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Wilted Kale Salad with Warm Mustard Shallot Vinaigrette and Spicy Butternut Squash Croutons
This Wilted Kale Salad with Warm Mustard Shallot Vinaigrette and Spicy Butternut Squash Croutons is winter’s answer to a green salad! Loaded with nutrients and pops of color and SO much taste it’s dreamy as a side or plop your favorite protein on top and make it a meal. The squash croutons? Sure I know they aren’t croutons, but with a little finesse we get a subtle crisp to them that are better than any boring ‘ol bread crouton.
It’s winter and salads often become a distant memory for many. I get it, cold, crispy raw salads just aren’t that appealing to me either, when there’s a chill in the air. I crave warming, comforting and cozy. But, I have made a commitment to my daily #BFS (Big F&%$ing Salad). I find this practice is a great way to ensure I get a big blast of daily nutrients, no matter what!
This is a salad for the winter. With kale as the shining star, this is the perfect way to get in those nutrient-rich greens in the cooler months. Kale is exploding with disease-fighting phytochemicals and it’s one of my most favorite whole-food sources of cognition-boosting nutrition. Here’s what Max Lugavere has to say about kale:
Dark leafy greens like kale and spinach are a top source of lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids which have been the focus of numerous recent studies.
In volunteers, supplementing with lutein and zeaxanthin led to faster processing speed. 1http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108178 This effect was significant “even when testing young, healthy individuals who tend to be at peak efficiency,” wrote study authors.
In another study, human subjects with higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin did better on a test of working memory, while their brains seemed to be working more efficiently when observed under fMRI.2https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/relationship-of-lutein-and-zeaxanthin-levels-to-neurocognitive-functioning-an-fmri-study-of-older-adults/128FA33729CB102A1DC5ACAAFF7D972D
Finally, lutein (found in egg yolks, spinach and kale) was associated with greater crystalized intelligence—the ability to use learned knowledge and experience—in older adults. 3http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00297/full
References
1. ↑ http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108178 2. ↑ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-neuropsychological-society/article/relationship-of-lutein-and-zeaxanthin-levels-to-neurocognitive-functioning-an-fmri-study-of-older-adults/128FA33729CB102A1DC5ACAAFF7D972D 3. ↑ http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2016.00297/full -
Bone Broth Braised Greens {Paleo, Gluten-free, Whole30, AIP}
These Bone Broth Braised Greens are a nourishing addition to any holiday table or just a perfect, comforting side dish, for anytime. Bone broth, onion, garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes add flavor to this side dish that can be made with whatever hearty green is in season. Collard greens, Swiss chard, kale or a mix of your favorites.
I find that at holiday tables (shoot many dinner tables year ’round, for that matter) the veggies are often an afterthought. The thing people throw together and half-ass, because they “have to”. Veggies deserve more love than that. A little respect and honor, ya know? After all, nutrient-rich veggies should be the backbone of any real food diet, or any diet really. We should be shooting for some green stuff at every single meal. Non-negotiable.
I know veggies can get boring and if you’re like me, in the cooler months, salads get less and less enticing, so getting those greens in can be hard. Steaming works, but let’s be real, it can be ‘blah!’ and when you serve ‘blah’ veggies, it’s a fight to get them down and the chances are you aren’t going to do it at every meal.
These slow cooked greens, bring the flavor and nourishing, healing goodness of the bone broth, we get a little heat from the red pepper flakes and the onion, garlic and lemon, round it all out with classic, simplicity.
It’s a pretty fuss-free recipe and at the end of it, you get a bowl of goodness that your beautiful body sooo deserves! Every time I share that I am whipping up this recipe on social media, I get so many messages that you want the recipe. So I finally wrote it up to share with you. Just in time for the holidays.
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Kale Salad with Balsamic Roasted Beets, Horseradish Tahini Dressing and Spicy Maple Pepitas
DOLE® Fresh Vegetables is a sponsor of Tasty Yummies. DOLE® provided me with Organic Salad samples for the purpose of this post, as well as compensation for my time. All content, ideas, and words are my own.
