Savory Kale Salad with Feta Cheese

Over 90 today according to the thermometer on back porch. Didn't want to heat up the kitchencooking.  I've been wanting to make a black bean taco, but that involved cooking. So, I used the coleslaw and dressing ideas from that recipe for this salad. Worked well. Deelicious!

Steam in microwave 1 and 1/2 minutes
1+ cup kale, ripped to bitesize pieces

Mix together with steamed kale and toss
12 or so grape tomatoes, halved
6 or so green olives, halved (castelvetrano kind)
6 falafel balls from Whole Foods, ready to eat section, quartered
1/2 cup Angel Hair coleslaw (from a package at Safeway)

Make dressing
1 Tbsp non-fat plain yogurt
1 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
9 sprigs of cilantro cut up
2 green onions, diced
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Mix the tossed salad with the dressing.

Serve with 1 Tbsp of feta cheese crumbles on top.

Rated a 4.75 on the Kale Scale.

Dayton Diva's Kale Salad

This recipe came from the self-proclaimed Dayton Diva, Evonne Foshee - one of the members of the Amity-Dayton Cohort/Ford Family Foundation Leadership Institute. We had a potluck meeting, she brought the salad,  everyone enjoyed it so much, we got the recipe.

Her recipe goes like this:

1 chopped up bag of kale chopped more
1 apple diced
1 handful of dried cherries chopped or a handful of cranberries chopped or some of both
1 hand full of chopped candied walnuts or pecans or as I often use some salted sunflower seeds.

optional...
add some chopped broccoli slaw and chop it up finer or finely chopped cabbage slaw.
raspberry poppy seed dressing or make your own with a little balsamic some creamy dressing of some kind and some poppy seeds and some sugar or sweetener.
As you can see you can be creative here an add and subtract as you wish give me any ideas that you had at all incorporated them into my recipe I'm always looking for something new and exciting.

Here is my interpretation, for a potluck to serve 12:

• Kale. I didn't have a bag. I had two huge bunches of organic kale. I chopped up 1/2 a bunch or about 6-8 big leaves of curly green kale and it turned into about 6 cups of finely chopped kale. I "chopped" using my kitchen shears. Seeing the mound of kale, I stopped chopping.

• 2 Apples and 2-3 tsp of Lemon Juice.  After getting the ingredients in the bowl and mixed up, it seemed to want another apple, thus I used 2. After chopping/dicing apple with my Pampered Chef Chopper and putting on top of kale, I sprinkled with the lemon juice to keep it from turning brown.

• Dried Cranberries, sweetened only with apple juice. I didn't chop these, just tossed them in whole. After about 1 cup, it seemed to be enough.

• Almonds, roasted, unsalted, no sweetener. Chopped up fine with the PChef Chopper. 2/3 C.

• Broccoli Slaw. Bought a package at grocery, and used about 1/2 of it. volume wise it seemed like 1.5 cups. I chopped it up finer, with PChef Chopper.

• Dressing.  A couple Tbsp of Light Mayo tossed on the salad. A couple Tbsp of greek non-fat yogurt (plain), tossed in salad. And 1/2 cup or so of Dannon Light'n'Fit Vanilla yogurt.  My intention was to moisten the ingredients, and not slather them up with dressing. Mix it all in.

Make the salad in a huge bowl, and keep stirring or tossing with a huge meat fork, salad tongs, whatever. Once it's all combined and mixed up, load up the serving bowl.

Enjoy!  The picture, from Christmas Dinner, shows it was a hit.

Rated a  4.85 on the Kale Scale.

Quinoa in a Kale Smoothie?

Yes! Quinoa works great in a kale smoothie. At least with the vitamix, it is blended to smithereens. I used red quinoa, and in the photo, you can see some red flecks in the drink - that's the blended quinoa. As per my last smoothie, I have some work to do to get to a reasonable calorie count with these liquid meals!

Blend as desired - with Vmix - about 1 minute or so
1 cup non-fat milk
30 grapes
3 clementines
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (red, this time)
1/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp POM pomegranate juice
3 pitted dates
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1+ cup kale

Serve and enjoy!

Rated a 4.72 on the Kale Scale.

