Lunchbox: Kale Slaw & Collard Wraps

When I make food to-go I pack A LOT.  Maybe the habit stems from my previous career in the food-making industry, but I can't just make a little food, ever.  Lately that means I've had lots of kale and greens. 

From top to bottom:  Tangy Garlic Lemon Cashew Cream Sauce, Rosemary-Beet Collard Wraps, Sweet Miso Kale Slaw. 

The collard wraps are soooo filling and really nice to have on hand for snacks and meals. And the kale slaw only got better as it marinated.  And all of this stayed fresh for about 3 days in a sealed container.  Preparing food ahead of time for my work week is really helpful because sometimes I only have a few hours in between shifts.  And you know I'm sleepin', not de-stemming the kale on those nights!

I'm off to work this morning, so this has to be a quickie-post, but I'll post the recipes for the Sweet Miso Kale Slaw & Tangy Lemon Garlic Cashew Cream Sauce this weekend so you can have it for a picnic or lunch next week.

Happy Tuesday!

Tangy Cumin Lime Kale Chips

  We've been makin' and munchin' a whole lot of kale chips lately.  I know a certain kale chip zombie around here who falls into a deep trance while putting one kale chip after another into his mouth, eyes glazed over, totally in the kale-zone.  Addiction to kale chips is a habit I can support, and encourage, by keeping the Excalibur stocked with yummy new varieties.  Just look at this big guy:

We fill up tubs and bags, but they don't stay full very long.

This week I was craving something tangy, so I got out the limes.

Tangy Cumin Lime Kale Chips

In a high speed blender:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1/4 cup raw tahini
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon miso
• juice of 2 medium limes - about 1/3 cup
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• dash of red pepper flakes
• generous pinch of sea salt
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water

This should be about the consistency of creamy salad dressing.  Now, take one bunch of kale, washed and de-stemmed, and coat each leaf.  Use your hands to massage the sauce into every curl and surface of the kale.  Like this:

This is messy, but totally worth it! Spread out on dehydrator trays and dehydrate until dry and crispy.  You can make these in an oven if you don't have a dehydrator.  Put your oven on it's lowest setting and keep the door cracked open.  Be prepared to enter the kale-zone.

This kale is about to meet my salad spinner. weeeeeeeeeeee.

Hope your weekend is off to a great start.  EAT SOME KALE.  Yum.

Rosemary Beet Pate'

I mostly love beets for their pretty color and nutritional properties.  The taste can be overwhelming to me.  This stems from gross childhood dinners thanks to the canned variety.  Yuck!  Gag!  But now that I'm all grown up (sort of) I've been trying to find ways to enjoy them.  I love them in juice.  So much.  And I can chop them up and add them to a salad.  They make my meals LOOK better and I appreciate their sweetness when they blend with a mouthful of greens and avocado.  Yum. 

Yesterday I tried them in pate' with tasty results.  Success!  Another way to love beets.  I served it wrapped up in a collard leaf with arugula.

I'm making more of this today.  It's that good.  And filling. And packed with protein thanks to the hemp nuts.

Rosemary Beet Pate'
1/2 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1/2 cup hemp nuts
1/4 cup steamed beets
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon agave or sweetener of your choice
pinch of sea salt

Pulse in food processor until blended.

Enjoy!

Round-Up!

Enjoy:

• Gena's taking over the world with veggies! Weird Food Win: Gingery Carrot and Sunflower Seed Crackers.
• Portland's second annual Vegan Iron Chef competition was last weekend.  Next year I'm buying tickets before they sell out!  Grant Butler gives a recap.
• Sarahfaye over at ATV gave into the young Thai coconut this week with this awesome recipe and tutorial for Lime In The Coconut Cream Pie. 
• Today's the last day to enter to win a copy of Veganomicon!  Lauren will anounce the winner tomorrow.
• I like social networking because I get to connect with people who like healthy FOOD.  Now you can find me on twitter, tweetin' about eatin'.

MY LUNCHBOX 7/5/11

I thought it might be fun to start sharing my lunchboxes every now & then.  What do you think? 

Today's Lunch

Salad: greens, avo, pear, red bells, sunflower seeds

apple, banana

strawberries

falafel

Hope everyone has a great start to the week!  My holiday weekend was a nice combo of daytime relaxation and getting called into work every night for surgeries.  I'm feeling happy to be back to my regular schedule today. 

Salad Daze

Salads.  I love them. My kitchen turns into a giant salad bar during the summer.  They're cool and quick and take little effort to throw together.  The combinations are endless: greens, veggies, fruits, sea veg, beans, pate, hummus, nooch, fresh, dried, roasted, fermented.  If you think salads are boring, then you must be making boring salads! This is what I've been chomping on lately:

sweet potato, dulse, edamame, sunflower seeds, spinach

avocado, red quinoa, edamame, mixed baby greens

falafel, apple, steamed baby beets, acorn squash, mixed greens

sunflower pate, dulse, apple, steamed beets, edamame, greens

NOOCH!, sweet potato, dulse, avocado, sunflower seeds, spinach

arugula, PICKLES!, sunflower sea veg pate, edamame, baby greens

dulse, edamame, greens

Then comes the dressing.  I like mine creamy with a nice combo of sweet & salty flavors.  Ingredients that I tend to mix up are miso, tahini, lemon juice, agave, and apple cider vinegar.  If I'm in a rush and want to use a bottled dressing I usually go for Annie's Goddess, my old favorite stand-by.  How do you like your salad and dressing? 

A morning hike & porch lunch

July 1st! Sunshine! Long weekend! I'm looking forward to getting outside for some walking around and exploring over the next few days.  And eating outside.  I've been talking about a picnic for months. 

Last weekend we sat on the porch and ate salads after hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls. Mixed greens, sunflower pate, apples, dulse, edamame, and baby steamed beets.

We also spent some time looking out over the Gorge from Vista House:

It was such a pretty way to spend the morning, and only 20 minutes away from home.  We even stopped in at the tourist shop and bought souvenirs (see the mug in my last post). I'm so happy to be back in Oregon.

Hope your holiday weekend is off to a great start!