You guys know how I feel about my daily greens and more importantly about the quality of all the foods that we eat in our household. Sourcing organic is of top priority to me so when I received word that DOLE® was expanding their organic product line to include new salad mixes, I was beyond excited to get into the kitchen and start creating with them.
It is an absolute given that at all times I have organic baby spinach and/or kale in the fridge. Whether it’s wilted down in my morning eggs, tossed into a blended smoothie or the base of an epic, seasonal salad I find these to be the most versatile veggies to always have on hand.
If I am being fully honest with you, I have been known to just save a fistful of baby spinach or baby kale into my mouth mid-day if I have been slacking on my greens consumption. Hey – you do what you gotta go sometimes.
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Savory Veggie Breakfast Bowls with Herb Olive Oil Drizzle {Paleo-friendly}
So here we are, another recipe on Tasty Yummies where I leave a lot of the decision-making to you guys. I have to say these end of being my favorite recipes, in a lot of ways. It’s not due to a laziness on my part, more, it’s that this has always been my approach to cooking in my own kitchen and to teaching others in their own unique culinary journeys. I always want to give you the tools to make the right decisions for you, your unique desires and/or your dietary needs. My hope is that I can always help to empower you to feel confident in the kitchen, to try new things, to get adventurous and make decisions on the fly and who knows, maybe even jump outside of your comfort zone at times.
Our nutritional needs can vary just as wildly as our fingerprints. This is why I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and eating, it simply can’t work. I don’t believe in slapping a label on my diet, following an arbitrary set of rules and ignoring my body’s intuitive response to food. That said, the fundamentals and foundations that we know to be true, can absolutely be applied across the board, with many little variations along the way. I think this is what I love about food so much, it can be tweaked, the details shifted to suit your needs, cravings, desires and even location – the sky truly is the limit.
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Fennel Spinach Soup
While I am very aware that the holidays, for most of us, usually means a bit more sweets than usual, maybe a tad more alcohol and probably a few other less-than-healthy choices, I also kinda resent the idea that we should all relegate ourselves to spending the entire month of January detoxing, cleansing or Whole-whatevering.
Obviously you guys know me and my mission well enough to know that people making healthier choices and mindful lifestyle changes is always something I can get behind no matter the circumstances and in fact, I constantly encourage this. But, I don’t love this idea of post-holiday shame or guilt, that many feel we should suffer, especially after one of the best and most special times of the year. It just isn’t healthy. I also don’t love the idea often promoted every January, that 30 days of “cleansing” is going to change our lives or fix our wrongdoings and come February we can just jump back into the “old ways of eating”. Done and done.
Once again, it’s that balance I so often talk about. It’s the sustainable lifestyle choices and habit-forming, everyday changes that will endure long term and elicit real shifts in our health and overall well-being and vitality, for the long haul. Sure, more veggies and less junk is what we are all doing right now and I am certainly not condemning that, but I will feel no regret for my holiday choices. I make no apologies for the amazing, “nutritionally imperfect” homemade food I enjoyed with my family or those extra few pieces of the dark chocolate candy that my father and I made together (using my great-grandmother’s recipe) – which may have snuck into my suitcase. So what, I had a few cocktails? I also don’t feel even the slightest bit bad about the extra (of course, gluten-free) refined-carbs that seemed to follow me everywhere these past two weeks. None of these choices were really all that bad. I know, simply put, that it cannot and will not undo all the hard work I have done the rest of the year and consuming those things (or more) under the premise that I will “undo” it in the New Year, feels just plain silly to me.
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Autumn Harvest Salad with Green Horseradish Vinaigrette
There is something about the fall and the winter and the cooler weather they bring, that not only elicits those feelings of cozy comfort, for me it also brings a desire to gather and share nourishing food, with others. With the holidays on the horizon, this love of community and connection is strong and needed, in these darker, cooler months ahead.
