Tag: Vegetarian
True Food Kitchen Kale Salad
At the 2014 Nutrition and Health Conference back in May, I was fortunate enough to have a second row seat to watch Dr. Andrew Weil, founder of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and originator of this recipe for lemon-parmesan kale salad, prepare it on stage with cookbook author Rebecca Katz. The two of them worked together to whip up an entire intriguingly seasoned, plant-based meal in 30 minutes, just like a really healthy version of a Food Network show, complete with pre-prepped bowls of ingredients and witty banter.
Unfortunately, the only picture that ended up saving to my photo stream from my four days at the conference in Dallas was the one of the cake and bread I snuck out of a session to purchase because I JUST COULDN’T TAKE ANOTHER MEAL WITHOUT SUGAR AND CARBS.
I know. Terrible. I’m going to be the worst dietitian ever. (But that carrot cake was soooo worth it.)
My little exodus in search of sweetness and wheat was not motivated by not enjoying the food served at the conference. It was fresh, expertly prepared, and genuinely delicious. I just really needed some bread and dessert to go with it.
So, sadly enough, I do not have any photos of Dr. Weil preparing this famous side dish served at all his True Food Kitchen restaurants across the country. It’s a real shame, because it was a joy to watch him cook. His familiarity with the recipe was apparent, and his adjustments and flourishes were like watching a master painter create a masterpiece. Seriously, if I were a single 60-something lady, well….that’s all I’m going to say about that.
Let’s get back to the salad. Right, the salad. Like I said, this delightful green dish is a staple at Dr. Weil’s True Food Kitchen restaurants, which are based around his anti-inflammatory diet philosophy (now with locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia–if you live in one of these states, I highly recommend checking it out!) Having dined at the restaurant many times, I was familiar with this salad, as it and a sweet potato hash are the two side dishes offered with most entrees. I enjoy both, but I usually choose the salad. So tonight, when I was making dinner and needed something to liven up the half a bag of kale sitting in my fridge, I figured it was as good a time as any to try my hand at this recipe. Having watched Dr. Weil make it, I knew it was not complicated and used simple ingredients.
I have another kale salad recipe that I enjoy and eat with due diligence, but WHOA, this one had me eyeing the bowl, wondering if anyone else is going to eat the rest before I could get to it. It’s actually a little baffling how a salad that is basically just kale with parmesan and a simple dressing could be so appealing and taste so mouthwateringly good. But there you have it. I actually forfeited eating dessert after dinner in favor of eating more of this salad. And THAT’S saying something. Perhaps a little redemption from my furtive cake run at the conference a few months ago. (Though I stand by it. That carrot cake totally hit the spot.)
True Food Kitchen Kale Salad
(From DrWeil.com)
Ingredients:
4-6 c. kale, loosely packed (Dr. Weil recommends black kale, but I used standard green kale, which also worked great)
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 c.)
3-4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt and pepper to taste
Red pepper flakes to taste
2/3 c. Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. freshly made bread crumbs from lightly toasted bread
Directions:
1. Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes.
2. Pour over kale in a serving bowl and toss well (tossing with your hands works well, as it covers more surface area of the kale).
3. Add 2/3 of the cheese and toss again.
4. Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes. Meanwhile, toast and crumble bread. Add bread crumbs, toss again, and top with remaining cheese.
Serves 4-6.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho! What in the world is gazpacho? The origins of the word itself are unknown, though theories abound. Some people believe it comes from an Arabic word for “soaked bread”; others claim it has roots in the Hebrew word for “to break into pieces.” If you watch the video of Ina Garten preparing this recipe, though, you’ll hear her call it a “salad soup.” Elsewhere I’ve seen it described less appetizingly as “liquid salad,” which sounds like something a catatonic hospital patient would receive through a tube. I like to think of it as a salsa soup, which is what I called it when my kids asked what we were having for dinner and I didn’t want to say “liquid salad.” I really couldn’t see them running to the table after me calling…
If you’re someone who enjoys salsa, you’re highly likely to be a fan of gazpacho. One of my salsa-loving friends refers to tortilla chips as “salsa transportation devices” because, when it’s good salsa, don’t you really just want the salsa? The chip itself is definitely not the main attraction. Well, what if you didn’t have to bother with the chip for propriety’s sake? What if you could just eat the whole bowl of delicious salsa? Guess what, my friends?
YOU CAN!!!
And THAT is the meaning of gazpacho.
