Yummy Sandwiches and Chocolate Topped Energy Bars!

I was in the mood for a gigantic sandwich today and I envisioned a turkey, cheese avocado and slaw sandwich. I think I succeeded. I used Tofurky and Daiya products.

The slaw is a combination of kale, cabbage, red onion, carrot with a creamy Vegenaise based dressing with mustard.

BBQ pulled " pork" made with soy tvp chunks. I wanted to use jackfruit but didn't have any. This was great with the kale slaw!

Served on toasted white bread.

These are the usual energy bars I make but this time I had slightly less peanut butter than the recipe called for so the mixture seemed a little drier to me. The remedy for that was to add a layer of dark chocolate on top that I melted with coconut oil. Worked great!

The bottom layer is toasted oats, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds, almonds, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and apricots. This is all mixed with melted peanut butter and agave. I pressed the mixture into a pan and chilled for a couple hours. Then topped it with the melted chocolate and chilled overnight.

The Salads In My Life.

I am really loving Terry Hope Romero's book, Salad Samurai! I've been on a BIG SALAD kick because of it. Here are a couple salads I made this weekend. I scored at the 99 cents store when I picked up organic baby kale, organic romaine and organic spring mix. They were the perfect base for the following luscious salads.

This is a BKLT salad (Bacon, Kale, Lettuce, Tomato). I love the maple dijon dressing from her recipe. I added vegan sausage, grape tomatoes, red peppers, red onion, french fried onions, vegan parmesan (sesame seed, nutritional yeast based) and Terry's coconut bacon! The coconut bacon bits are a perfect combination of salty, smoky and sweet.

This is another salad with the above mixed greens, steamed broccoli, Field Roast vegan sausage, Chao vegan cheese, french fried onions and topped with Terry's "Back at the Ranch" salad dressing which is cashew based. So good! Get this book now!

Aubergine Fennel and Bean Stew, Kale Salad.

This is the Aubergine (eggplant) Fennel Bean Stew from The Happy Pear cookbook. I adapted mine a bit. Used kidney beans instead of black beans and I had no pumpkin so I used yellow potatoes instead, otherwise the recipe flavors were the same. I love when eggplants get all silky in a stew like this! I loved the fennel, cumin and cardamom flavors.

Served with whole wheat pita.

Mmm.

More kale salad in a tahini based dressing with chickpeas.

Kale salad again!

Addicted to the kale right now. Made this one last night with kale, red cabbage, carrot, red peppers and red onion.
The dressing I got from The Happy Pear's kale salad recipe (find it on youtube!) which has tahini, cashew, lemon, honey, cumin, coriander, paprika and chili. I omitted the cashews and honey, used maple syrup and added more water and lemon to thin out the dressing a bit. Delicious!

Super Healthy Kale Salad and Mushroom Masala Curry.

Made a delicious kale salad tonight with tahini dill-chive dressing. Scrumptious! It has kale, arugula, carrots, red onion, red bell pepper, toasted walnuts and dried cranberries!

First I massage my kale with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and lemon juice. This will make the kale leaves tender. Then I added all the other veg and tossed with the following dressing. I let it chill for about 15-20 minutes. The flavors are amazing and the kale leaves softened just enough.

Tahini dressing:
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 lemon, juiced
2-3 tablespoons water
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp dried dill
pinch of cayenne
fresh chopped chives
salt and pepper
Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Add more water if too thick.

Great curry with mushrooms and peas. I love curries. They really are the very best kind of comfort food. I had an idea today that L.A. needs a veggie friendly curry house. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And not just indian curries, but curries from all over.

Irish Lentil & Root Veg Stew and Kale Colcannon Mash.

Happy St. Paddy's day all! I saw a video on youtube yesterday of The Happy Pear, who are twin brothers who cook and also own a veggie cafe and grocer. They are so fun to watch. I loved the simplicity of the recipe and the fact that it is a vegan recipe made it all the better. Whipped it up tonight and really enjoyed it. The flavors are really good and it's definitely a comforting dish. It's also super healthy and full of delicious ingredients!

Here's the video!

Pasta With Greens, Garlic and Chile and More Roasted Spuds.

More cooking from River Cottage Veg. I made more roasted spuds to go with the leftover sauces from yesterday. Double carb lunch!

A very simple pasta recipe from the book with kale, garlic, onions and chile. I also added Parmezano Sprinkles which is a vegan parm recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook.

Bean Tostada and a Grain Bowl.

Today's lunch was a delicious tostada that had refried black beans, corn, sauteed garlic kale and potatoes and avocado.

I also prepared a grain bowl for my lunch tomorrow. Quinoa, spinach, sauteed tofu, yellow tomatoes, sweet potato, cranberries and miso tahini dressing.

Long time no blog...here's a soup recipe.

Trying to get back into blogging. Things have been kind of dull around here. No sweet puppy to come home to anymore. I haven't been motivated to do much more than go to work, come home, shower and make very simple dinners that don't require much effort, ingredients or time. These past couple of weeks I've been focusing on soup because throwing things into one pot and walking away while dinner cooks itself is so appealing right now. I've been inspired by the soups on Fran's Ayurvedic blog. The one I made tonight is just a variation of what I've been doing the past two weeks. Whatever veggies I have on hand goes into the pot. It always turns out tasty.