Earlier this month I hosted Gather, a women’s retreat here in Southern California. Beyond teaching yoga every morning, I also had the wonderful pleasure of preparing all of the delicious, seasonally-inspired food for all of the meals we shared together. Mostly vegetarian and exclusively gluten-free, the meals highlighted light, comfort food, the flavors of the fall and as always when I am cooking, nutrient-rich, whole foods. Read the rest of this entry »
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Chocolate Trail Mix Energy Bars
If you follow me on social media, on apps like Instagram or Snapchat, you may have noticed that after nearly 3 years of living in California, I am back to traveling again. The travel-bug has bit this girl and this is an itch that must be scratched. I absolutely love adventure and I live for that joy you get when discovering new places.
The hardest thing about traveling, however, is doing so with dietary challenges. With limitations on my diet and wanting to maintain a healthy, mindful lifestyle, this can be hard while I am away from the comforts of my own kitchen. While challenging, it is also totally possible and I want to share with those of you living a life similar to mine, that with a little research and planning, your wanderlust can certainly be quenched, too! In the past, after first changing my diet, discovering my gluten intolerance and making other changes to my lifestyle, I had found myself scared to travel, worried that I wouldn’t be able to eat. But I always more than make it, I eat well on my travels and I am able to honor my body the way I choose to, while still being able to explore new cuisine, experience new restaurants and travel a city the way everyone else gets to. I want to encourage you guys, to get out there, to have fun, explore and travel.
For me, a big part of my travel routine, relies heavily on planning ahead and of course, packing food. Though with every passing year it gets easier and easier to find restaurants that truly support gluten-free, I also like to know that I am covered. Plus, when flying, let’s be honest, most airlines haven’t quite received the memo that gluten-free is a thing! Homemade energy bars, trail mix, dark chocolate and other healthy snacks, these are always a must for me. Plus, I don’t ever leave home without some green stuff. This girl’s gut needs the green stuff to keep things moving, if you know what I mean.
These Chocolate Trail Mix Energy Bars (gluten-free, vegan and paleo) are basically all of the good superfood stuff you love, in one magical, travel-friendly bar! Trail mix, greens and of course, chocolate. (To know me is to know, this is something I won’t leave home without). Enter ALOHA, my very best travel companion. In my world, ALOHA is as important as my passport, when I head off on adventure.
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Beans and Greens Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Loaded up sweet potatoes are my jam! Stuff all that good stuff up in there and then proceed to stuff your face. What could go wrong? Nothing. Promise. This particular version, is a great way to combine a salad right into your sweet potato. Done and done. I like to bake the sweet potatoes ahead of time, many weeks I batch bake a bunch for meals, then you can assemble just before serving. They make a great summer BBQ, picnic or potluck side dish, just heat up the already baked sweet potatoes, quickly make the filling, stuff and serve.
These Beans and Greens Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are so simple to make and will quickly become a favorite of yours, too. Best part, as with many of my recipes, switch up the ingredients to you or your guests particular liking. Not a fan of garbanzo beans, opt for white beans, black eye peas, black beans or whatever tickles your bean fancy. Not a fan of beans, opt for toasted nuts or seeds instead. You could even add your favorite sausage or some bacon on top, if you are a meat eater looking for a complete meal. Like your cheese? A little sprinkle of feta or parmesan would be epic on top of these. Truthfully though, these need nothing added at all. They are incredible just like this.
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Summer Veggie Power Bowls with Lemon Garlic Tahini Dressing
This week marks the start of summer which means lots of fun and exciting adventures await us! Traveling around and exploring or just hanging out in your hood, summer is all about enjoying the sunshine and fresh summer food, getting together with family and friends, savouring fresh summer-inspired meals outside and of course, being on the go.
These summer-inspired veggie power bowls are the perfect tasty, nourishing option for a picnic, a trip to the beach, a backyard BBQ or summer potluck. You can play around with the various ingredients to what you have on hand and like best or what is most fresh near you right now, it’s a simple recipe perfect for customizing. Pre-assemble the bowls and cover, bring the dressing on the side and pack up your Yellow 108 Travel Roll up cutlery set for the perfect meal-on-the-road to accompany your summer adventures.
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Roasted Butternut Squash, Apple and Leek Bread Stuffing with Collard Greens (Grain-free Option)
I am totally aware that I am coming in down to the wire with this recipe. Thanksgiving is just a few short days away and maybe some of you have had your menu’s planned for days or even weeks, but I am not quite that put together. I am serving dinner to somewhere between 7 and 10 people on Thursday and I am still working on what I plan to serve.
