Green Recipes: Avocado & Kale

At the request of my Aunt LaDeanna I've put together some easy to make, healthy, and tasty recipes using avocados, kale, and one simple salad including both!

First let's talk a little bit about avocados.  I have certain friends who avoid them because they do contain a goodly amount of fat and for their small size are rich in calories.  Don't fear the fat!  While a diet low in fat is healthful there are good fats and bad fats.  Your body still needs some some dietary fat (along with protein and carbohydrates) to create energy.  Energy = good.

In a nutshell:

Dietary fats to avoid:

• saturated fat (found mainly in animal-based foods)
• trans fat (occurs naturally in some foods, mostly animal-based, but most often from food processing)

Saturated and trans fats are usually solid at room temperature.

Healthier dietary fats:

• monounsaturated fat (found in a variety of foods & oils)
• polyunsaturated fat (mostly found in plant-based foods & oils, as well as fatty fish)

Unsaturated fats are generally liquid at room temperature.

So... where to avocados fall in the realm of dietary fats?  One avocado (while being around 300 calories, depending on the size) contains about 30 grams unsaturated fat and only approximately 4 grams of saturated fats.  Avocados also contain fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, and high levels of vitamins C and K.  Avocados = Good.

Wow... I didn't intend this post to be a lesson about good versus bad fats, but there you go.  Bonus lecture.

Moving on...

KALE.  I'll try to keep this short and sweet.  Kale is awesome.  I probably eat it 5 days a week (I also love chard, spinach, collards, etc.) and I make a point of eating something leafy & green daily.

Kale is one of the most nutritious vegetables on the planet.  One cup of kale is only 33 calories (yay!) and has a boatload of vitamins & minerals.  It contains well over 100% of the recommended daily amounts of vitamins A, C, and K in addition to being a good source of minerals copper, iron, manganese, phosphorus, and potassium PLUS it has a lot of calcium!  Yes, not only can you get about 9% of your daily calcium from a vegetable but it's also full of the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.

Kale is extremely awesome.  I could write an endless number of haikus about it (but I most likely won't).  Just make sure to remove the stems; they're bitter and yucky.

On to the recipes!

AVOCADO & KALE SALAD (four servings)

• 2 bunches of kale, stems removed, *bruised & chopped
• 2 avocados, peeled & cubed
• 1/2 head of red cabbage, chopped or sliced thinly (your choice)

Honey Mustard Dressing

• 3 T. Dijon or stone ground mustard
• 3 T. honey (I prefer raw honey)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 T. poppyseeds, if you happen to like them

• splash of apple cider vinegar (I use the organic & unfiltered kind)

OR

• 1-2 T. fresh lemon juice

Method 

Prepare leafy veggies as directed above.  Combine wet ingredients in a small bowl/dish/whatever and briskly whisk with a fork.  Or a tiny whisk if you have one (I don't).  I use a vintage Corelle creamer because it's small, has high sides, and a nifty spout to easily pour the dressing.  Add the spices/season last and whisk again.  Drizzle over salad and toss to evenly distribute dressing.  Add more salt and/or pepper if desired.  Or if you're like me, add enough hot sauce that almost no one else wants to eat it.

*Bruising greens basically involves taking handfuls of greens and rolling them between your palms to soften their texture.  It's employed to soften tough greens and to increase the flavour/fragrance of fresh herbs.  For best results stems should be removed from both green veggies and herbs prior to bruising.  Rosemary and thyme stems will gently stab you.  Ow.

BREAKFAST SANDWICH WITH AVOCADO (one serving)

• *2 pieces of whole grain bread or 1 whole grain English muffin, halved
• 1 egg or egg substitute
• 1 T. olive oil or Earth Balance (I use Earth Balance most of the time)
• 1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
• 1 think slice **organic tomato
• 2 t. Dijon or stone ground mustard (I like Annie's Naturals, but there are a lot of great brands available!)
• salt & pepper
• Optional: 1 t. hot sauce (I use sriracha or Tapatio)

