Antioxidantly sweet salad: beets 'n berries!

I had no idea beets and (blue)berries went so well together. Tossed with some sweet sungold cherry tomatoes and lacinato kale, drizzled with some balsamic and BAM! It's a flavorful, sweet explosion on your mouth! This is definitely a new thing for me. I loathed beets growing up until I tried a raw beet salad at a restaurant in Brevard, North Carolina last month when I was visiting my family. The beets tasted....awesome. I was surprised. So I picked up some local lacinato kale (I needed a change from curly), sungold 'maters and beets for myself at the Olympia Farmer's Market.



Next time I'm going to throw in some fresh blackberries. I certainly have enough of those right now.

Cilantro lime quinoa

Same food, a different taste. You'll see a pattern here at my blog. My personal favorite super foods: quinoa, kale, avocado, tomatoes, garlic and so on. There are so many variations available with fresh, whole foods. You may remember Quinoa fresh-Mex medley (a salad, a wrap filler or chip dip!). I've tried a new variation with mostly the same ingredients except the dressing. This time it's cilantro lime vinaigrette! I'm going to play with it some more to get it just to my liking, but it's very close. I wasn't totally sold on it the first day, but after the dish marinaded overnight, it was awesome!

Ingredients:
1 C dry quinoa (red or white)
2 1/2 C water
1 can black or kidney beans
a few large leaves kale, chopped
1/2 large granny smith apple, diced
tomato, diced
1 large carrot, shredded
1 avocado, diced
green or red onion, chopped
opt: red bell pepper, diced

Simmer quinoa in 2 C water for 20 minutes or until fully cooked (you'll see the tiny spirals everywhere!). Meanwhile, blanch kale in 1/2 C water in a large wok. It literally takes only seconds till kale is deep green, then remove. Squeeze remaining water out of the kale and add kale and all prepped veggies in a bowl and set aside.

Cilantro lime vinaigrette

Juice of 2 limes
1T white vinegar
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1T maple syrup
1 clove garlic
1/4 t salt
3/4 t whole grain dijon mustard
1/2 C olive oil

Add all ingredients in a food processor and let it run till smooth and even in texture. Pour over quinoa and vegetables, toss and let sit overnight. The avocados will stay fresh because of the lime, so no browning avocado worries! Enjoy!

Sauteed tempeh quinoa wrap

Today's lunch was so rockin', I just had to post a couple pictures and the recipe, which is so easy peasy and quick, it's ridiculous! Even my carnivorous father liked it!



The ingredients:
A couple of whole grain tortilla wraps (I use Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain wraps)
Hummus of your likin' (enough to slather on the wrap; not much)
Cooked quinoa (only enough to stick on top of the hummus, so not much is needed--I had some leftover from last night's beans 'n quinoa; I left it cold for this.)
Tempeh, sliced
1/3 C sliced yellow onion
1 C packed chopped kale
1/2 avocado, sliced
sesame oil for sauteing
splash of soy sauce (or Nama Shoyu, Bragg's Liquid Aminos; I did not have these as options since I'm out of town.)
Optional:
1-2 TB minced garlic
handful mushrooms
sliced red and/or green bell pepper

In a medium skillet using medium heat, saute the tempeh in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Saute until slightly crunchy and done on both sides. Set aside. Saute onion in the same thing (less oil and sauce will be needed, so don't overdo it) until almost translucent. Add in the kale and continue to saute until the kale is bright green and still holds it's shape, being sure not to overdo it (it wilts quickly). Remove from heat. Slather the hummus and quinoa onto your wrap, then pile on the avo, tempeh, and grilled goodies. Voila! So good! I didn't have any fresh minced garlic at my disposal, but I highly recommend adding that in too! I chased this down with a shot of coconut water/mango/lemon/chia gel!

Red lentil vegetable soup

Red lentil vegetable soup

My daughter and I really enjoyed this soup tonight. It was filling, hearty and healthy!

Ingredients
1 c red lentil
1 1/2 c cooked quinoa
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
water (2 cans once you've emptied the coconut milk's can)
2 bay leaves
1 large sweet potato, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1 c packed each:
chopped broccoli (and stems!)
chopped carrots
chopped kale
chopped red bell pepper
1/2-3/4 c yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c packed chopped cilantro
1 t tandoori seasoning

1/2 t maple syrup
salt, pepper to taste

Directions: Cook quinoa (remember to rinse well beforehand). Bring coconut milk and water to a boil in a wok, add lentils and bay leaves, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile prep the other veggies. Drop the heat down to a simmer. Once the lentils are starting to separate and dissolve, add in sweet potatoes and 1/2 t tandoori seasoning. Let cook, stirring often (important since it'll stick to the bottom of the wok easily if not stirred often). In separate pan, saute onion, bell pepper, garlic and 1/2 t of tandoori seasoning til the onions are just translucent and not soggy. Once the potatoes have softened enough to stab them with a fork, turn burner to low, add the cooked quinoa, salt, pepper, maple syrup and remaining vegetables except the kale. Let cook a few more minutes, making sure the broccoli stems and carrots aren't cooked to a mush (I prefer them still crunchy). Add kale, then remove from heat. Serve hot, topped with fresh cilantro.

