We ate with abandon while on vacation last week, so healthy salads like this one, inspired by Mighty Grain Salad on Happolks, are both necessary and a relief to get back onto our normal eating path. (The recipe comes from Laura at The First Mess, but she guest-posted on the first site.)
I used bulgur (about 2 cups cooked), brown lentils (about 1 cup cooked), carrots (3), red pepper (1), mushrooms (about a cup), kale (3 huge handfuls), and goat cheese (2 ounces), plus balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make my version. The trick, which J. reminds me time and again, is to dice the vegetables quite small. Yes, it takes more time than rough-chopping, but having the petite vegetable pieces mirror the size of the lentils makes this salad feel like something you’d pay for — polished and put together.
This salad is fantastic. Along with a bit of homemade hummus, it made a tasty and satisfying meal that is a far cry from the foie gras meatballs I was eating last week. But, just as delicious in its own right.
J. and I enjoyed this salad last night, alongside Slow Cooker Vegetarian Lentil Soup and grilled asparagus. It’s a nice, grain-based salad with more protein than you might expect to get in a vegetarian dish, thanks to the chickpeas and quinoa.
A. saw the quinoa cooling on the stove before I mixed it into the rest of the ingredients, and was eager to taste it. He loved it, and wound up with those cute little quinoa tails all over his lips. He had a full bowl of it, plain, exclaiming the whole time how delicious it was. G. felt compelled to ask for a taste too, but he did not care for the flavor.
I’ve always been lukewarm about liking quinoa, but I find that lemon is the key ingredient in a quinoa dish for me: it breaks up some of the grassy flavor and allows me to think of it more as a grain than as something a sheep would like to graze.
1 c. quinoa, rinsed
2 c. water
4 green onions, minced
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained
1 c. parsley, chopped
1 c. carrots, peeled and grated
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste
Combine quinoa and water in a small pot, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, covered, until all the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat and set aside, uncovered, to cool.
In a medium bowl, combine green onions, chickpeas, parsley, and carrots. Toss with olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon. Then, toss in the cooled quinoa (still warm is OK, just not HOT), and season with salt and pepper. Serve room temperature or cold.
During the months that our farm share is inactive, I have to make a conscious effort to get greens other than romaine into our diet. We do well with eating cauliflower, broccoli, and even Brussels sprouts, but kale, collards, mustard greens, and swiss chard definitely are consumed less in the winter than the summer. That’s too bad, because these hearty, hefty greens are perfect for cold weather.
The cheesiness of “Cheesy” Vegan Crispy Baked Kale comes from nutritional yeast, an ingredient I bought specifically for this dish. It is simply inactive yeast, which means it won’t make bread rise. I had tried New York Naturals’ Vegan “Cheese” kale chips and loved them, so I was pretty sure I’d like the flavor. I bought my nutritional yeast at Mrs. Green’s, but you should be able to find it at any health food store.
I’ve made this recipe using a whole bunch of kale, leaving the leaves long and wide after I took them off their stems. I’ve also made it with bagged kale from Glory Foods, which is pre-washed, tough stems removed, and cut into much smaller pieces. Both work well.
12 oz. curly green kale (about 1 bunch)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp. tahini
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Preheat oven to 250° F.
If using a whole bunch of kale, slice the leaves off their stems and tear them into approximately 2-inch long pieces. Wash the kale and dry thoroughly. Arrange the kale on 1 or 2 baking sheets — 1 works fine but will take longer, 2 will take less time to bake.
In a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients, making sure there are no lumps. Spoon drops of the mixture evenly over the kale, and then (with clean hands!) massage the kale and coating together, gently smooshing it in your hands until the kale is lightly and evenly coated. You will feel the kale leaves soften in your hands as you do this.
Bake for 45 to 75 minutes, or until dry and crispy, using a spatula to turn the kale every 15 minutes or so. Make sure it does not burn.
This recipe is best eaten immediately, but it can also be stored, once cooled, in an air-tight container.
This is a tasty, vegan winter dish. Although I don’t care for fennel raw, I really love it roasted.
Warm White Beans with Roasted Fennel & Red Pepper
Adapted from Cooking Light
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut in 1/2″ slices
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut in 1/2″ slices
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced
2 15-oz. cans cannellini beans, drained (or any white bean)
7 oz. package of fresh baby spinach, washed (about 4 c.)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450° F.
Toss fennel, red pepper, and half the oil on a baking sheet, and bake for about 20 minutes until vegetables soften and begin to brown.
While the fennel and pepper are in the oven, add remaining oil to a large skillet and saute the onions over medium-high heat. Cook for 10 minutes, until they caramelize. Add beans to the onions and cook for an additional 5 minutes; add the fennel mixture when ready. Stir in the spinach and continue cooking for a few minutes over medium heat until the leaves wilt slightly. Season and serve warm.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more about me and CITK, and keep in touch:
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Moroccan Chicken Tajine: I recently had a chicken tajine dish at Fig & Olive in Scarsdale, and wanted to recreate something similar at home. This is an Ina Garten recipe, and she never fails me.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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