Today was a fantastic salad day. It was serendipitous because I had all of the ingredients on hand–so I had to make it (of course!). First off, let me explain what massaged kale is (other than pure-green-bliss). Kale is kind of hard in it’s raw form; it’s tense, it’s chewy, and super bitter–not the best–unless sauteed, baked, or, massaged with sea salt. And massaging works really with Dinosaur kale–the flat, dark green leaf, not the frilly leaves of Russian and other varieties of kale (although, you can use those too).
To massage kale: take about a teaspoon of nice sea salt and sprinkle it over washed dinosaur kale leaves cut into 1/4 inch wide strips all tossed into a bowl. It’s up to you if you want to leave the stems on–sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Then, using your hands, squeeze the kale vigorously, so that the kale softens and moisture begins to sweat out. Take a moment and taste a piece to see if you need to add a little more salt, it really brings out the moisture and softens up the leaves nicely. The result is delicious!
The dressing for this salad was light, refreshing, and perfect for the allergy season as there is no oil base for it and it’s packed with good vitamins. Basically, you take four tablespoons of good honey, squeeze a whole lemon’s juice with it, grate a piece of ginger the size of your thumb in there, (maybe a little more depending on how spicy you like things) stir it up well together and there you go! It compliments the salty, green-ness of the kale so fantastically, that it took me a while to realize that the health benefits of this dressing were out of the roof too. I couldn’t help but give myself a mental pat on the back for making something so healthy taste so delicious. Yes!
Plus, anything with avocado in it makes it about one hundred times better, in my opinion. And there was a whole one of those in there too! Double yes!
As for other news, I’m offering a great introductory rate for new Health Coaching clients now through May 30th. I also offer a 30 minute free health history consultation for those interested to see if it’s something you’d like to do with no obligations. It’s fun and a great way to get to know each other. 
Check out the Food Loyal website for more information.
Cheers!
Massaged Kale Salad, recipe adapted from Edward Brown’s The Complete Tassajara Cookbook
12-15 leaves dinosaur kale 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt 4 tablespoons honey 4 tablespoons lemon juice (one whole lemon) 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger black or red pepper 1 apple 6 radishes 1 avocado, chunks or slices 1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds*
Rinse off the kale, Cut crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces, including stems if using dinosaur kale. Sprinkle on 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and begin to squeeze the kale and salt vigorously with your hands so that the kale softens and moisture begins to sweat out. Taste it to see if you need any more salt, which you probably will. Massage the kale until it’s moist and tender.
Mix together the lemon juice, honey, and ginger, and combine with the kale. Toss together. Slice up the apple into small chunks, the radish, the avocado, add the roasted sunflower seeds and some pepper–toss it and serve. Amazing!
*to roast sunflower seeds, put into a shallow pan, preheat your oven onto 350 degrees F and bake for 10-15 minutes. For lighter a roast, 10 minutes, for a darker roast, 15 minutes. Enjoy!
The past few weeks have been tireless. I honestly have no one to blame other than myself–being one’s own workhorse has it’s benefits and drawbacks. The benefits of finding my own path, and choosing how best to accomplish my goals definitely outweigh the negatives. However, I tend to get wrapped up in worries–incessant, ceaseless, never ending lists of worries that try their damnedest to bring me down. This winter, I took a lot of time to pin point the sources of these worries and get to the root of some of my core fears. This, my friends, was challenging! I realized that I fed off of some of my fears, basing my reality in what was little more than a distant childhood memory. How liberating is has been to even just realize this–and now, to be able to take steps and move forward.
The past few days have been especially challenging–I can trace back most of my angst to one little place: impatience. And there are two sides to everything–on the upside, impatience gets a fire lit for me, get’s me going in areas that I may dawdle or procrastinate unnecessarily on. But on the other hand, when I’ve done everything that there possibly could be done, or better yet, I am in the MIDDLE of doing something (like research or planning…) I imagine the final result so clearly, that I just want it NOW. Does this ever happen to you? This is when try to remind myself “Hey girl, slow down. Good things come to those who wait…”, well, I certainly hope that’s true, chimes in my cynical side.
