Eat More Kale

Eat More Kale is actually a website dedicated to eating local, eating healthy, and by all means promoting the yumminess of kale. Dried into chips is one of the best ways to eat it, imnsho. Better than store bought potato chips any day!

Researchers have identified over 45 different flavonoids in kale. This broad spectrum of antioxidants has been linked to cancer prevention, and kale is a star. Steamed kale is fiber rich and cholesterol lowering. If you have never tried kale before, the health benefits alone should put it at the top of your grocery list.

There are so many ways to prepare kale, but one way we found was to add it to a hummus sandwich.

Hummus with Kale Sandwich

One bunch of kale, rinsed, drained and leaves torn away from stems
Hummus, either homemade or store bought - we prefer roasted garlic hummus
Green onions, chopped
Half a bunch of cilantro, rinsed and chopped
One lemon

Put the kale in a pot filled with enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain well in a colander. Shake the colander to be sure you've gotten most of the water out. Drizzle the drained kale with the lemon, squeezing as much juice from it that you can.

Mix the green onions and cilantro into the hummus, and spread over toasted bread. Top the hummus with a handful of the kale. Add another slice of toasted bread on top and enjoy!

My son discovered he liked adding thinly sliced lemons to his sandwich. I thought it made it too tangy, but you might try it both ways and decide which you like best. I used thin sandwich buns for the bread, but you could also use a pita, if you prefer.

Blueberry Melon Salad

July is National Blueberry Month, among other things. I tend to associate blueberries with August (specifically August 1), but I will never turn down blueberries any time. They are just so good!

When my family went on a picnic the other day, I had already made a fruit salad, but when I came upon this one, I thought, what the heck? I was already making two pasta salads, why not two fruit salads as well? You can never have too much food for a picnic, after all.

Blueberry Melon Salad with Thyme

1 c. stevia
1/4 c. water
Juice from one lemon
4 sprigs of thyme
3 c. each cantaloupe, honeydew melon and watermelon, cut into chunks
One pint of blueberries

Mix the fruit together in one large bowl. In a small pot over low heat, mix the stevia, water and lemon. Stir until the stevia has dissolved. Remove from heat. Once cooled, pour over the fruit and mix well to coat. Refrigerate.

Enjoy!

National Picnic Month

One of the designations for July is National Picnic Month. Pretty much any month that isn't cold is well suited for a picnic. I mean, do you really need an excuse to go on one?

The hubby took a week off for some vacation down time, and decided we would all go as a family to a water park. He and I had never been to this one, so barring rain, we were going. And what a beautiful day it turned out to be! Despite the delay in getting our food, due to someone (I won't mention any names...) shutting the keys to the car in the trunk and having to have someone come out to unlock the car for us, it was a great day and the food turned out fantastic!

I like to shop the food section at Marshall's because I always find the coolest pasta. I was originally only going to make one pasta salad dish, but the recipe on one of the packages just sounded too good, so I decided to make both.

Walnut Chick'n Salad

1/2 c. fresh spinach, chopped
One container plain soy yogurt
1 T. lemon juice
1 t. dry mustard
3 green onions, chopped
Handful of fresh dill, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
3 c. cooked vegan chicken, your choice
One apple, cored and diced
1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Add some vegan mayonnaise if it is too dry. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon onto your favorite slice of bread and enjoy!

Sesame Pasta Salad

1-1/2 c. vegan mayonnaise
1/3 c. water
3 T. soy sauce
1-1/2 T. fresh ginger, chopped
1 T. dark sesame oil
1 T. white vinegar
One package of pasta, your choice (mine looked like margarita glasses), cooked and cooled
1 c. carrots, chopped
1/2 c. radishes, chopped

Mix everything together in one large bowl and stir well to coat. Refrigerate.

Fishy Pasta Salad

One package of pasta, your choice (this one was shaped like lobsters), cooked and cooled
3/4 c. vegan mayonnaise
1/2 bunch of green onions, chopped
2 T. lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. onion powder
1/2 t. Old Bay seasoning
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. hot sauce

Again, mix everything in one large bowl and stir well to coat. Refrigerate.

Fruit Salad with Mint

2 nectarines, pitted and cut into small pieces
3 kiwi, peeled and cut into small pieces
2 navel oranges, peeled and cut into small pieces
One pint of strawberries, hulled and quartered
One pint of blueberries
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
3 T. lime juice
1/4 c. fresh mint leaves, chopped

Mix the brown sugar, lime juice and mint leaves in a food processor until well blended. Add all of the fruit together in one large bowl, pour the sugar sauce over it and mix well. Refrigerate.

Add some iced tea and you've got a great picnic meal!