Garden update

Another pest has invaded my garden. The thing is, I'm sure they were there before the slugs started taking over (I've gotten them down to a low roar now, fortunately). This time it's cabbage maggots. They burrow into the roots and work their way up, eventually killing the plant. We noticed one day that one of our cabbage plants was wilted to the ground. Soon after, two more plants (pictured left). There's no hope for them once they're infested. If I would have done my research before planting a garden, I would have known to protect the plants as
seedlings/transplants. Hindsight is 20/20! So I can only hope that the rest of the remaining cabbages will survive unharmed.

On a more positive note, we have been enjoying freshly picked lettuce and kale. It's been awesome to walk out the front door and be able to pick the base for our salads, or a leaf or two at a time for sandwiches. Oh! And my cilantro (started from seed, go me!) is doing beautifully. It's still too young for picking, but it is growing new shoots all the time. I need to start some more to keep the succession going. I failed miserably at cilantro last year, even though I got a decent transplant.


On to a recipe for your enjoyment. This goes out to all the kale and garlic lovers! I've shared this recipe before using spinach, but the kale really changes the tastes.

Garlicky Kale
1 bunch kale (about 6 or so large leaves if handpicking from garden), chopped
toasted or raw sesame seeds
toasted sesame oil
Bragg's liquid aminos, Nama Shoyu or soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup water

Directions:
In a wok, boil 1/2 cup, add the kale and immediately remove it from wok once it's at it brightest color (this takes a minute, literally, just keep turning it to get all leaves in the water). Let drain and cool in colander, then squeeze out excess water . In a medium-sized bowl, add sesame seeds, garlic, even amounts soy sauce and sesame oil (you'll have to play with the exact amounts to get a taste you like). Once you've made the marinade to your taste, add the kale and mix so it's lightly coated with the marinade. It's good to eat right away or let sit overnight!
WARNING: this WILL give you gnarly garlic breath that is lethal enough to wipe out close friends or family. Eat at your own risk!

Such a newb gardener!

red leaf lettuce up close and personal, red russian kale in the background

When we first moved to Washington last May, I was determined to have a garden. I heard the soil was rich and you didn't need a green thumb in order to get things to grow. In our excitement of renting a house that actually had gardening space, my hubby and I went a little haywire getting seeds and starts going. We planted beans, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, cilantro, parsley, mint, basil, rosemary, tomatoes, onions and a few other veggies. We ended up harvesting a handful of cherry tomatoes. Needless to say, we were clueless. So this season, we got an earlier start (it didn't help last year that we planted in June because of the chaos of moving from Texas to Washington with dogs, a kid and a newborn). This season, we're already seeing the fruits of our patience and newfound gardening wisdom (like the importance of spacing, watering and using compost to help the soil out). We planted red and green cabbage, red Russian kale and some Walla Walla onions. The starts were itty bitty when we first planted them and now they are decently sized and still growing! Several kale and lettuce and a couple cabbage are being attacked by slugs though, but that's a different post. The onions don't seem to be doing as well, only a random few are actually growing. The rest are neither dying nor flourishing. It's like onion limbo out there!

For Mother's Day this year, my hubby got some supplies and made me a backyard compost holder. It's just chicken wire and stakes, but it's the perfect size (3'x3'x3'). I haven't quite filled it up yet, but it's happening slowly and surely. I can't wait to be able to use the compost when it's ready. Meanwhile, my garage composting worms (red wrigglers) are doing their duty --er, dooty. Worm dooty is black gold to my plants! Ooh, speaking of! Hubby and I helped a friend move recently and she paid us by buying us dinner and giving me a plant. It's some kind of succulent, but I can't exactly find it on Google. The closest I got was Moonrocks. But it looks slightly different than that. Any ideas? Anyways, I love it... they look like tiny antique cement roses.

Quinoa Fresh Medley

I love quinoa. It's an awesome food. It's got more nutrition than rice and in fact has protein and the fun texture of this curious little grain makes it my favorite. A lot of grocery stores today still do not carry quinoa, but you can find it at any health food store. Costco carries the "white" quinoa in large bags at a decent price, but I prefer the red quinoa, which holds its shape when cooked and has a more earthy, nutty tast. (I tend to think that vegetables, fruits, etc that have more color tend to be healthier. Take lettuce for instance: spinach, red leaf, arugula are far more nutritious than their friend Iceburg, who is very pale in contrast to the others. Also green cabbage compared to red cabbage; red cabbage has far more phytonutrients than green. But alas, this is not so with quinoa! Go figure!)

On to the recipe!

Since this is such a forgiving recipe, I'll leave it to you to decide how much of each ingredient you want to use.

- Quinoa (red or white)
- Black or kidney beans
- Dark leafy lettuce or greens (green lettuce, red leaf, spinach, kale, etc)
- Diced tomato
- Diced avocado
- Chopped bell pepper (of your choice; I prefer red!)
- Chopped cilantro
- Chopped green or red onion
- Fresh lime (squeezed to taste!)
- Fresh salsa or pico de gallo

It's seriously so good. You can wrap it up in a whole grain tortilla wrap with some fresh salsa or just eat it like a salad. It keeps well in the refrigerator (be sure to squeeze that lime on the avocado to keep it from turning colors!). Now, these are just the veggies we add. You can use anything you like! It's a very nutritious meal and even my 5 year old loves it. If you're a chip eater, this is a great dip for tortilla chips!