Spring in My Step Salad

This has been my favorite salad as of late. It's light and crunchy and perfect for spring (oh hey, it's 70 degrees and sunny today!). I have been eating tons of salads lately because of all the greens popping up at the farmers' market! Today I made this with Goetz Farm's salad mix but any green will do!

Ingredients:

2 large handfuls of greens (I recommend spinach)

1 avocado, sliced

1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 handfuls of grape tomatoes, halved

1 bell pepped, chopped

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 T fresh dill, finely chopped

1 T rosemary, finely chopped

juice of 2 small lemons (about 1/4 c)

optional: stevia to taste (or other sweetener of choice, e.g. 1 T local honey or maple syrup)

Warning: This makes a whole lotta salad, definitely more than one person can comfortably eat in one sitting (and this is from someone who eats the most beastly of salads...)

All mixed up

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:
-Greens, dill and rosemary can be bought locally right now at the AA farmers' market.
-All produce can be purchased packaging free.
-Stevia can all be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

Spirulina Sprout Salad

Spirulina is pretty important for vegans. It is one of the only non-flesh source of vitamin B-12, a vitamin that is essential to the human body and if you become deficient side effects include irreversible nerve damage. Serious issue.


More nutritional info can be found here.


Easy way to get all that goodness into your cells? Salad dressing, duh! I found this video and followed his lead. Best part is that it makes your lips/teeth/face green...



Ingredients:
sprouts
1 carrot, grated
1/2 red pepper, julienned
1 green onion, chopped
1 c sauerkraut

juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c olive oil
1 t curry powder
1 T spirulina
pinch of salt

Directions:
Mix mix mix!

Macadamia Medallions

It's a crazy week for me. A midterm in my hardest class and a 15-page paper due. Yikes.

A lot of times when people get stressed, the first thing that takes a toll is their health. Not only because sleep and exercise are usually given up, but also healthy eating habits go out the window. This is the last thing you want to do in stressful situations. You want to be ready to take on the world, not be pissed off, fatigued, and needing a nap.

My #1 method for staying healthy when crunched for time: Have all the makings of a kick ass salad ready. That way if I have to wake up early and prepare lunch in a stitch before heading out the door or if I get home after a loooong day, it's a no brainer what to do: stuff oodles of vegetables into me and let the chlorophyll brighten my life!

Wash and chop your greens ahead of time, have salad dressing on hand, chop veggies to throw in, cook beans and whole grains... Just make sure you have everything that you need for a salad that you actually enjoy eating.

Mixed greens, microgreens, cooked beets, pesto,

homemade salad dressing, Macadamia Medallions

Macadamia Nut Medallions

For a little extra salad oomph. [From Rawmazing]

Ingredients:
1 c macadamia nuts, soaked at least 6 hours, rinsed and drained (you are soaking the nuts for texture, do not omit this step)
juice from1/2 lemon
2 t dried Italian herbs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Pulse ingredients in food processor until fluffy texture is achieved.

Shape into medallions for immediate use or store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Croutons for Max

I stayed with my brother for a night over the weekend, meaning I spent time with his two kittens (well they're a few months old so not exactly kittens- but they will always be kittens in my mind!). Unlike a "normal" college kid, I am unable to sleep in. So waking up hours before Max, I entertained myself in the kitchen.

Max is far from a healthy eater, well I guess he would be considered "normal" as far as college kids go. You know, ramen and carry-out and the occasional spaghetti and store-bought meat sauce. However he does have one habit that I 100% approve of. Just like my dad, Max likes salad. Not as an everyday, more than once a day thing like I enjoy but not once in a blue moon either.

Anyways, the inspiration for making croutons at 9 am came from trying to promote this behavior and the excessive amounts of bread in Max's apartment (Really? Four loaves of bread for one person??).

Croutons
AKA a great way to use up stale bread


Ingredients:
bread
oil
seasonings (I used dried basil and oregano)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F
Cut bread into cubes and dump into a bowl.
Drizzle with oil and toss well to coat.
Sprinkle with seasonings and toss some more.
Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.
Bake until crispy and golden brown, flipping halfway through (Mine took about 10 minutes but be careful not to burn them!).

Use liberally on salads, soups, or when you get the munchies!

Love, Jayne and Kaylee and Sam

Life Changing.

Also known as, parmesan "cheese". I am absolutely blown away by how easy this is to make and how versatile it is (meaning how much I want to put this on everything). It is actually eery how much this tastes like cheese. Plus it's mainly sesame seeds which are a good source of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Copper and Manganese.

"Parmesan Cheese"
Ingredients:
1/2 c sesame seeds
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4 t salt

Directions:
Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet until golden brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Pulse all ingredients in a food processor.
Cover your life in cheeZe.

My Caesar Salad
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks. Spicy, cheeZe-y goodness.