Today I had one of those serendipitous moments where I met with a friend and she was having some of the same concerns. It is interesting, and in a way calming, to hear your own questions being voiced by someone else. It’s like, ‘Hey! That’s what I was thinking too!’ in that way that really brings people closer together. I don’t know why I get in the rut of thinking I’m alone, or I’m the only one who thinks/feels… but it is just not true, for any of us. And that fact is really such a wonderful thing to dwell on for a moment.
Verde means green in Spanish. It’s the color of my city 365 days a year, the color of my eyes, and the color of millions of living things. It is also a color that I’ve been wanting to eat more of. If you are not convinced, check out my post on kale I did a few months ago–talk about a super food. To welcome the warmer weather (WELCOME WARM WEATHER!!! I’ve MISSED you!), I decided to make a green smoothie–just to see how it would go. Would it be palatable? Delicious? Or spit-it-out so bad? I decided it wouldn’t kill me to try, in fact, it would do just the opposite! So what the heck. But after making it, I was so convinced by its great flavor (and especially the way it made me feel long term)I decided that this was going to become a new habit. Green smoothie making would be something I did each week and if I made enough, I would only have to do it once, maybe twice, a week–perfect!
The smoothie I made was juicy and full of pulp, just the way I like it–it had undertones of green but vibrant flavors of mango, ginger, and a little coconut. There are so many combinations, I’ll give you a list to get your creative juices (no pun intended, or maybe there is…) flowing. I found that having a glass of this for breakfast, I wasn’t hungry until lunch–no crazy hunger pains or blood sugar drops mid morning and I felt great. I’ve been drinking the rest of it for the past few days which has been a nice treat and snack. It’s so easy to grab for this, instead of a hunk of cheese or something of that sort (which I normally do), and feel satiated. I’m glad I took the challenge!
Tricia’s Green Smoothie 3-4 leaves dino kale, washed and stem removed, rough chopped 1 hunk (about the size of your thumb) fresh ginger, skin removed 1 tablespoon flax seeds 1/2 cup coconut kefir (you can use yogurt, regular kefir, or just juice instead here) 1 cup pinapple juice 1 fresh mango, skin removed and sliced 1 stick celery, washed and cut into 4-5 pieces, easier for the blender
Blend it and drink up!
Other smoothie ideas: 2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates
1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water
Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water
Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale (extra frozen mango gives lovely thick consistency you eat with a bowl + spoon)
1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water
4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water
2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water
1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water
1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water
1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger
1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon
3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana
1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water
1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya
For whatever reason, the past few months I’ve felt like a deer in the headlights when it comes to eating. I have a few favorite snacks, dinners, and even lunches–and I’ve been sticking to them. But to tell you the truth, I’m really tired of them! So I have been looking for ways to incorporate more good foods into my day as I tend to err on the bread and cheese side of things. I began sleuthing in my kitchen, looking around, trying to figure out ways to spice up my eating, per say. I flipped through a few cookbooks–it’s amazing what an hour a month of doing this can do for recharging the ol’ ideas bank–ransacked my cupboards, the back of my fridge, and pantry and I found a few things to try.
This week, I’ll be sharing with you some of these snacks. I want, no, I need more variety in my diet (the winter can get very bland if you let it!) and I want to start incorporating some more veggies, nuts, seeds, and other goodies into my daily foods. I thought there was not a better place than to share this with you! After all, you have the ability to hold me to this—so I better not let you (or me) down 
.
Today, I made two things–kale chips and whole wheat pear muffins. Okay, I know what you might be thinking right now—those sound SUPER healthy and probably not that tasty. Au contraire mon amie, they are both super delicious and, well, good for you! The kale chips were a surprise actually. Andrew even liked them! If you are looking for another way to get a few more greens into your diet, give this a try—you will be surprised! They are satisfyingly crunchy, salty, light, and enticing.
I also made some whole wheat muffins, a recipe from Mark Bittman. Usually, the first thing I think of when I hear of whole wheat being used in anything pastry-like is a brick—heavy, hard, and really sad. But when I found this recipe I thought I’d give it a try—after all, Bittman states right in the title how light they were in texture. And he was right. There are two tricks involved with this recipe: use whole wheat pastry flour AND a cup of pureed or mashed fruit or vegetable–like banana, pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini, apple. This ensures the muffin is moist and really brings an incredible element of flavor to your muffin. I made mine with apple sauce and cut up two super-ripe pears (those pears were either were going in these muffins or directly to the compost–the best for baking:), lowered the amount of sugar and used brown sugar instead of white. They are amazing when they first come out of the oven and will still be amazing for breakfast (and snacks) for the rest of the week. If you wanted, you could even make a nice crumble for the top with oatmeal, cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter . Try these (more recipes to come) and get snacking!
