Kale Salad with Yam Noodles

I've heard so many people tell me they don't like kale.  Sadly, I hear it most often in our own house.  I don't get it.  Taste wise, kale is GREAT!  It's crunchy, lends great color to a salad, but the best thing about kale is its nutritional value!  I've heard it's the most nutritionally dense vegetable!  According to Livestrong.com

Dark green leafy vegetables are rich in iron, dietary fiber, calcium, vitamins B, E and K, protein, carotenoids and other antioxidants.

You really can't go wrong eating kale.

Zucchini Salad

A girlfriend gave me Jamie Oliver's Meals in Minutes recently.  I must say I'm very impressed with the layout.  Jamie provides a menu for dinner, then gives step by step preparation guidelines to successfully have a tasty, unique dinner on the table, in minutes.  While perusing the pages, I couldn't decide where to begin, so I started with page one.

Good Luck Grub Style Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Even though I've moved on to the Moosewood Cookbook, I still have Grub on my mind.  There was a recipe I wanted to try because it's part of a "New Year's Eve Good Luck Meal."  It is Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages.

I love quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).  It's one of those super foods hitting the grocery stores and popping up in more and more recipes everywhere.

Most people think it's a grain because it looks like one, but it's actually a seed grown high in the Andes Mountains in South America.  Although many Americans know little of it, it's actually and ancient food enjoyed by the Incas.

One cup of quinoa has about:

220 calories
38-40 grams carbohydrates
8 grams protein
3.5 grams fat
5 grams of fiber
and high in folate, magnesium (great if you have migraines), phosphorus, iron and copper and manganese

According to the Mother Nature Network:

Quinoa is stocked with life-sustaining nutrients all across the board, including all eight essential amino acids. There are other highly beneficial compounds, vitamins and minerals in this food that the Incas reverently called "chisaya mama" (mother of all grains).

 

Vegetarians would do well to incorporate quinoa into their diet often. It’s difficult for vegetarians to get all eight essential amino acids and an adequate source of protein from one food source. Usually, vegetarians and vegans need to combine foods like beans and rice to acquire all the essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

 

Those with gluten sensitivities or wheat allergies can rejoice in eating quinoa as it contains no gluten or wheat. (Spanish conquistadors during the South American conquest suppressed quinoa production, as it was associated with what the Spaniards perceived as non-Christian, indigenous, ceremonial backwardness. Thus, wheat was cultivated in the Andes region.)

With all that goodness in one food, no wonder it is considered a superfood AND included in the New Year's Good Luck Meal!

According to Grub, and tradition, "Each cabbage leaf represents $1,000 that you will see in the New Year, so eat up!"  I think I've eaten 2 cabbage rolls, and another 6-7 cabbage leaves for good measure!

Quinoa-Stuffed Cabbage Packages

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
coarse sea salt
1 large green cabbage head
12 chives
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
4 garlic cloves, minced and sautéed in olive oil for 1-2 minutes until golden
1/4 cup currants
1/4 toasted walnuts, chopped
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
freshly ground white pepper

Quinoa

If it is not pre-rinsed, rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer under running water and drain.  Combine the quinoa, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups of water in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until all the water is absorbed.  Let the quinoa steam with the lid on for 15 minutes, then remove the top and cool.

Cooked Quinoa

Cabbage

Meanwhile, bring a large, deep pot of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Prepare a large bowl full of ice water.

Cut the core from the cabbage with a small paring knife.  Drop the whole cabbage into the water and boil for 5-10 minutes, remove the cabbage head, and removed the softened outer leaves.  Shock the leaves in the ice water (ice bath) to set the color and stop the cooking.  Return the cabbage head to the boiling water to soften the next few layers of leaves, remove them, ice bath, and then continue with the rest of the cabbage.  Drain and pat the cabbage leave dry with paper towels.  To save time and paper towels I gently spun the leaves in the salad spinner.  Worked great!  Set aside.