Method

• Halve the avocado and using a sharp knife cut slices into one half without removing the peel.  This is usually 5 or 6 slices.  Using a tablespoon, scoop out slices and set aside.  Wash & dry tomato and using a serrated (or very sharp) knife slice until you get the size you'd like.  Optional: slice and eat the rest of the tomato.
• Heat a skillet to medium-high; when hot add olive oil or Earth balance, swirl around, then throw in your egg/egg substitute.  I don't have to tell you to remove the shell (I hope).  
• While keeping an eye on your egg, toast the bread/English muffin/whatever.  Spread each with with mustard.  Place tomato slice on one half; sprinkle with salt & pepper, if desired.  Smash/smush avocado slices onto the other half (otherwise they will slip around and try to escape from the sandwich with every bite you take); sprinkle with salt & pepper, if desired.  If, like me, you love hot sauce I highly recommend adding it to the avocado side of your sandwich components.
• Placed cooked egg onto one half and top with the remaining half.  Voila, you have created a breakfast sandwich!

*You can also use healthy, whole grain frozen waffles.  I recommend Kashi or Van's.  Their caloric content and nutritional attributes are very similar to whole grain bread or English muffins.  Whichever bread-item you choose be sure to avoid ones that contain bleached flour and multiple sugars/sweeteners in the list of ingredients.  Especially avoid corn-based sweeteners like corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, high maltose corn syrup, etc. but even if food is organic it can still have multiple sweeteners like brown rice syrup, honey, turbinado, agave nectar, etc.

**I prefer organic, vine ripened tomatoes for two reasons: #1, traditionally grown tomatoes were sprayed with a LOT of pesticides; #2, traditionally grown tomatoes are picked unripe and sprayed with ethylene to appear red & ripe but tend to be rather tasteless unless you consider "watery and bland" a legitimate "taste."  I don't.  If food doesn't taste good it's not worth purchasing at all, even if the price is lower than its organic cousin.

GARNET'S BREAKFAST ROOT VEGGIES (two servings?)

(So much better than your run-of-the-mill breakfast 'taters, I promise!)

• 1 medium sweet potato or yam, scrubbed, skin on, quartered then sliced
• 2 medium red potatoes, scrubbed, skin on, quartered then sliced
• 2 medium carrots, scrubbed, skin on, sliced
• 2 smallish or 1 largeish parsnip, scrubbed, skin on, sliced (halved & sliced, if largeish)
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced (red, yellow, orange, green... doesn't matter)
• 1 or 2 jalapenos, halved, de-seeded, sliced (optional)
• 2 T. olive oil or Earth Balance, separated
• 2 T. olive oil or Earth Balance, separated
• salt & pepper, to taste
• smoked paprika, to taste (maybe around 1 teaspoon?)
• cumin, to taste (roughly 1/2-1 teaspoon?)
• fresh or dried thyme (*1 sprig, de-stemmed, if using fresh; about 1 heaping teaspoon if using dried)
• 2 cups kale, stems removed, chopped
• About 2 T. of water

Method

• Clean and slice root veggies, onion, & peppers.  Heat up a **large skillet (medium-high) then add 1 tablespoon of olive oil or Earth Balance.  Wait until the pan is hot!  Trust me on this one.  Add veggies and keep an eye on them.  Toss or stir when they start to stick and add the second tablespoon of olive oil or Earth Balance, if needed (usually this is needed).  You want them to be a little brown and mostly cooked before you add kale.  
• While the veggies are cooking, remove the stems form the kale and roughly chop.  
• When veggies are about halfway cooked (test their tenderness with a fork), add spices and herbs.  I usually add pepper toward the very end so that it doesn't burn.  Toss/stir veggies to evenly distribute spices & herbs.
• Add chopped kale to veggies, toss in a couple tablespoons of water, quickly place lid over skillet, and reduce heat to low so that the kale can steam.  Wait a few minutes before checking to see how wilted the kale gets.  How long you cook the kale is entirely a matter of preference.  I like mine to have a little bite to it, but some people like it to be cooked until softened.  
• Once the kale is a vibrant green, stir around to incorporate into your veggies and place the lid back onto the skillet.
• Test your veggies to ensure that they are "fork tender" and you are done!  You can add more salt & pepper at this point, if desired (I usually add more pepper and some hot sauce before serving).