Pureed Veggie and Lentil Soup With Pumpkin

1/4 to 1/2 cup mung dal (split mung beans)
2-3 cups chopped kale leaves
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp yellow mild curry powder
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup pureed pure pumpkin from a can (ingredients should be just: pumpkin)
salt and pepper to taste

Put lentils and vegetables, (except pumpkin) in a pot. Add water to cover about 1" above the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Add spices/seasonings, stir and lower heat to medium and cover. Cook until all vegetables are tender and lentils are mushy. Blend half of the soup and pour back into the pot while simmering on low. Add the pureed pumpkin and stir well to incorporate. This will thicken up the soup. Simmer until heated through. Adjust spices and salt/pepper as needed. Serve with a drizzle of tahini and a squeeze of lemon.

Potato & Kale Enchiladas

My friend Cynthia and her mom are wonderful cooks and today I got a recipe to make mole for enchiladas. The mole sauce is very simple to make with dried new mexico and pasilla chiles. Instead of baking the enchiladas in the oven, the tortillas are coated in the sauce, filled with cooked potatoes and kale and then pan fried in a little bit of oil to give a slightly crisp exterior. These are delicious!

Mole recipe from Cynthia's mom:

Ingredients:

Dried New Mexico chiles - about 5 or 6, remove seeds
Dried Pasilla - 1 or 2, remove seeds
1 garlic clove
small handful of cilantro
pinch of dried oregano
salt to taste

-Soak chiles in hot water until soft. (While these are soaking you can make your filling. I just boiled 2 large potatoes and mashed them with sauteed kale and onions and seasoned with salt and pepper.)
-After chiles are softened, blend all mole sauce ingredients together in the blender. (I added most of the water that they were soaking in to help them blend better into a nice thick sauce.)
-Pass mixture through a sieve into a pan.
-Simmer sauce with a little bit of oil for about 10 minutes.

To make enchiladas:

8 corn tortillas, softened in the microwave for about 20 seconds (or you can do this in a dry pan over heat)
olive oil

-Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Dip one tortilla into the mole sauce and coat both sides. Place dipped tortilla on a plate and fill with about 2 TB of potato/kale mixture. Close up tortilla and place into the pan and brown on both sides. Do this with the remaining tortillas until you've used up the filling.


You can see the nice crust it forms from pan frying. Yummy!

Kale Salad

Kale Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1 TB or more of red wine vinegar
1 TB or more of agave nectar or sugar
1 TB or more of soy sauce
water (to help thin out sauce if too thick)
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
extra red pepper flakes

Whisk all ingredients together or blend. The measurements for the vinegar, agave, soy sauce etc. are loose because I was basically adding them from the bottle a bit at a time while whisking all together. I also tasted it as I went along until it was just right. You should do the same. It should be creamy, peanutty, slightly tangy and sweet with a spicy kick. The consistency of the dressing should be smooth, creamy and not too thick where you can't pour it.
Chop up a big bunch of kale and blanche in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove kale and submerge immediately in ice water. Squeeze out all the water from the kale and put into a bowl. Pour sauce over the kale and toss. Add chopped cucumber, red peppers, scallions, red onions etc... Chill for a few hours.

Quinoa-Beans and Greens Tortilla Casserole

You've seen this thing a million times on my blog. Instead of burrito style I made it casserole style with layered pieces of tortilla between the filling of quinoa, kale, beans and sauce.


Recipe here.

Sauteed Kale and Black Eyed Peas with Tomato Couscous

I was inspired to use kale and beans together after looking at the latest post over at the Mitten Machen blog. I can't say I've ever cooked the two together. So glad I tried it because it was really good and went perfectly atop a mound of tomato couscous (w/ a dollop of harissa for some heat!). I had a small cup of leftover tomato soup from the other day and used that with some water to cook my couscous. Such a great revamping leftovers idea as well as a beautiful color.

Leftovers Burrito and Indian Dinner.

Lunch. Yesterday's leftover refried beans, tvp meat and rice got shoved into a tortilla and was then covered in red chile sauce. Absolutely yum.


For dinner I wanted something simple yet tasty and easy to prepare. The masoor dal with beautiful flavors of ginger and light spices simmered away while I sauteed the kale that was flavored with garlic, onion, cumin, cayenne and lemon juice. Both recipes are from "Flavors of India" cookbook.


Closeup of masoor dal.


Closeup of kale bhaji.

Roasted Veg and Kale Salad

Beautiful roasted potatoes, butternut squash, red peppers, onions, zucchini and carrots with thyme, rosemary, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.