Ice Bath

Bring water back to boil and add the chives.  Blanch for 10 seconds.  Remove them and place in ice bath.  Drain and set aside with cabbage leaves.

In a large bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, orange juice, garlic, currants, walnuts and parsley.  Mix well.  Add the cooled quinoa and toss well.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste.  Add white pepper to taste.  At this point, this is an EXCELLENT QUINOA SALAD!  You could serve this as a side dish if you like.  It's GREAT!

Dressing for Quinoa 

This would make a GREAT Quinoa Salad/Side Dish

Back to Packages...

With a sharp knife, cut the thick part of the stem from each cabbage leaf.  Place heaping 3 tablespoons of the quinoa in the center of each cabbage leaf.  Fold the sides toward the center and fold up each end of the leaf into a compact package. Wrap a chive around the narrower side of each package and tie it up into a knot. Serve on a platter with seam side down.

Rolling the cabbage package is like rolling a burrito.  Lay out cabbage leaf.

Place quinoa in center.  Fold in one side...

Then the other...

Roll up the bottom then bring down the top portion.

Wrap it nicely in the chive

Such a cute little package!

Good luck!  Or better yet, Good Health!

Yum!

Grub's Wild-Style Salad

I can't believe it's Friday already!  What happened to the week?  Oh, yeah...we started school again.  Busy days!

In our homeschool, Fridays are fun days set aside for catch up, unlimited reading, field trips, cooking, projects and just playing.  We all love Friday!

By the end of the week, our brains are worn out so we've designed Friday to be our day of learning that is less about books and more about life.

Today we played beauty shop; I cut my girlie's hair.  She's now proudly sporting "long bangs."  One of our boys caught up on math, while another buried himself in his Tim Tebow book.  Did you know Tim Tebow and all his brother's have chin scars?  That's important boy battle scar information!  Furthermore, Tim Tebow's mom made placemats of states, presidents, the periodic table and more!  Learning was something the Tebow kids did while not even realizing it.  That's my kind of teaching!

Most importantly, I had some cooking time!  With Adele Radio playing on Pandora I made the first of my three recipes selected from the cookbook GRUB.

This salad is called Wild-Style Salad.  It looks like something you'd pay $7/cup at Whole Foods' salad bar. It's a beautiful salad filled with many healthy ingredients. It is vegetarian/vegan.  The only protein source would be the wild rice (7 grams/cup) and the minimal amount from the cashews.

The recipe calls for extra-virgin olive oil.  The flavor was so great without it, I didn't add it.  Although I workout 5-6 days per week, and watch what we eat, a few extra pounds have crept back into my life.  I'm back to counting points with Weight Watchers.  My focus will primarily be sticking to a paleo food program, but I still need to feed the rest of the family healthy whole/clean food.

I input the ingredients for this salad into the Weight Watchers recipe calculator. Three-fourths of a cup is 4 points; this is without the olive oil.

Wild-Style Salad

Salad

1 cup wild rice, rinsed and soaked overnight in the refrigerator
coarse sea salt
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (I used green onion)
1/2 cup cashews, toasted and chopped

Dressing

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sea salt
Freshly ground white pepper (I just used black pepper)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

For the Salad

Combine wild rice with 3 cups of water in medium saucepan over high heat.  Bring to boil, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until water is absorbed.

This is my beautiful new pot.  Thank you Jama!

Rice cooking away...put the lid back on.  It's not done yet.

Remove from heat; transfer to strainer; rinse under cold water until rice is completely cooled.

In a large bowl, combine cooked rice, bell pepper, carrots, celery, raisins, scallions, and cashews.

Yummy snack foods!

Combine rice, vegetables, raisins, and cashews

For the Dressing

In a small mixing bowl, combine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, maple syrup, garlic, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and white pepper (to taste).  Mix well.  Slowly pour in olive oil, if using, whisking until emulsified.