Kale Smoothie with Hummus

After making hummus for my lunches this week, I several tablespoons in the bottom of the vitamix that I couldn't get at. So I decided to just incorporate the hummus into a smoothie to go with my dinner.  The smoothie with hummus undertones - pretty good!  Yet now that I see the calorie count (yikes!), I realize that the salmon, fresh corn and quinoa I made (in the solar cooker) - added up to a significant calorie intake for 1 meal!!

Put into Vitamix and blend to desired consistency:

3 Tbsp hummus
30 grapes
3 clementine oranges (peeled)
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup non-fat yogurt
1+ cup of Kale


Rated a 4.68 on the Kale Scale.

Watermelon Smoothie

Half of a small watermelon made about 2 cups for a smoothie. The ingredients were added at random from there.

Add and blend as desired (Vitamix took less than a minute)

2 cups watermelon
1/2 cup pineapple chunks, raw
3 clementines, peeled
2 Tbsp Hemp protein powder (Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup yogurt, Danon Light'n'Fit vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp hummus
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
10 grape tomatoes
1.25 cups of kale


Rated a 4.67 on the Kale Scale.

Quinoa Corn and Kale

The best of leftovers: making meals in minutes. This one was delicious!

Microwave 4 minutes
1 ear of corn
and cut the kernels off the cob after cooking
Add 1 tsp of butter, black pepper and dash of Mrs Dash

Microwave 2 minutes
1+ cup of Kale, ripped to bite size. I put the kale on the dinner plate, cover with a plastic steamer lid. Works great!

Microwave 2+ minutes
1 cup Solar Quinoa
2 patties, Morningstar veggie fake sausage

Assemble
Place the corn kernels on the kale, on your plate
Add quinoa, and cut up fake sausage patties
Top with 2 tbsp. of non-fat greek yogurt.

Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

Rated a 4.75 on the Kale Scale.

Smoothie for a Hot Day

Hot today. Felt like 90+. Doldrums, no wind. Great day for a smoothie! Delicious!

Put in Vitamix and blend

1 cup	MILK, NONFAT (SKIM)
2 tbsp	hemp protein powder, Bob's Red Mill
1 fruit	ORANGE
3/4 cup	GRAPES
30	BLUEBERRIES
2/3	CARROT
4 medium	STRAWBERRIES
2 oz	YOGURT, VANILLA, NONFAT, Dannon
1/4 tsp	CINNAMON, GROUND
1/2 tsp	NUTMEG, GROUND
10	Tomato, grape

Rated a 4.7 on the Kale Scale.

Truberry Kale

Here is another Kale-by-Vitamix drink. So simple to make and clean up!  I received a jar of Trueberry drink powder as a gift - usually used to mix with water. I thought it would work well in this blend, and it did.

Put in Vitamix and blend:

1 older banana
1 cup pineapple, cut up
3/4 cup watermelon, cut up
1 cup non-fat milk
1/4 cup non-fat yogurt, plain
1 scoop Trueberry powder
1.3 cups kale, ripped up

Rated a 4.68 on the Kale Scale.

Vitamix with Hemp

Went on a search for protein powder for my smoothies, and this is the only one at the store that didn't have added sugar or fake sweeteners - Bob's Red Mill Hemp Protein Powder.

Blend and drink:

25 grapes
1/2 cup pineapple, raw and cut up
1+ cup kale, ripped up
2 oz Danon vanilla non-fat yogurt
2 oz milk, non fat
3 Tbsp Hemp Protein Powder

Rated a 4.65 on the Kale Scale.

Vitamix #2

Drinking my kale is turning out to be pretty easy! I researched some to learn that the fiber is still all there, even though it's blended into a liquid. Today, I was trying to add more vegies to the mix. Consequently, it wasn't as green, and not as 'sweet'  as if I'd used another orange or more pineapple. But it was still good!

Put in blender and whirl:

8 oz skim milk
2 oz non-fat yogurt
10 edible pea pods
2/3 cup cut up Chiogga beet (it's striped!)
1 blood orange, peeled
1/2 Cameo apple
1/3 cup diced pineapple
Dash to 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, coriander, ras el hanout

Enjoy!

Rated a 4.5 on the Kale Scale.

Can a Vitamix do kale?

I succumbed to the call of the Vitamix - it was on sale at Costco. It certainly does a smoothie like no other blender! 