Kale salad with spicy peanut sauce. It's a knock-off of M Cafe's kale salad that I absolutely love. I'll repost my recipe here:

My Interpretation of M Cafe's Kale w/ Spicy Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1 TB or more of red wine vinegar
1 TB or more of agave nectar
1 TB or more of soy sauce
water (to help thin out sauce if too thick)
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
extra red pepper flakes

Whisk all ingredients together or blend. The measurements for the vinegar, agave, soy sauce etc. are loose because I was basically adding them from the bottle a bit at a time while whisking all together. I also tasted it as I went along until it was just right. You should do the same. It should be creamy, peanutty, slightly tangy and sweet with a spicy kick. The consistency of the dressing should be smooth, creamy and not too thick where you can't pour it.
Blanche a big bunch of kale in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove kale and submerge immediately in ice water. Squeeze out all the water and pour sauce over the kale. You will probably have a lot more sauce than you need. Use what you want and save the rest for another dish! Toss lightly and add sliced red onions and chopped peanuts. Chill.

Eat Your Greens!

Mmm, kale! I sure do love this dark green leafy that I've been eating a lot of lately. I'm sure to some of you, the idea of eating a serving of dark green vegetables plain is not desirable in the slightest. Which is why it's a good idea to pair it with something that will make you love your greens. Today I made two sauces that I ladled over steamed kale. Both were absolutely wonderful!


First up is this delicious garlicky sauce that was invented by my friend Lauren. She eats kale by the ton and uses this sauce that she whipped one day. She is addicted to it and I think I will be too! She ran the recipe by me today and I came home and made it. It takes not more than 3-4 minutes and is worth the preparation. This is what you do: Chop finely a few cloves of garlic. Heat some olive oil (I used about 2TB) in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add some Earth Balance margarine, just a bit for some saltiness. Add chopped garlic and saute until it lightly browns. Then add nutritional yeast flakes(I added only 1/2 cup, Lauren uses a full cup!) and then add some water little by little while stirring to make a sauce with the thickness you prefer. Season with black pepper and cayenne. Pour over steamed kale and toss to coat.


Second sauce is the Tahini Dill sauce from Veganomicon. Super easy to make as well in your blender. It's a wonderfully smooth and creamy sauce made with tahini, dill, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, water and vinegar. The recipe called for balsamic but I used red wine vinegar instead. Very good on fresh salad too.

Kale Pesto Linguine and Thai Coffee Agar Dessert!

I've never made pesto with kale before. I've made it with basil of course, broccoli, arugula, cilantro and spinach. I had two big bunches of kale in my fridge that needed using up so I decided to give it a go. I processed fresh kale with walnuts, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and a little bit of salt. It came out nice and creamy but was quite bitter. I was a little disappointed. I ended up sauteeing some tomatoes and garlic in olive oil and added the pesto to the pan to cook it out a bit. It lost a lot of the bitterness as a result so I was good to go. I tossed it with hot linguine and topped it with "Parmezano Sprinkle" (almonds, nutritional yeast, miso, salt).

For dessert I had Thai coffee flavored jelly agar dessert. If you remember the last one I made, this is the same thing just a different flavor. It was so delicious. I like coffee flavored everything so this was a treat. This flavor worked much better with the sliced bananas.

Sephardic Red Lentil Soup (with Kale)

Oh my this soup is good! It is so rich in flavor; it's earthy, tangy and just tasty! It's the Sephardic red lentil soup recipe from the coobook "Olive Trees and Honey" which happens to be one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks. Seriously, go buy it right now. I made a big pot of this soup which is flavored with garlic, onions, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice. Soooo good. I served some to my dad who ate it over rice (he eats everything over rice, even pasta!) and he loved it. I'll be happy to eat this soup all week. I added chopped kale at the end which gave the soup some texture as well as giving a little color.

White Bean and Kale Soup

I just had my last serving of Super Green Kale Soup that I made a few days ago. It was delicious and I went through it a lot quicker than I planned. So today I made another big pot of soup, this time a white bean, yam and kale soup. The recipe can be found online here. This soup is really flavorful with smoked paprika and curry powder and hearty from the beans and sweet yams. This should last me until the weekend, I hope!

Back on Track...

The month of March was really stressful for me with business slowing down and job hunting that I didn't stick with the healthy eating that I wanted to continue from my diet in February. I know for a fact I ate way too many potato chips, packaged cookies, lots of bread and not enough fresh vegetables and salads. I felt it in my body too. I felt sluggish, heavy and just not good at all. I'd like to get back on track to feeling good again. So back to fresh green smoothies in the morning, maybe some oatmeal and fruit, soup and salads for lunch and healthy dinners. I made a big batch of "Super Green Kale Soup" from Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat cookbook. I absolutely loved the soup when I was on her diet that I was more than happy to make it again.


I floated a dehydrated cheesy kale chip on top for decoration. The kale chips were from a batch that I brought home from work because they were less than perfect for packaging. (I work part time as a kitchen assistant at Rawk n Roll Cuisine) And sorry, I can not give out any recipes for the products we make there!


This was my dinner. A giant salad of green leaf, romaine, cabbage, tomato, mandarins and unsalted walnuts drizzled with sesame miso dressing (You Are What You Eat cookbook). It was filling and delicious. I'm feeling better already!