With my weekends being consumed by yoga teacher training and trying to maintain a social life amidst a busy work schedule plus making time for my own yoga practice and personal training sessions, life has been feeling a tad hectic, as of late. My saving grace has been our CSA boxes that get delivered every Wednesday. Most weeks I plan our meals based on what shows up in that box, so I always know that we will be eating healthy and well, no matter how busy life gets.
This stuffing was born on a day that a new CSA box showed up and I still had a couple things from the previous week’s box. So, it’s partially a recipe created with Thanksgiving in mind and partially and more simply, a fridge/pantry cleaning recipe. After getting some beautiful butternut squash, leeks and apples, plus some gorgeous collard greens, I was finding myself inspired to create a dish that used all of them.
This fun version of a classic bread stuffing is so easy to throw together and it is just full of so many incredible comforting flavors. The best part of this recipe is how versatile it is. You can use whatever your favorite bread is, try kale instead of collard greens and you could even add meat, if that’s your preference.
I created a super quick and easy to make grain-free bread to make this stuffing with, I kinda impressed myself with how simple it is to make and how perfectly it works in this recipe! What more could you ask for on a busy holiday?
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Spring Green Salad with Honey Dijon Almond Butter Dressing (Gluten-free and Dairy-free with Vegan Option)
After creating the big Tutorial Tuesday post last week for How-to Make Nut Butters, I have, as you can imagine, been finding myself needing to get very creative with all of the different nut butters I have in my fridge. A girl can only have so much nut butter on bananas or in her smoothies. I have been having a lot of fun especially, creating savory unexpected recipes with the different nut and seed butters.
I thought how wonderful a salad dressing made with a creamy nut butter sounded and I got to looking at what I had on hand to get creative with. I have always loved honey dijon dressings and those flavors all match so wonderfully with the almond butter. This dressing is thick, creamy and zingy with a bright freshness from the fresh orange juice (from our own tree, mind you). This dressing has quickly become a favorite around here. I have already made it three times since last week.
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Swiss Chard Wraps with Raw Walnut Taco “Meat” (Gluten-free and Vegan)
There are so many things to love about Southern California – the year-round beautiful weather, the sunshine, the incredible varying produce was have access to throughout the year, the beaches, mountains, hiking trails – I could go on and on. But, one of my very favorite things is that I can have a vegetable garden growing year round. I am not sure I will ever get used to that or ever take it for granted. When I was planting the seeds for my winter garden, I was convinced there was no way it would work. It seemed impossible to this New York girl. I am used to a growing season that lasts from May to, if you are lucky, October. And this is barring no major unseasonal frosts.
I planted a bunch of goodies from seeds right at the end of fall – peas, broccoli, leeks, carrots, radishes, lettuces, kale, spinach and Swiss chard. Not everything has grown perfectly, I am still learning what does well in my soil and what doesn’t, but my Swiss chard is one of the many that did amazing. Since we had a pretty hot and dry December and January, everything got off to a slow start. Then, suddenly one day, after my yoga teacher training program ended and I had been too busy to check on things all month, I went outside to see that everything had a major growth spurt, especially my beautiful chard.
I find Swiss chard to be so beautiful. Those leaves have that lovely contrasting, vibrantly colored stem and the surface of the leave is so perfect. It is so gorgeous growing out in my garden that I almost hate to pick it. Almost. Read the rest of this entry »
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Mixed Greens Salad with Apples, Caramelized Leeks and Maple Dijon Dressing – Gluten-free + Dairy-free (vegan option)
This has been a bit of a trying week for me, getting back into town after being on the road for a week, plus I generally feel just a little bit down. Could be the change of the season and the daylight hours shifting (both always affect me with every season, even with fall, my favorite season) or maybe it’s the lack of sleep from traveling or the stress of this house-selling business. I have generally been staying upbeat and positive about trying to sell this house and our pending move to California, but I think it all might finally be getting to me. While we were away we had my mom come by the house to make sure it was all ready for a showing we had scheduled (we had it all cleaned and ready, but I wanted her to make sure there wasn’t mail sitting on the porch and I had her open windows and make it smell nice). While she was at our house and texting me about what to do, I got notice that the showing for 2 hours later was now cancelled. It happens, I know that. They have actually already rescheduled, so no major loss there, but there was something about being so far away, feeling terrible about my mom having to go out of her way to help and everything else on my mind. I actually welled up with tears and felt like I could lose it. Over one showing. I guess I hit my breaking point. Doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.
