Tag: Kale Salad

Super quick Pesto ‘Pasta’

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glutenfree pasta and pestoI used to be the world’s biggest pasta lover. Weren’t we all? Pasta was the staple, the go-to and the ultimate comfort food. A quick and easy friend who mixed well with anything.  It was a mutual love affair.  As with lots of yummy things there is an underbelly and the boring thing about refined carbs is that, unfortunately, the more you consume, the more you crave. It’s like a bad cycle that never ends.

These days I still crave the satisfying feeling that only a dish of pesto pasta and a salad can give you but I recreate it into my new vegan, gluten free version which is surprisingly tasty. It’s quicker than cooking regular pasta and the vegan pesto recipe uses nutritional yeast which is an excellent cheese substitute in savoury vegan dishes should you want to avoid dairy. I don’t rule out dairy completely myself but love to experiment with vegan substitute to see how it compares and nutritional yeast is a great way to include in your cheesy dishes if you have chosen the dairy free road. You can find it in most health food stores as well as online.

The good news is that you avoid the pasta pot belly by consuming only veg and grains that are actually good for you and your digestion.  Here is the low-down on the nutrients from my favourite menu items;

  • Courgettes – contain potassium (good for lowering blood pressure) and vitamin C which strengthen your immune system.
  • Basil – good source of magnesium, vitamin A (good for eyes) , anti-bacterial.
  • Pine nuts – vitamin A, C, Magnesium, iron, can aid weight loss due to feeling full faster.
  • Olive oil – great source of monounsaturated fats, anti-oxidants and vitamin E.

This lunch or dinner dish is simply jam packed with nutrients and healthy fats to re-charge your body and mind. Add veggies of your choice, such as steamed broccoli, tomatoes and peppers. It looks lovely and will add a crunch to your dish.

Quick and Easy Pesto ‘Pasta’ (serves 1)

Courgetti

1 large courgette, julienned or spiralized

Vegan Pesto

1 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup pine nuts

4 cloves garlic

1/3 nutritional yeast

Salt + Pep

How to:

Stick all ingredients in your food processor or high speed blender. Be prepared to stop the machine occasionally to scrape the mixture off the sides until you have the consistency you like. I prefer a slight crunch to my pesto instead of a fine puree but that is entirely personal. You do what works for you.

Slightly wilt the courgetti in a pan of boiling water (but with heat turned off). No longer than 2 minutes, then drain, toss and pour the pesto over the warm vegetable noodles. Add your vegetables of choice (broccoli, tomatoes, peppers or spinach for example) once the noodles have been thoroughly coated in pesto. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

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Sunday Greens

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There’s generally not an awful lot going on in my fridge on a sunday night which means that whatever is left from the weekend tends to become my dinner. Tonight was no exception. I still had plenty of kale from my Abel&Cole delivery (they give you a mountain of kale in their juice box) so I chopped a stick of celery, shredded a carrot, added half a can of organic chickpeas and made my favorite dressing, a ginger & sesame combo which I’ve bastardised from a recipe by Kris Carr. Timeless and gorgeous. I massaged the kale and veg mixture with some sea salt and olive oil to get the stiffness out of the kale (this only takes a couple of minutes but it makes all the difference so it is well worth it) and then poured the dressing generously over the lot. Simple yet delicious. X

Sunday Greens

Salad:

3 large stalks of kale (remove the thick stalks, just use the curly leafy bit)

1 stick celery, chopped

1/2 yellow pepper

10 mini coctail gherkins

1 carrot, grated

1/2 can organic chickpeas

1/2 head of steamed broccoli

Dressing:

1″ piece of ginger root

2 tbsp mellow miso paste

1 tsp sesame oil (go easy)

Dash of soya or tamari sauce

1/2 lime (but I had run out and used 1/2 lemon, still good)

1-2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp water

sea salt to taste

Wash all veggies and remove coarse stalks from kale. Place all veg apart from chick peas (unless you like them mushy) gherkins and broccoli in bowl and start massaging mixture with a dash of olive oil and sea salt to wilt kale that can be a bit rough if left to its own devices. Once ‘massaged’ add the chickpeas, broccoli florets and gherkins and set aside.

For the dressing I use a hand mixer and the tall, thin jug that comes with it. It is perfect for making liquids. Place all ingredients for the dressing in the jug and blitz with the hand mixer until everything is thoroughly mixed and has turned into a dressing like consistency. Some like a stronger taste of sesame and others the taste of ginger so play with the flavours to find out what works for you. If too thick add more water but be aware – a little goes a long way. Pour over the vegetables and enjoy this filling plate of goodness on a sunday night. Enjoy! x

 

 

Beetroot and Kale Salad + Stir Fried Veg + Garlic Prawns

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At first, this evening’s meal may appear slightly ambivalent. Is it a salad,  a stir fry, prawns and why so much all at once? Good question. In my family, we tend to eat all kinds of different food combinations simultaneously. Although this can be fiddly at times I belive in enjoying what you eat much more than rigidity.

Which means that last night, in true family style, my mother had Beetroot/Kale Salad, Stir Fried Veg and Garlic Prawns whereas I had only the Beetroot/Kale Salad as a main course. My children, on the other hand, bypassed the salad altogether going straight for the Stir Fried Veg, Garlic Prawns and rice. I figure that sooner or later they will be kale aficionados but in the meantime I eat it on their behalf!

The recipe below is a take on the  Asian Kale Salad and is really fresh and crunchy. It includes the wonderfully nutritious beetroot that can ultimately make anything look appetising and colourful, which comes in handy if you are serving it as a side dish at a dinner party. Mixed vegetables are of course always yummy but this salad really comes into its own when you add the fabulous Tamari and Ginger dressing generously on top, courtesy of Cookie and Kate. Here goes:

Beetroot and Kale Salad (serves 2 generously or 4 small portions)

2 handfuls of chopped kale,

2 handfuls of spinach

1 large carrot, ribboned with  Julienne peeler

1 large handful of fresh coriander

4 small beetroots, cut into wedges

Cut out the thick stem of the kale and discard. Take a few minutes to manipulate the chopped kale with your hands until leaves have softened. Then add all of the above ingredients.

Tamari and Ginger Dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 lime, juice of

1 tbsp tamari or shoyu sauce

1 tsp grated ginger root

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp rice vinegar

Place all ingredients in tall jug and mix with a hand mixer until slightly emulsified. Mix into the salad and let sit for a bit until leaves have wilted and dressing is generally distributed. Now you could stop right here and just enjoy this gorgeous salad or you can continue with the stir fry below as well…

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Dressed and ready to go.

 

Stir Fried Veg + Garlic Prawns (serves 2 generously, 4 smaller portions)

500 g French green beans

250 g long stemmed broccoli florets

250 g mange tout beans

1/2 cup of green petit pois

6 asparagus, cut into large pieces

3 garlic cloves

1″ ginger root, chopped

200 g oyster mushrooms, sliced

300 g organic king prawns

Rapeseed oil

Sea salt

Tamari or Shoyu sauce to taste

Steam the green beans for about 5 min until a bit tender. Heat the oil in a wok and add 1/2 the garlic and ginger with the mushrooms until softened. After a minute or two add the rest of the ingredients with a bit of tamari/shoyu. Add a splash of water if it is heating to quick. Stir continuously for about 4-5 minutes. Remove vegetables and add the rest of the garlic with the King prawns and cook until pink, about 3-4 minutes. Add the vegetables to the prawns and stir gently until mixed. Serve immediately with the Beetroot and Kale Salad and brown or white rice according to taste. Enjoy X

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Voila!!!