Ingredients:
Dressing
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t salt
1/4 c "Parmesan Cheese," above
3 T olive oil
juice of 1 lemon (1/4 c or 1/4 c of apple cider vinegar)
a pinch of red pepper flakes
a pinch of salt
Salad
1 bunch kale
1 T olive oil
1/4 c olives, chopped (optional)
1 slice of good bread (optional)
as much dressing as you see fit

Directions:
Toast bread until golden brown and dry throughout.

Tear into small pieces and pulse in a food processor until the it forms coarse crumbs.

De-stem kale and tear into bite size pieces.

Drizzle with 1 T oil and massage for a few minutes to soften.

Smoosh together the garlic and 1/4 t salt.
Whisk in the rest of the dressing ingredients.

Pour enough dressing over the kale to thoroughly coat.

Toss well, the dressing is thiiick.

Garnish with olives and breadcrumbs.

Wild Rice Salad with Dried Figs

I cooked 8 cups of wild rice this morning. Not sure why, it just happened. So get ready for a week of wild rice brilliance! Let's kick it off with this baby:


Wild Rice Salad with Dried Figs
Wild rice is not necessary, any grain will do! Wheat berries, brown rice, quinoa, farro, cous-cous (I could go on but that may take a while). Extra plus for this recipe, it still tastes great after chillin in the fridge for a few days. Adapted from Bitchin' Camero (love the blog name).

How gorgeous are figs?!

Ingredients:

Dressing

1/4 c olive oil

2 T lemon juice (the juice of 1 lemon)

2 T apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

Salad

3 cups wild rice

8 dried figs, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 c toasted almonds, chopped

Directions:

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and set aside.

Mix together salad ingredients in a big bowl.

Pour dressing onto salad (use your own discretion, I ended up pouring it all on in one go and thinking it was a bit too dressing-y).

Eat immediately or store in the fridge until you’re ready for it.

Playing with my camera...

For some reason this reminds me of seafood.

Does anyone else see the similarities between crustacean meat and fig meat?

Maybe (probably) it's just me...

Marinated Kale and Beet Salad

Ingredients:
Salad
1/4 c pumpkin seeds (AKA pepitas) (1)
1 bunch kale (2)
3 T olive oil (1)
1/4 of a red onion, diced
1 carrot, grated (3)
4 roasted beets, cubed (2)

Dressing
2 T balsamic vinegar (1)
1 t dijon mustard (4)
1/4 t freshly ground pepper (1)
1 t dried basil (1)
1 garlic clove, minced (5)

Directions:
Toast pumpkin seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat when seeds begin to pop, set aside to cool.
Wash kale and tear into bite sized pieces.
Combine kale and oil and massage kale (yes, massage) until it softens.
Whisk together salad dressing.
Place kale, onion, carrots, and beets in a bowl and add dressing.*
Toss and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.

*I prepared this for lunch the night before. I mixed the dressing with the kale, carrots and onions the night before, keeping the beets and pumpkin seeds separate. In the morning I combined all of the ingredients and off I went!

(1) Bulk section of the People's Food Co-op
(2) Goetz Farm
(3) Snowman leftovers
(4) Pre-challenge stash
(5) Labelled as "Local" at the People's Food Co-op

California Christmas: Fruit Salad

Planning the christmas brunch menu with my aunt and uncle was legitimately a bizarre experience for me the other day. Fruit salad is a classic choice for such an occasion but fruit in the winter? Want to know what fruit is in season in Michigan right now? There isn't any... Unless you count apples that are in cold storage or the decent variety that I have been collecting in my freezer.

California Fruit Salad
Obviously not a very practical recipe for a Michigan winter but I do get to step out of my comfort zone (root veggies and greens) this christmas.

Ingredients:
3 c seedless grapes, cut in half
3 tangerines, peeled, sectioned, and cut in half
1 melon, balled
about 10 raspberries
juice of 2 lemons
a hefty T of local honey
1/2 c of fresh mint, chopped

Directions:
Mix grapes, tangerines, and melon in a large bowl.
Whisk together lemon and honey.
Mix in mint.
Pour liquid mixture over fruit.
Sprinkle raspberries over top.
Garnish with a few mint leaves.

Kale, pear, and hazelnut salad with a lemon, ginger, and vanilla dressing

Vanilla in a salad dressing?? What?? YOU NEED TO TRY THIS! It. Is. The. Best.

Red kale! Swanky, I know.

Ingredients

Dressing

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1 lemon 1 t dried lemon

1 T apple cider vinegar

+1 T white vinegar

2 teaspoons agave syrup maple syrup

1 teaspoon fresh ginger juice 1 small know of ginger, grated

a quarter of a teaspoon powdered ginger

a quarter of a teaspoon powdered vanilla 1/2 t vanilla extract

whole sea salt, just enough to taste

white pepper, just enough to taste freshly ground pepper, to taste

Salad

1 large bunch of kale, cleaned, stems and tough ribs removed

1/2 large and very firm pear, cleaned, quartered lengthwise, cored and finely sliced (you can use a potato peeler to make really thin slices)

2 handfuls of shelled walnuts roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Whisk together salad dressing.