Kale Chips
1-2 bunches kale
olive oil
salt
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Pull the leaves off the stem, place them on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil and some salt. Toss with your hands to make sure all the leaves are coated. Bake for 10 minutes, maybe a little less if your oven gets really hot–they can singe pretty easily–but I like them that way!
Whole Wheat Muffins, via Mark Bittman
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter—I used canola oil for this (because I didn’t have butter on hand) and they were still great
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4-1 cup white sugar—I used about a 1/4 cup brown sugar and they were plenty sweet!
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed fruit or veggie—this is where I used a cup of natural apple sauce + two cubed pears that were pretty mushy, using more fruit than the allotted one cup is ok.
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract—I added this ingredient in because it goes well with the pear. Feel free to add in any of your own favorite spices too!
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease 12 muffin tins. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then add the mashed fruit/veggies, the buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and butter or oil. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, until just combined. Fill muffin tins until full, bake 25-30 minutes or until muffins are puffed up and golden brown on top. Serve warm if possible.
Enjoy!
Yes, I do believe kale to be a magical plant here on earth. It comes in so many forms from leafy and light to dense and quite heavy–I love them all. I felt that kale deserved its own post. This past week, I have been helping Andrew’s parents move into their new home in Colorado. After long days of moving and unpacking boxes, I would fall into bed fast asleep–and dream about kale! As a Jungian enthusiast, I don’t dismiss my dreams lightheartedly. I try to take a moment to think back to what happened in the dream and take a look at the dominant colors, people, actions, and places. I’ve learned a lot about myself this way–it’s good to know what your subconscious mind is working on while you yourself are hard at work doing everything else. It helps me better connect my emotions and my actions, which is always helpful .
Dinosaur Kale
Kale was a predominant thing throughout my dreams because, well, I missed it! Lately, I’ve been sauteing a head of kale with a couple of cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of olive oil as the main part of my dinner–saving the leftover, if there is any–for lunch the next day. And because the nature of the trip–we were all moving and very busy– I went for days without anything green to eat. (However, I did get 6 full days of sun! Ah the glorious trade-offs . I even tried to talk a little kale with one of Andrew’s brothers, but he did not know what it was. Le sigh–me, my kale dreams, and my kale obsession would have to wait for a better outlet–so here it is!
Red Kale
I went to my favorite Portland grocery store today and bought three heads of kale in anticipation for eating it all week. Who knows, I might have to get some more later on in the week . I bought two kinds: dinosaur kale and red leaf kale. There are a lot of others, but these are the most commonly found in American groceries.
I made a Kale Salad with Apple, Radish, Avocado, and Roasted Sunflower seeds from the Complete Tassajara Cookbook. It was divine, super simple, and better for you than any jam packed multi-vitamin. This salad doesn’t have any oils involved either because the flavor of the kale, lemon, honey, and salt are simply magnificent on their own.
Kale is a super-food. It helps protect against cancer, cataracts, is a major source of vitamin A and beta-carrotine (both very anti-cancerous) as well as vitamin C, it promotes lung health and prevents rheumatoid arthritis. Oh, and not mention it’s an aphrodisiac, a great source of fiber and calcium, promotes mental function (yes please!), and lowers cholesterol. Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty super.
Kale Salad with Apple, Avocado, Radish, and Roasted Sunflower Seeds
The Complete Tassajara Cookbook
12-15 leaves dinosaur kale
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons lemon (about 1 lemon)
4 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
black pepper
1 apple
6 radishes
1 avocado
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds (preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and roast on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes)
Wash and cut the kale into 1/4 inch wide strips, leaving the stem on if using dinosaur kale. Place in bowl with the salt and start massaging to release the moisture from the leaves. The salt helps this process and adds a nice flavor. You’ll notice it will start to wither down a bit, becoming a deep, dark green. Add the lemon and honey and continue to massage into the kale until it is all mixed in and the kale has become smaller. Throw in the sliced radishes, cut up pieces of avocado, apple, and roasted sunflower seeds, toss and enjoy!