*Tip for using fresh herbs with woody stems (thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc.).  Pluck/remove leaves into a small dish (I used a ramekin) prior to adding to a pan or pot of cooking ingredients.  Otherwise you could still be picking leaves off while the food overcooks or burns.  If you've done this before you know how time consuming it can

**Make sure that you are using a large skillet or pan that has a lid!  You will be using it.

From Swamp To Table

Upon tasting this recipe the first word that sprang to mind was "swampy."  My second thought was, "I just wasted four perfectly good stone fruits and some fairly expensive yogurt."

My first clue that something was awry should have been when I discovered that the protein powder was green.  Olive green, no less.  But I was feeling optimistic and it was plant-based after all, so what is a little chlorophyll?  So there it went, into my delicious smoothie base in the best kitchen appliance ever: the Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus.  Economical, powerful, and pretty!  (Everything I strive to be!  Does that mean I have an appliance as a role model?)

First, the ingredients and tools (I forgot to photograph the spatula I used.  Big deal.).  Innocuous looking, aren't they?

Nothing scary about this cast of characters!  Right?

Now onto the recipe (and method):

• 1 banana (organic, non-Dole brand preferred... I'll write more about the Dole Corp. later)
• 1 plum
• 3 apricots
• 1/2 c. So Delicious brand unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/4 c. White Mountain brand non-fat Bulgarian yogurt (similar to Greek yogurt or kefir)
• 1 packet of original flavour Amazing Meal plant-based protein powder

Step One - Slice and dice fruit into manageable chunks (remove and discard pits/stones, duh); put into blender or food processor (also, duh).

Step Two - Add coconut milk and yogurt; pulse/blend until partially liquefied, but still a bit chunky.

Step Three - Add protein powder (contents, not envelope... although I'm not entirely convinced that would negatively affect the taste) and pulse/blend once more until desired consistency.

Step Four - Optional!  Add sweetener of your choice: sugar (I prefer raw), honey (again, I prefer raw), stevia, agave syrup, or plain ol' white granulated sugar (which defeats the purpose of this being a healthy, non-crap-filled meal but suit yourself).

*Note: I chose not to add any sweetener because I simply didn't have any on hand.  Raw honey or agave syrup probably would have improved the taste, but I guess I'll never know!

Step Five - Pour into some sort of glass, if you dare.  Makes two approximately 8 ounce servings.  Sadly...

Review:

As I mentioned above, I should have taken the greenish powder as a red flag but persisted on my mission entirely heedless of the likely unpleasant consequences. 

At first all seemed to be going well... the fruit, coconut milk, and yogurt created a lovely bright coral colour when incorporated.

Then came the beginning of the end: the green powder lent its unfortunate colour to the previously appealing concoction.  The smoothie now closely resembled scummy pond water.  The protein powder also contributed a flavour that I can only describe as, "earthy and green in a manner not unlike compost."  Not that I know what compost tastes like first hand (I could ask my dog Gatsby who partakes of it at every opportunity), but I certainly know how it smells and can use my imagination from there.

The first flavours that hit your tongue are surprisingly banana, plum, and apricot.  Unfortunately this is followed by a lingering, bitter, compost-y aftertaste.  That was the only incentive I had to finish my single serving.  That and my refusal to be defeated by green sludge that has many healthful benefits (which it does; I can't knock it for that).

In conclusion, I may be willing to try the flavoured varieties offered by this brand... but the fact that I rinsed my mouth out with a 50/50 mixture of cider vinegar and water (which is also what I use as a cleaning agent around the house...) gives me pause.

P.S.  I don't know why I included the recipe; I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Broke, Quick, Improvisational Lunch

I woke up extra early this morning.  4 am, to be precise, and like all mornings where I awaken extra early I am lulled into a false sense of having more extra time that I genuinely do.