Blend together:

1/2 c soy milk
1/4 c yogurt, nonfat Danon vanilla
1 orange, peeled and sectioned
1/3 c pineapple chunks
2 Tbsp ginger root (put in ginger chunks)
1 Tbsp parsley
1 C kale, ripped up

Rated a 4.67 on the Kale Scale.

Lentils Roasted Vegie Mish Mash with Kale

Using leftovers tonight, but delicious!

Had some lentil soup in the freezer from December - perfect day to use it.A Spring Day, blustery, rainy, sunny, wind chill. Added some of the Roasted Vegies I made day or so ago. And 1 cup of ripped up kale. Microwave it all.

Top with 1/4 cup non-fat Greek yogurt (plain).


Rated a 4.687 on the Kale Scale.

Tuna With Kale and Yogurt

Looking for a quick lunch with some protein = tunafish!  I was wondering if I could combine my cup of kale with a can of tuna. I cut the kale up with my kitchen shears to make it more fine for incorporating.  I chose to eat the resulting mixture was a dip, and used falafel chips. You could make a sandwich.  The nutrition count is only for the tunafish mixture (i.e. not the chips).

Mix together in a bowl

5 oz can of solid white tuna in water, break it up with a fork
2 oz non-fat greek yogurt
2 tbsp dill pickle relish
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 oz pineapple salsa with jalepeno from Whole Foods (fresh made)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1+ cup kale, cut up fine

Serve with chips, crackers or as a sandwich.


Rated a 4.64 on the Kale Scale.

Spiced Acorn Squash with Kale

Another squash recipe from my archives, to which I embellished a bit. The squash recipe is a keeper!

Bake the squash this way:
Cut the squash in half; bake acorn squash with some 100% orange juice in the cavity of each half; along with ground ginger, nutmeg and ras el hanout. No butter. No sugar. No oil.

When it has about 15 minutes left, I added couple tablespoons of buttermilk to each cavity. Mostly because I had some, and thought it might add something. It didn't hurt.

Once the squash is done, let it cool a bit. Then scoop out the squash meat and put in a bowl.

Add to the squash meet, some dukkah and some parmesan cheese.

Steam
1 cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Mix up
Half of the baked spiced, squash meet
Steamed kale pieces

Serve with a topping of
1.5 oz of greek non-fat plain yogurt



Rated a 4.7 on the Kale Scale.

Indian Potatoes with Steamed Kale

I've been organizing the pile of recipes that I've ripped out of magazines over the course of the last 10 years and finding some great nuggets, like Indian Potatoes. Yum!

This entry isn't about the recipe, but taking a share of the completed product, Indian Potatoes, and putting it on a bed of steamed kale, with a dollop of greek non-fat yogurt (plain).

Indian potatoes starts by heating brown and yellow mustard seed in hot oil til they pop a little. You add cumin seed, turmeric and then the potates that have been cut up. Cook for 20=25 minutes. Then add, coarsely ground coriander seeds, ground cumin, cayenne, and a handful of cilanto leaves. Cook a bit more.

Steam
1+ cup Kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Top with
1 serving of Indian potatoes

Serve with
Dollop of non-fat greek yogurt (included in nutrition count)

Rated a 4.69 on the Kale Scale.

Kibbeh and Kale

 

Recently, ate dinner at Tarboush, a Lebanese restaurant.

 

After the wonderful appetizers, we ordered Kibbeh Bi’Sayniyeh which is an oven-baked organic ground beef and bulgur wheat encasing a layer of seasoned Organic ground beef, onions, and pine nuts...served with yogurt. We had one made with ground beef, and another made with pumpkin (vegetarian). The Kibbeh looked like a couple pieces of pie - triangle shape.  It was deee-licious!

 

Took 1 piece of the beef and one of the pumpkin home, along with yogurt from the restaurant.

 

Steamed a bed of kale, broke up and put the Kibbeh on top. Very tasty combination!

 

No nutrition count for this one.

 

Rated a 4.69 on the Kale Scale.

 

Oatmeal Kale

Breakfast for dinner - and it worked!

Make Oatmeal with:
1/2 c dry 5-grain cereal from Bob's Red Mill
1/2 apple
.5 oz raisins (a mini box)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c yogurt, Dannon Light n Fit Vanilla
1/4 c or less soy milk
1 cup kale, minced. I used a hand blender to mince it, worked great.

 
Rated a 4.53 on the Kale Scale