This is the dressing, minus the olive oil.

Pour the dressing over the rice and toss well.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour to allow flavors to combine.

Remove the rice from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Cabbage Chicken Salad

We have a favorite Hawaiian restaurant we frequent for take-out.  Dinners favorites include Teriyaki Chicken and Beef, Korean BBQ Beef, Kalbi Beef and Spam Musubi.  The meals are served with macaroni salad and a cabbage salad.   The cabbage salad is similar to a cabbage salad our family grew up eating.  It's one of our all-time favorites and it's too good not to share.

Cabbage Chicken Salad
(We grew up calling it Chinese Noodle Salad)
I usually double the salad for our family since it's a favorite.

1 chicken breast
1/2 head shredded cabbage
2 chopped green onions
Combine in large bowl.

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
1 package ramen noodles, broken (throw away season packet)
Mix seeds almonds and noodles in a frying pan.  Heat and brown a bit.

Chicken, cabbage, onion and noodle mixture

Dressing

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (I use seasoned rice vinegar)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix dressing and pour over cabbage blend.  Make salad a few hours before serving.  It's also great the next day!

So easy and is great for a large group.  Enjoy!

Montebello's Organic Roman Farro Salad

Recipes on packages can be a great place to begin if you're not sure how to try out a new food item.  On the back of the of the Montebello Organic Farro Perlato package (sold by Whole Foods, Imported by Spruce Foods) is a recipe for a wonderful farro salad.  You need to begin this recipe the night before to soak the farro properly.

Organic Roman Farro Salad

14 ounces Montebello Organic Farro
6 cups water & 2 tablespoons salt

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup capers
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4-1/2 cup organic extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped basil
salt & pepper to taste.

Soak farro in cold water for at least 8 hours.  Drain and combine farro with 6 cups fresh water in a medium saucepan.  Add salt.  Bring to boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until farro is tender, about 30 minutes.  Drain well, then transfer to a large bowl to cool.

Add tomatoes, basil, olives and capers to farro and toss.  Add the garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil and toss.  The salad can be refrigerated overnight.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

For nutritional information check out the Farro post.

Beautiful Ingredients



Enjoy!



Paleo Salad Week: Delicious Pear Steak Salad

Yesterday I grilled up a considerable amount of meat to have on hand if the days became to busy to properly cook a meal.  Included in this grilling were two large London Broil steaks. 

As I was thinking of preparing dinner tonight and looking around the kitchen I saw a couple pears in our fruit bowl.  Hmmm.... something delicious was brewing in my mind.

Pear Steak Salad
feeds ~6

1/2 of large container of Organic Spring Mix Greens (Costco) or 2 bags organic spring greens from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc.
2 sliced rounds of red onion, about 1/2 cup sliced red onion
1 pear, cored and diced
1 teaspoon coconut oil, preferably organic
Crumbled Blue Cheese, optional

Place greens in large bowl.  In a medium frying pan heat 1 teaspoon coconut oil.  Place onion and pear in pan and saute for about 2-3 minutes until warm and slightly tender, but not softened.

Pear and onion in frying pan

Lightly saute

After a few minutes in pan, remove pear and onion from heat and pour over greens.  Toss with dressing, following.

Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 clove garlic, diced
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

dressing

After tossing greens, pear, and onion with dressing, place in salad bowl, or on plate, and serve with sliced, grilled London Broil.

Topped with crumbled blue cheese

The pear and the blue cheese...Wow!  Enjoy!

Paleo Salad Week: Tropical Cabbage Salad

Tropical Cabbage Salad

Today marks day four of a Paleo Challenge I'm doing with a friend at the gym.  I'm still feeling a bit sluggish so I think I need to be conscientious about getting the essential carbs and fats in to keep my mind alert.  In the past, when doing similar food challenges I've made boring food choices (chicken breast, chicken breast, and more chicken breast) and lose interest quickly.  This time around, I'm thinking of tasty new creations to keep my family happy and keep me on board with the challenge.