Really none of that has anything to do with this salad, except that with the change of the season and the general feeling of being a little down, I still know what my body craves and it is craving all of the wonderful seasonal produce we are surrounded by right now. Besides craving comforting foods like warm soups and stews, I also find myself craving beautiful vibrantly colored meals. Celebrating what is happening all around me outside, but also knowing that in a few short months it will be hard to find those beautiful hues. My very good friend April is beginning a new journey into Holistic Health Coaching and she sent out her first newsletter this morning. Not only was it super informative and so timely for me, but it had a line that really stuck with me “The transition to fall may leave us feeling exhilarated but unsettled, ungrounded.” That thought really resonated with me and definitely allowed me to accept what I was feeling right now with a bit less judgement and harshness.
With so much great produce in season right now, it is easy to plan simple meals to celebrate it all. This week I have been celebrating squash and apples specifically, but with this quick and light dinner I wanted to also include some of the beautiful greens that are in season as well as the leeks, both of which I picked up at my local Co-Op. This salad is so simple to put together and it really packs a beautiful punch of flavor from the applewood smoked bacon, the crisp and tart local gala apple, the delicious crispy and rich flavor from the caramelized leeks and of course the tart and slightly sweet maple dijon dressing. So much delicious goodness in one small salad.
If you are interested in reading a few Ayurveda tips for Autumn, check out this great article from Yoganonmous here. I came across it this morning and it definitely validated me in the way I have been feeling this week. Also, you can also check out my good friend April’s first newsletter that discusses the transition into Autumn and Winter and what we can do to ground ourselves and make it an easier shift. Plus, look for some upcoming guest-posts filled with informative holistic health tips and corresponding recipes from my good friend April here on Tasty Yummies.
How have you been feeling lately? Does the change in the seasons affect your moods?
[print_this]Mixed Greens Salad with Apples, Caramelized Leeks and Maple Dijon Dressing- Gluten-free + Dairy-free (vegan option)
Serves 4- 6-8 cups of mixed greens of your choice – lots of great greens in season right now
- 2 local, organic gala apples, cored and cut into slices (I cut each apple into 16 slices)
- 4 slices of local, pasture-raised applewood smoked bacon (leave off to make vegan)
- 1 large leek, rinsed very well, slice thinly white and light green parts only*
- 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
Maple Dijon Dressing
adapted from this recipe- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons no-salt added dijon mustard
- salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat your oven to 400ºF
Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl or bottle and whisk (or shake) together well, to combine. Set aside.
Start by cookin your bacon in the oven (you can also cook it on the stovetop, but I find this way to be much easier and cleaner), line a baking sheet with foil and place your bacon on top. Place into the oven for 12-18 minutes until the bacon is nice and crisp. No need to flip it.
While the bacon is cooking, start caramelizing your leeks. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat, once the oil is hot enough add the properly cleaned and thinly sliced leeks to the pan. Give them a good stir or two to coat them all in oil and to break them apart a bit. Turn the heat down if need be at any point if they start to cook too quickly. Gently toss the leeks around in the pan and cook slowly until they are golden browned and caramelized. Just as you would with onions. Take it slow, you don’t want them to burn up quickly, you want a nice slow cook to them. Once they are cooked to your liking, turn off the heat.
Once the bacon is done lay it on a paper towel lined plate to absorb some of the excess oil. Then cut it up or crumble it into small pieces.
Toss the greens with a small amount of the dressing. Plate the dressed greens and top each serving with a few apple slices, sprinkle the crumbled bacon over top and top it all with a good spoonful of the caramelized leeks. Drizzle additional dressing overtop all of it.