National Macaroni Day

National Macaroni Day was July 7, but a series of distractions prevented me from taking advantage of the day. Not to be denied, I made my mac and cheese, finally, last night. I had to rescue some of it from my son for my lunch today. Otherwise, he couldn't stop eating it. He plans to go buy all the ingredients just so I'll make it again this weekend. Probably all for him! LOL!

In addition, to round out the meal, I made a couple of different mixed vegetable dishes.

Macaroni and Cheese

One package elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
1/4 c. vegan butter
1/4 c. whole wheat flour
2-1/4 c. rice milk
1/2 t. salt
Dash of black pepper
One package of Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds

Melt the butter over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Gradually add the milk and some of the Daiya until creamy. In a lightly greased casserole dish, layer the macaroni, then Daiya, the macaroni, then the sauce and top with more Daiya. Bake at 400 for 35 minutes.

Summer Garden Vegetables

1/4 c. chopped onion
2 T. butter
2 c. fresh or frozen corn
3 tomatoes, cut into chunks
4 small yellow squash, sliced
1 t. salt
3/4 t. dried oregano leaves
1/4 t. pepper

Saute the onion in the butter until softened. Add the remaining ingredients and cook, covered, over medium heat until vegetables are tender.

King of the Jungle Vegetables

Handful of carrots, sliced
Olive oil
One package of frozen green beans
One package of frozen cauliflower florets
One bunch of green onions, sliced
2 c. water or vegetable broth
Dash of garlic powder

Saute the carrots in the olive oil until beginning to soften. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and cook 20-30 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Enjoy!

Tuscan Panzanella

Panzanella is a Italian type of salad based on bread and tomatoes, often with onions and basil, and dressed with oil and vinegar. It is very simple to put together and gave me an opportunity to make croutons for the first time.

Tuscan Panzanella

4 slices of bread, crusts removed
Olive oil
Basil leaves, chopped
1/2 c. sliced red onion (I chopped mine)
One can small black olives, drained
One pint of grape tomatoes, cut in half
2 cans white beans, drained
1 T. water
1 T. olive oil
3 T. red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. black pepper

Cut the crustless bread into one inch cubes and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Combine the basil, onion, olives, tomatoes, and beans in a bowl and mix gently. Mix the water, olive oil, vinegar, garlic and black pepper together and whisk until well blended. Pour over the vegetables and mix gently, but well.

Dish the salad into a bowl and top with some of the croutons.

Enjoy!

I loved this salad, but might play around with the croutons. They were on the plain side. I think adding some herbs to the olive oil before brushing it on will liven things up a bit.

Black Bean Burritos

We all have them, those days where we wind up being much busier than we had planned or expected, but still have to feed everyone. We're tired, but fast food just does not appeal. That's when these burritos come in oh-so-handy.

Black Bean Burritos

2 cans of black beans
Salsa
Flour tortillas
Shredded lettuce
Chopped tomatoes
Cooked brown rice

Heat the black beans in a pot. Add beans and remaining ingredients to a flour tortilla, roll up and eat. Really, can it be any simpler or quicker?

Feel free to add anything else you've got around you like in your burritos: vegan sour cream, vegan shredded cheese, sliced or chopped avocados, sliced or chopped black olives. These burritos are so versatile and you can do what you want with the ingredients you have on hand.

Enjoy!

National Fried Chicken Day

I love these foodie themes for days, weeks or months. They make it kind of fun to plan my meals. Today is National Fried Chicken Day. I'm not sure how the day originated, but since it is also National Picnic Month, maybe it started there. Seems like a perfect opportunity to fry up a cruelty-free version, don't you think? I served mine up with some mashed potatoes and green beans.

Fried Chick'n

1 t. salt
1/2 t. onion powder
1 t. pepper
1 t. garlic powder
2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
2 T. nutritional yeast
Rice milk
One package of extra firm tofu, frozen in package, boiled, sliced into wedges

Mix everything but the milk and tofu in a shallow bowl. Pour the milk into a separate shallow bowl. Dip the tofu wedges in the milk, then coat well in the flour mixture. Fry over medium high heat in olive oil until nicely browned.

Tex Mex Mashed Potatoes

2 lbs. potatoes, cut into chunks
Vegan butter
Rice milk
One package Daiya Pepperjack Cheese
1/4 c. green onions

Boil the potatoes until soft (about 20-30 minutes), drain. Mash them together with some salt and pepper, vegan butter, rice milk and the pepperjack cheese. Mix in the green onions and some vegan sour cream, if you like.

Country Green Beans

Vegan bacon (I used three slices), cooked
Half an onion, cut into chunks
3 cans of whole green beans, undrained
1/2 t. pepper

Mix everything in one medium to large sized pot and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!