(You may, of course, have to get over the fact that it’s a cold soup, which seems like a contradiction in terms. But once you do, you’ll be thankful. As a colossal fan of soup, I can tell you it’s a delightfully sneaky way to still get to eat soup in the summer. We enjoyed it with pesto grilled cheese sandwiches and I thought it was the perfect combination. So go get grinding and chopping–summertime is liquid salad gazpacho time!)
Gazpacho
(Barely adapted from Ina Garten)
Ingredients:
1 cucumber, halved and seeded but not peeled
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
4 plum tomatoes
1 red onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 c. tomato juice
1/4 c. white wine vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
Directions:
1. Chop the cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, and red onion into 1-inch cubes. Place each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until coarsely chopped (about the texture of a very chunky salsa).
2. After each vegetable is processed, combine them in a large bowl and add garlic, tomato juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper, mixing well.
3. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Serves 4-6.
Pesto Pasta and Bean Salad
Today was a pretty chill, laid-back Sunday for our family. The best kind, if you ask me. My mom generously took our kids overnight last night, so my husband and I got to have dinner at the fabulous Wrigley Mansion, a Phoenix landmark since 1932, and sleep in this morning. It was kind of shocking how late we were able to sleep without the kids running around/arguing/informing us about poopy Pullups. (Anybody have a sure-fire solution for nighttime potty training a 3-year-old?) Anyway, the two of us went out for a late breakfast, which we almost never do–partly because we rarely eat out with kids and partly because I have a thing about brunch. I hate it. Seriously, it ruins my whole day. I’m the kind of person who wants to get up and eat something light and drink my coffee pretty much immediately. Brunch basically flies in the face of these desires. You have to do your hair and get dressed, get in your car and drive somewhere, order and wait until they bring out your food. Then you always, ALWAYS eat way more than you normally would and at lunchtime you still feel full and kinda gross but you want to eat. So you eat lunch and you feel even more over-full and gross. See where this is going? Whole day shot. You’re dead to me, brunch.
Still, despite my issue with brunch, our day was a pleasant one. After we picked the kids up from Grandma’s we went on a family outing to Ikea, where we got some fun stuff for the house, then went to Guitar Center, where the kids enjoyed jamming on the 95 keyboards they have stacked in one room. But even after skipping out on the meatballs and lingonberry sauce my family had for lunch at Ikea, those lemon ricotta pancakes I had at brunch still hung like dead weight in my stomach. Thankfully, our plans for dinner were the definition of light: this super-simple pesto pasta and bean salad. Yay!
If there was ever a straightforward, what-you-see-is-what-you-get salad, this is it. I love it for its simplicity, its quick prep time, and its healthful vegetarian ingredients. It would make a great side to tote to a summertime potluck–but for our family, served with a side of crusty bread, this is plenty for a modest dinner!
Pesto Pasta and Bean Salad
(Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)
Ingredients:
8 oz. whole wheat penne or other small pasta
1 7-oz. container purchased basil pesto (or make your own)
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 15-oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
3 c. arugula
2 oz. Parmesan/Reggiano cheese, shaved
Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.
2. Meanwhile, make dressing by combining pesto, red wine vinegar, and salt in a large bowl. Add cooked pasta, beans, and arugula and stir gently to combine. Top with shaved cheese.
Makes about 8 cups.
Spinach Lasagna
Doncha just love the Internet? Where else can you find so many useful “true facts” about anything you desire, including your favorite foods? Like this gem about spinach:
Who knew? Little-known facts: spinach also gives you increased resistance to awkward conversations at parties, superior hopping ability at Q-Bert (arcade version only) and temporary bioluminescence. I swear it’s true; I read it on the Internet.
The obsession over connecting individual foods with highly specific health benefits can get a little excessive–especially when the marketing touts a benefit that’s totally obvious and/or off-topic. Milk with a gluten-free sticker affixed. “Apples: a naturally fat-free food!” “Cheerios: may help lower cholesterol.” (Um, since cholesterol only occurs in animal products, doesn’t any non-animal product food lower your cholesterol?) I might as well walk around wearing a sign that reads “Will not give you a skunk as a pet.” I won’t, but that’s sort of irrelevant to who I am as a person.