Serve immediately.
* a quick note on cleaning leeks: leeks tend to have a lot of dirt and grit in them. If you aren’t careful when cleaning them, you may think they are totally clean, start cooking with them and find your entire dish has a nasty grittiness to it. This can ruin a dish. After trimming off the ends (called the beards) and the dark green tops (save these for stocks). You can run them under cold water at this point, or even better, you can submerge the leeks in a large pot of cold water. Swirl them around to really remove all the grit and dirt. Drain well and then cut.
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Mango Banana Green Smoothie – Gluten-free + Vegan
I figured as long as I am on a smoothie kick, I will continue to share my recipes with you guys. It’s been a bit of a busy work week and I just haven’t been motivated to make many large involved recipes, plus I am waiting on a shipment of almond flour to make a few recipes that have been in the queue for this week. I’ve been cooking pretty simple recipes for dinner and quick easy salads and other veggies for lunch. As much as I love cooking, when the rest of my life feels hectic and busy, it is hard sometimes to muster up the energy to want to be patient and take photos after I do all the cooking. I love creating the recipes, I love cooking and I really love eating, but sometimes setting up for the photos, worrying about lighting and stressing about props is just more than I can handle. I want my photos to be as good as they can be, so I think I tend to put way too much pressure on myself, in that way.
This morning, after a somewhat restless night of sleep, I actually slept in a little bit (until 8:30am) and didn’t make it to yoga, so I decided to make a smoothie first thing and enjoy it outside on the patio. I had no real plans of sharing the recipe or taking photos, but after I took the first sip I decided it was way too good not to share (plus I wanted to tell you guys about the yummy green superfood powder). So, I ended up grabbing my camera quick and setting up a really fast shoot for the smoothie, trying not to stress over details. No harm, no foul. Until…. the wood backdrop that you see behind all of the ingredients in the photo below, decided to fall forward and spill almond milk everywhere, it was the last of the almond milk in the house and was supposed to be enough to make a smoothie tomorrow. Not exactly the way to start a day. I took a really deep breath (OK maybe I threw the wood in anger first, then took the deep breath) and cleaned it up. At any rate, thankfully I got a few decent photos before that whole fiasco, but I have to say, I am not gonna lie, editing these photos definitely gave me a little anxiety thinking about that crash, and the almond milk spilling everywhere.
OK, enough of all that, let’s talk smoothie…many times I just make up my smoothie recipes as I go and this morning I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I really wanted to include some veggies but since I was out of kale and didn’t have any spinach, I decided to add a scoop of Orange Dreamsicle Green SuperFood from Amazing Grass. They aren’t paying me to say any of this, it is a product I grabbed at the Lexington CoOp a while back after they had someone there offering samples. I was impressed with the taste, but I also love that one single scoop helps provide you with your 5 to 9 daily servings of veggies. Not too bad for a small unassuming scoop of gluten-free and vegan green powder.
The powder has a very subtle orange creamsicle flavor and it isn’t chalky or strange, it pairs nicely in fruit smoothies as well as a smoothie with cocoa powder and almond butter. I bought this container back in March and I still have a decent amount left. Each container has about 30 servings and once opened you store it in the refrigerator for optimal freshness. The Orange Dreamsicle flavor is so good I have on occasion mixed it with just water or almond milk for a quick green pick me up. You should definitely give it a try if you are looking for ways to add more greens into your diet.
[print_this]Mango Banana Green Smoothie – Gluten-free, Vegan + Refined Sugar-free
serves 1- 1 cup unsweetened organic vanilla almond milk (or any non-dairy milk of your choice)
- 1 organic banana, preferably frozen
- 3/4 cup frozen organic diced mango
- 5-7 drops of NuNaturals Liquid Vanilla Alcohol-Free Stevia (or any other sweetener of your choice)
- 1 scoop of Green SuperFood Powder (if you don’t have this or something like this but you still want greens, add 1 cup of
- spinach or kale or just leave it out)
- 1 handful of ice if your banana isn’t frozen
Add all of the ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth and creamy. If it is too thick, add more almond milk or some water to thin it.
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