquettes, or as I call them, falafel.  That's really what they are, just ground up black-eyed pea patties instead of chickpea patties.  They were pretty tasty, but could have been better since I'm not the best fryer.  I didn't check the temperature of the oil, so I burned the croquettes before they could cook sufficiently on the inside.  They weren't rendered inedible, though. :-)  Alicia serves hers with a malt barley syrup and dijon mustard dressing, seen in the background of the picture.  Personally, I recommend these stuffed in a pita with tahini sauce, cucumbers, and tomato.  Just like falafel!

To make the pea patties, grind raw, overnight-soaked peas in the food processor with cilantro and a couple teaspoons of soy sauce.  Form into croquettes and fry.  That's it!

Lettuce Wraps & Crostini Lunch

I used the leftover bean dip, red pepper ketchup, and veggies from last night's appetizer dinner to make crostini.

Chris flipped over these tofu wraps.  They're just leftover wonton filling (minus the egg) from the dumplings, topped with plum sauce.  Napa cabbage is actually better than lettuce for wraps.  It has more crunch than lettuce but, unlike other cabbages, has a mild, sweet taste. Make sure you use napa cabbage or lettuce, for the wraps as well as for the filling - not ordinary cabbage! :-)

Appetizer & Dip Party

Sometimes I get tired of one-pot dinners, or main dishes with three sides, or big dinner salads... basically, I just want things to be fun and different.  I think making several appetizers and having that for dinner - whether you're having people over, you have a family with kids to feed, or it's just two of you, like in my case last night - is a really fun change.  It makes things feel special and more interesting.  So last night we had three dishes with dip.  The first is a simple veggie platter with

white bean dip

:

I discovered that Chris loves radishes, as he ate them all immediately before he ate any of the other veggies! Who knew?

The second dish was fingerling potato fries with the 

roasted red pepper ketchup

 I made the day before.  All you do is toss these in olive oil, onions, and herbs and bake them on 350 for around an hour.  Roasted potatoes are one of our favorite dishes and I make them all the time.

Yes, that is indeed a John Deer tray.  I find that bringing this tray to parties is a great way to make things awkward in a fun way.

Okay, and the final dish was steamed veggie dumplings floating in miso soup with a plum dipping sauce.  Now that I know how easy wonton wrappers are to use, I'll be making these all the time and filling them with everything under the sun.

I made a plum sauce to accompany the dumplings, boiling down prunes because I had no plums with soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, garlic, fresh ginger, lemongrass, and tons of fresh and dried chilies.  I then needed to add a little water to thin it out, and even more chilies.  Let it sit over night in the fridge and that stuff is delicious.

Artichoke Dip & Pita Chips

This was yummy!  And so, so very good for you.  I love being able to eat artichoke dip and know that it's actually healthy.

Okay, I'll admit I cheated and added a Tbsp of vegenaise.

The only problem is I accidently pulsed the artichokes too long in the food processor, so there aren't those good chunks of artichokes in there. So make sure you don't over-process the artichokes.

This recipe is from Dreena Burton's cookbook

Eat, Drink & Be Vegan.

 What is special about Dreena's book is that she refuses to use anything processed. Period.

Artichoke Dip:

1/2 c baked potatoes (yukon gold or red)

2 T fresh lemon juice

1 T apple cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic

1 t dry mustard

3/4 t sea salt

2 T nutritional yeast

2-3 pinches ground black pepper

1 c soy milk

3 T olive oil

3 T fresh parsley

1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed and drained

1/4 c fresh basil

1/4 c kalamata olives

1/2 c bread crumbs

1/2 T olive oil

2 pinches sea salt

Pulse first 3 ingredients in food processor until just blended. Add 1/4 c of the soy milk and blend until smooth.  Add remaining milk, olive oil, and parsley and blend until smooth.  Add artichokes, basil, olives, and pulse just a couple times (if you pulse too long you'll have no chunks left so don't do it!! :))  Transfer to a baking dish, and top with bread crumbs tossed in olive oil and salt.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

By the way, the Kroger near my boyfriend's place doesn't sell nutritional yeast, so I used soy mozzarella cheese because I had it in the fridge.  I recommend using the nutritional yeast though.  I also added a little truffle oil on top.

For the chips, I bought mini pitas, sliced them in half, sprinkled them with cajun seasoning and olive oil, and baked them at 375 for 15 minutes.