Incidentally, the typical association most of us have with spinach–that it’s high in iron–actually stems (pun intended) from a recording error German chemist Erich von Wolf made when analyzing the vegetable’s nutrition content. Von Wolf misplaced a decimal point, accidentally recording that spinach contained 35 milligrams of iron per serving, rather than 3.5. The error went unchecked and persisted to such a degree that amidst the creation of the super-strong cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man, studio executives suggested he should have a propensity for spinach. The rest is history: the myth of the elevated iron content of spinach persists to this day.
In reality, of course certain foods benefit particular aspects of health, and it’s not wrong to eat them with this in mind. Spinach, while not the world’s iron panacea, does contain a respectable 21% of your recommended daily iron intake in a 100 gram serving. More impressively, it’s an excellent source of Vitamin A, folate, Vitamin K, and manganese. Still, from my point of view, for most people seeking merely to eat a balanced diet, an overly fussy fixation on which foods supply which nutrients is unnecessary. Eat (healthily), drink (healthily), and be merry (healthily)… And if you happen to want to eat spinach (which you should because it’s good for you in general), why not try this delicious spinach lasagna? I’ve made it numerous times for dinner guests and plates are consistently cleaned. Though, to my knowledge, no one has gone on to breathe underwater.
Spinach Lasagna
(Slightly adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
32 oz. spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 c. water
2 c. cottage cheese
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. dried parsley
1 scant tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 egg
8 oz. lasagna noodles, uncooked
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, sauté spinach, onion, oregano, basil, and garlic in the olive oil until spinach is completely thawed. Pour in spaghetti sauce and water; simmer 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and egg.
3. In a 9 x 13 glass dish, layer as follows from bottom to top:
Sauce (bottom)
Noodles
Sauce
Noodles
Cheese Mixture
Sauce
Noodles
Cheese Mixture
Sauce
Noodles
Sauce (top)
(or some variation thereof that uses all your sauce and cheese mixture)
4. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 55 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
As of today, there are twenty-two days until Easter, which means we’re just past the midpoint of the season of Lent. As I’ve mentioned before, our family is Catholic, so we observe the three traditions of the Church for this progression toward Easter: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. For me, prayer and almsgiving are the easy ones….it’s fasting that really gets my goat. I’ve been known to give up some pretty lame stuff for Lent (like this year’s texting and driving, which, duh, I shouldn’t be doing anyway) as well as fail miserably (like the year I “gave up” wine, ha). What can I say? Deprivation is intrinsically difficult. Thankfully we have a forgiving God!
The one aspect of Lenten fasting that comes naturally for our family is the practice of going meatless on Fridays. We’re already about halfway vegetarian. I like to think of us as one of those mixed breed dogs with silly names, like “Labradoodle” or “Bullnese.” We would be “Vegemeaters,” as in “meat-eater-vegetarian mix.” Westminster Dog Show, here we come! (But not to eat the dogs–we’re not that kind of meat eaters.)
Although doing without meat is something our family has grown accustomed to, it never fails that on Fridays during Lent, the one day my mind and spirit are saying no to meat, my body starts screaming, “BAAAAACOOOONNNN!!! FOOOOTLONG HOT DOG!! IN-N-OUT BURRRRRRGERRR!!!” I of course have to quell these protests by reminding myself that I choose to go without meat on Fridays for a very good reason. (Remembering Christ’s suffering in the flesh on Good Friday.) But it also helps a whole lot to plan a vegetarian meal I’ll really look forward to.
Like this Roasted Cauliflower Soup.
While it may not look like the most appealing vegetarian entree–in fact, it basically looks like oatmeal–the taste is phenomenal. The toasty caramel veneer of roasted cauliflower, a hint of nutmeg, a kick of black pepper–make it with homemade chicken broth and you’ll really knock it out of the park. If I were going to open a Wildflower Bread-esque soup-and-salad restaurant, this soup would be in the regular rotation. Thinking about it throughout the day is enough to smack the hot dog screams into submission…until next week.
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
2 lb. head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
1Tbsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 c. milk
4 c. chicken broth
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. In a small bowl, mix nutmeg, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Spread cauliflower florets on a large sheet pan. Drizzle with oil and season with spice mixture; toss to coat.
2. Roast cauliflower in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring once. When it comes out of the oven, mash lightly with a potato masher.
3. Melt the butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and cook and stir until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir to coat. Slowly pour in the chicken broth and milk and stir with a whisk until the flour is dissolved. Bring to a boil and stir until thickened, then reduce heat to low. Stir in the semi-mashed cauliflower.
Serves 4 as a main course.