This afternoon I had such a sweet craving.  I wanted some fruit, but know on this challenge fruit is allowed, but limited.  I decided to create a Tropical Cabbage Salad.  It would offer a little sweetness, but would comprise mostly of cabbage which would fill me up.

This salad would go very well with seafood.  I wish we had some fresh white fish on hand or perhaps scallops. 

Tropical Cabbage Salad

1 head cabbage, shredded
3 green onions, diced
1 cup fresh or frozen mangoes, diced (found in freezer section at Trader Joe's)
1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple, diced (not canned pineapple)
1 firm avocado, diced
Cilantro, optional

Toss in large bowl

Great for summer color

Dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
Juice from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon agave (optional)
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper

Pour dressing over salad and toss.

Enjoy!

Paleo Dinner: Grilled Leg of Lamb and Greek Salad

We never had lamb growing up.  We had a lot of beef, pork, unique ethnic food, but never lamb.  My mom grew up on a farm and I think she watched one too many of her pet sheep make it to the dinner table or perhaps she never had a properly prepared lamb dinner.  Or, quite possibly, gyros were not available at her neighborhood diner so she didn't experience the blend of feta, cucumber tzatziki sauce and lamb all on a thick pita.  Whatever the reason, we didn't have lamb.  She said it tasted like hair on her tongue. 

I'm not sure when I first had lamb.  Maybe it was in a gyro in downtown Seattle some 20 years ago, but I knew when I tried it, I was never going back to the lambless life.

I remember making a pot of lamb stew- a perfect fall day comfort food.  My parents were visiting.  My dad tried it and went nuts.  He couldn't get enough.  He asked, "What is this?  It's so good!!"  I told him it was lamb, not beef.  He too was sold on the deliciousness of lamb.

This week we've been reading about the Exodus of the Israelites and the Passover.  We read how the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb, brush the doorposts with blood so they'd be passed over when the first born of all houses and livestock were killed during the tenth Plague in Egypt.  We also read how they had to prepare the Passover lamb before they left on the Exodus.  Because of this, I've been thinking of my own Passover meal of lamb for days.

Today we had to run a couple errands so I stopped by Costco to pick up a leg of lamb to grill.  To be honest, it almost hurts to spend $30 on about four pounds of meat, but the craving had to be satisfied.

I oiled the lamb with olive oil, put some fresh garlic inside the meat along with rosemary sprigs.  I sprinkled a Mediterranean seasoning (cumin and coriander) on the outside along with kosher salt and pepper.  It was ready for the grill.  The packaging read grilling time would be approximately 20 minutes for every pound or until meat is about 145 degrees when checked.

Leg of lamb on the grill

Oh My!!!  I'm so excited for dinner!

So yummy!

To accompany the lamb and meet the Paleo requirement of the month, I decided to make one of my favorite Greek Salads.

Gather fresh vegetables like: Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Red Onion, Grape Tomatoes

This will make such a colorful salad

Dice the vegetables in bite size pieces, place in large bowl.  Add kalamata olives, artichoke hearts (if desired, not marinated), and feta.  My salad won't have feta as I'm trying to be strict Paleo, but the rest of the family can enjoy the feta.

Kalamata Olives

Dressing

About 3 tablespoons olive oil
Lemon juice from 1/2- 1 whole lemon.  We have lemons now that are so juicy, I only needed about 1/2.  You need about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
2 garlic cloves diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh
Many Greek dressing call for anchovy paste.  I rarely have anchovy paste on hand, but I almost always have fish sauce for Asian cooking.  I just add a sprinkle of fish sauce to the dressing.  No one ever knows it's there, so no worries of it being fishy.
Mix dressing well and pour over salad.

Dressing



Greek Salad with Feta- Perfect for Summer!



Dinner is Served- Enjoy!