So while I had time to take Gatsby for a lovely 40 minute walk, enjoy a leisurely (and hot!) shower for the first time in months, and tidy up the yard I was also sprinting out the door, hairpins flying, & frantically wishing that I would make my bus to work.  I ate approximately 90% of my breakfast (guess who inhaled the crumbs?) and ran out the door with a protein shake, a frozen veggie burger, and a couple of yogurts hoping that I could cobble together something edible for lunch.

Guess what?  I did and it was delicious!  I knew that I had some leftover lettuce (current condition: unknown) and some random items in the fridge at work.

Here is what I made:

Yes, this is a paper bowl and plastic fork.  I'm sorry, planet Earth. :(

Yes, I know that my cellphone takes fairly lousy photos.  The lens is probably dirty and smudged, too.  Oh, well!

Black bean burger, crumbled atop the edible remnants of the curly leaf lettuce (not many curls in evidence...), with chiffonaded (is that even a word? I've never used "chiffonade" in the past tense...) freshly palm-crushed mint (aromatic!), half a package of roasted/salted peanuts from Costco, and the dressing was made with two genuine soy sauce packets (no MSG or weird stuff, whew!), a splash of orange juice, some crushed red pepper, and a bit of freshly ground black pepper.  No need for additional sodium with the soy sauce and salted peanuts, folks!

I also ate three slices of dill pickle, but that is neither here nor there...

P.S. It's a good thing that excessive parenthetical blogging contains zero calories... jeepers...  (...ellipses, on the other hand...)

Today's Breakfast!

 This morning I was craving a nice cream cheesy lox & bagel breakfast, but common sense prevailed.  The common sense that if I indulged in the fishy, cheesy, carbohydrate-laden goodness I would pretty much have to eat nothing but carrot sticks and purified air for the rest of the day to meet my dietary requirements nipped that idea in the bud.  Also, I had no bagels and even with coffee my motivation levels before noon aren't yet at their peak.  In fact, they're so faint, it's hard to tell I have any motivation at all unless you've seen me groggily diligently wading through rescue stuff in my mismatched charming and perfectly coordinated pajamas glamourous nightwear.

Okay... enough strikethroughs.  I went a wee bit overboard, there...

Back to breakfast!  So... instead of gaining back the 5 lbs. I recently lost all in one meal, I ate THIS instead.

• 2 oz. grav lax (smoked salmon with lemon & dill, basically)
• a big handful of spring mix greens
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, diced
• some raw onion, sliced
• about 1/4 of a cucumber, also sliced
• tiny pinch of salt spinkled on cucumbers & egg pieces
• lots of freshly ground pepper!

Nutrition Information

Calories - 263

Fat - 14g

Carbs - 10g

Protein - 25g

Sugar - 3g

Sodium - 610mg

Iron - 19mg

Bean & "Cheese" Tortilla Pie

Ingredients

• 5 8" whole wheat tortillas (I used Alejandro's, which are made here in Tucson.)
• 2 15 oz. cans of pinto beans, drained
• 1 cup salsa (I used Sunflower Market chipotle salsa.)
• 1 15 oz. can of black beans, drained
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced (original recipe called for 2... amateurs!)
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro, *chiffonade
• 1 roma tomato, diced (about 1/2 c.)
• 2 cups (1 package) of Daiya vegan pepperjack "cheese" style shreds

*chiffonade is the knife cut used most often for leafy greens.  The easiest way is to ball up the leaves and then cut slices into that which results in nice ribbon-like strands.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C
2. Mash pinto beans with 3/4 c. salsa and minced garlic.
3. In separate bowl, mash black beans with 1/4 c. salsa, diced tomato, and cilantro.
4. Place the first tortilla in the bottom of a pie dish and top with about 3/4 c. of pinto bean mixture and 1/3 c. of "cheese."
5. Top with a tortilla and then cover that with about 2/3 c. of black bean mixture and 1/3 c. of "cheese."
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5, then top with the final tortilla using the remaining pinto bean mixture & cheese to cover.
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Next time I will probably add more veggies to the layers.  Caramelized onions, fresh spinach, canned pumpkin, sliced jalapenos, etc. would all be tasty additions!

One serving is about 1/6 of the pie and is around 375 calories and 11 grams of fat.