Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad

This is a super salad. 



This is one I found off of Pinterest. I've become a pinterest junkie lately. So many good ideas.  I have to say I quite liked this recipe. The roasted salted almonds added a crunch factor that was quite fun.  Find the recipe here. It was easy to prepare, and I could make it in advance and leave it in the fridge until everything else was ready.

My two oldest would't eat it, but my baby sure likes Kale. He gobbled it up.  Oh, the flecks of orange are carrots. I screwed up and added carrots to it, even though the recipe doesn't call for them. I was doing too many things at the same time and got confused. But who can go wrong with more veggies in your diet?

wait for this cake . . . .

I've tried most of the recipes from this month's VT issue. Up Next:  Garlicky Cheezy Kale & Crispy Chick’n Salad,  Jack Burgers and Fabulous Vegan Fudge Cake with Bittersweet Icing

I have to say, I've liked almost all of them.  Follow this link to get the recipes, and see below for my comments.

Garlicky Cheezy Kale & Crispy Chick’n Salad

The jury is out on this one.  First of all, I couldn't find Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick’n. I search SuperTarge, Cub Foods and Kowalski's (which is gourmet grocery). Nada. Whole Foods is in St Paul and I didn't have time or energy in my schedule to drive all that way, so I just made do with good old fashioned Garden Burger meatless chicken patty. The recipe was simple to prepare, had a distinct tahini taste to the dressing. I didn't love it, didn't hate it, but it was kinda nice to have the mix of chicken strips with the salad.  I'm not sure why this one got an Honorable Mention in the VT Get Lucky Recipe contest - seems to me that there would better recipes out there.  I'd make it again though.

Jack Burgers



To me, Jack burgers would be a competitor to the Chick Pea Cutlets from Veganomicon.  They were prepared similarly, but I used bisquick instead of the GF pancake mix the recipe called for. They were a little mushy on the inside, but not really too bad. Good flavors.  Easy to whip up in the food processor and the recipe makes quite a few.  I'm going to experiment with freezing and cooking the remaining batter to see how that would work. Will keep you posted.

Fabulous Vegan Fudge Cake with Bittersweet Icing

This cake really was so fabulous, it probably deserves its own entry on this blog. OMG. my mouth is watering just thinking about the leftovers in the fridge. My husband ate two slices last night and had one for breakfast this AM. 

Rich. Fudgy and thick.  Super easy to make. I used rice milk instead of soy (since I was pregnant I've developed an aversion to soy milk and it grosses me out).   One note however: when making the icing, allow it to cool significantly before pouring it on the cake. Seriously. If you think its ready, wait a little while longer. It will still pour even if its chilled. Mine ran all over the place and my cake was sitting in a pool of icing. Not the best for appearances, but it was still yummy.

Eat More Kale!

Oh, I've got a slew of kale recipes up my sleeve. This is another one from VT (I'm telling you, this month was a good issue!).

Kale Chips.

Now, I tried Kale Chips before and I didn't like them. Not to mention expensive - I'm embarrassed to say I paid $7 for what I think is a 4 oz bag of them. But I didn't want to give up. Please keep in mind that I'm not a professional photographer. The picture above doesn't do them justice. You really must try these. They were the simplest to prepare. And totally yummy. Light, crispy, subtle hint of cheese.  None of that bitter green vegetable aftertaste that one would expect.

But I have take a moment to gripe.  Nutritional yeast. Can't find it anywhere. I could have driven to St Paul to Whole Foods to get it, but I didn't want to go all that way for one thing. I scoured the stores in my town - no one had it. So I ended up ordering it online from Bob's Red Mill. What a pain. I've skipped the nutritional yeast in many recipes before and they've all been fine. But if the recipe calls for it (and I'm coming across more and more that do), I figured I owed it the recipe to include it.

Kale Chips

1 12 oz bunch kale
1 T EVOO
1/3 C nutritional yeast

Preheat oven to 350. Tear kale into large chunks, removing the stems. Rub leaves with EVOO and sprinkle nutritional yeast over the top. Bake for 5 mins, then flip the kale and bake additional 5-10  minutes or until crispy.

Great!

Magic Kale Salad

I'm trying to eat more kale. I hear its supposed to be good for you - like spinach only better. I tried it once last summer - it wasn't the greatest. I used a recipe from my favorite vegan chef Moskowitz (some enchilada recipe out of Veganomicon). It was okay. I had an issue with the texture - very tough. And the curly bits on the ends got stuck in my craw. But I'm going to give it the old college try and really get into it this time.

Now, I'm not as big of a fan of Momma Pea as Kerri is.  I think her recipes are hit or miss. But she's a great writer and fun to read so I keep up with her as my schedule allows.  Lately I haven't been doing much cooking at all. Moving half way across the country takes its toll. I gave Shannon most of the ingredients out of my pantry and fridge before we left (can't take it with you on the truck), and restocking has been painfully slow. It would be one thing if I didn't care what I put in my fridge, but I really try to buy organic, wholesome foods and that is expensive. Additionally my children seem to have hollow legs - my 3 and 4 year olds are eating me out of house and home. I'm having to go restock basic fruits and veggies every 2 days. Plus, with unpacking and organizing the house, trying to get to know a new community blah, blah, blah . . . .  you know how slow things can go.

But I digress. I've been hanging onto this one for a while now.  My mom grew some kale in her garden and brought me some. This recipe was super simple and a very good basic salad. I wouldn't give it 5 stars, but I would make it again if I had to throw something together in a pinch. I used walnuts instead of pistachios because thats what I had. It was fine.

http://peasandthankyou.com/2012/02/23/magic-kale-salad-with-pistachios-and-apples/