Put salad ingredients in a bowl.

Pour dressing on salad and toss.

Eat.

Self-explanatory? Probably...

The Handlebar Salad

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Chicago which was an absolutely fantastic time between whirlwinds of food, meeting family, and catching up on sleep. Many great stories came out of the long weekend but one eating experience surprisingly stood out among the rest. Perhaps it was because it was the final good eats of the trip.

Sunday afternoon Matt and I ended up at a small bar in downtown Chicago called Handlebar Bar & Grill. Thanks to Android technology and the ability to google 'vegan restaurants' near Chicago we found ourselves surrounded by band posters and fake crows, and being waited on by what I can honestly only describe as a "hipster."

First of all, any restaurant in which about 90% of the menu can be made vegan wins my vote. Second, I experienced the best salad dressing of my life. I love salad with a burning passion. Not only is there overwhelming research on the health benefits of leafy greens, it is also way too much fun to concoct salad dressings (and very remeniscent of chemistry labs...).

The Handlebar Salad is obviously the house salad consisting of arugula, walnuts, parmesan (I opted out of this ingredient), and pear, topped in a champagne honey mustard dressing. I am not sure what made this dressing so amazing but I was floored. Absolutely floored. Here's my attempt to recreate, however due to being a poor college student (and under 21) I had to skip the champagne but you gotta make do with what you got!

The Handlebar Salad

Ingredients:

3 c greens (1)

a small handful of walnuts, toasted and chopped (2)

1/4 of a pear, thinly sliced (3)

Honey Mustard Dressing

2 T vinegar (I used brown rice vinegar)

1 T oil (I used olive oil)

1 T mirin (use Champagne instead, if available!)

1 t dijon mustard

1 t honey

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

(1) I used Pesticide-Free Spicy Salad Mix from Sunseed Farms

(2) from Earnst Farm

(3) I used a Bosc pear from the farmer's market but I don't remember the name of the vendor, unfortunately

Warm Mushroom Salad with Roasted Chestnuts

The time has finally come. My brother, Max, has moved into his new Ypsilanti apartment! Eastern Michigan University has lured him to Washtenaw County and I am far from complaining. Last night was our first "family dinner" in quite a while and everything turned out splendid! Plus, my brother is quite the fast food king, so I'm giving myself a pat on the back for his winning his approval...

I think that this is the start of a wonderful thing. I do love cooking, no matter what, but it is so nice to be able to share the experience with someone else. It becomes an event, that always has a satisfying end product (unless you forget to turn off the oven and char a batch of sweet potato fries... Sorry brother!).


Roasted Chestnuts
I found locally grown chestnuts at the Birmingham farmer's market. Hill's Chestnut Farm is located in Saginaw, MI and they drew in quite a crowd, having set up a grill in which they were freshly roasting chestnuts on site!

Chestnuts post-shelling. Which was quite a process...

Directions:
There are quite a few ways to roast these babies but step 1 is always the same: cut X's into the shells.
This is super important because roasting them can cause pressure and lead to them exploding!
Don't make little chestnut bombs!
In a pan
Place scored nuts into pan on high heat.
Roast until shells begin to char, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool, peel, eat.
Microwave
Cook nuts on High for 30s*
Cool, peel, eat.
*Cooking time depends on individual microwave, overcooking makes for a rubbery nut.
Oven
Preheat oven to 375F
Place scored nuts on a cookie sheet.
Place sheet in center of oven.
Roast until cut part of shell starts to peel back, about 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool, peel, eat.

Warm Mushroom Salad with Roasted Chestnuts

Ingredients:
3 c of leafy greens (I used a "spicy mix" from Tantre Farm)
1 T olive oil
2 T mirin (or sherry or white wine)
1/2 t salt
2 T almond oil (or other high-heat oil)
1 lb of maitake mushrooms (a. any type will do b. 1 lb is a total guess, I would say it was 6"x8"...ish)
1 t dried thyme
3 T tamari
1/4 c roasted chestnuts, chopped

Directions:
Wipe dirt off of mushrooms and chop into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the almond oil over medium-high heat.
Add in the mushrooms, thyme and tamari and cover.
As liquids evaporate, pour about 1/4 c water into pan and cover.
Continue until mushrooms are soft.
Uncover and allow tamari/water mixture to reduce.
Prepare greens by washing and ripping into bite-sized pieces.
Place sauteed mushrooms on top of greens.
Sprinkle chestnuts on to salad.
Whisk together olive oil, mirin, and salt and pour over salad.