Roasted Kalettes with Beets and Cranberries

The past few months I have been hearing about Kalettes that are brand new vegetable — a hybrid between kale and Brussels Sprouts. There is some discussion on whether this should be called BrusselKale, Kale Sprouts (that is what Trader Joes is calling them), or Kalletes.  But Kalette seems apt, since the florets look like mini kale bunches. Kalettes are rich in Vitamin C, K and B6.

This recipe is adapted from here. There are more recipes posted there if you want to experiment with kalettes.

Ingredients:

1 bag (8 oz) Kalettes
1/2 golden beet sliced
1/2 red beet sliced
1/2 cup cranberries
1/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves minced
salt and pepper to taste
a little Balsamic vinegar
blue cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Toss kalettes, beets, walnuts and garlic with some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Can also add a few red pepper flakes. Lay out on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Add cranberries and bake for an additional 4-5 minutes.

Remove from oven and transfer to a serving bowl. Drizzle a little Balsamic vinegar and top with blue cheese and serve warm.

Fresh Greens & Edamame Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing

Ingredients:
2 cups mixed spring greens
1/4 sliced cucumber
1/4 cup shelled edamame
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1-2 scallions sliced
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:
3 carrots chopped
1/4 cup fresh ginger
2 shallots
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water

Combine all dressing ingredients in a food processor and process until emulsified.

Toss all the salad ingredients in a bowl and drizzle about 2 tbsp of dressing.

Healthy and filling salad recipe (part of the body reset diet)  taken from the Prevention Magazine

Crunchy and Chewy Mango Pomegranate Wheat Berry Salad

The grain of the month is wheat berry! I had picked up some last time I was in Whole Foods.

Occasionally I end up with a raw green mango that has started to ripen and hence is more sweet than tart. In which case it is best to eat it as fruit or toss in salads. I have been wanting to experiment with mango and pomegranate in a recipe for some time now.

So this seemed like a perfect time to cook up a recipe combining mango, pomegranate and wheat berry!

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat berry
1 mango chopped
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup chopped red onion or green onion
1/2 cup assorted red or yellow bell peppers chopped
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
4-6 sliced cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup whole or chopped pistachio
1 tbsp hemp hearts (optional)

Dressing:
1/8 cup oil
1/8 cup lemon juice
salt and fresh ground pepper
some finely chopped cilantro

Bring two cups of water to boil. Add wheat berry seeds, lower flame and cook until the wheat berry is cooked. Add more water if necessary.

Combine all chopped vegetables in a salad bowl. Add cooked wheat berries, pistachio and hemp hearts and mix. Drizzle dressing and mix.

Can also add some feta cheese and serve on bed of salad greens.

See Also:

Celebrate End of Summer with Mango

Refreshing Greek Salad

This recipe is adapted from the White Jacket Required book by Jenna Weber of Eat Live Run.

Ingredients:
1/2 cucumber peeled and chopped
1/4 red onion sliced
6-8 kalamata olives
4-6 artichoke hearts
cherry tomatoes sliced
2-3 basil leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
1-2 cups spinach (optional)

Mix all ingredients except the spinach. Set aside in the refrigerator for an hour to chill and marinate.

Serve on a bed of spinach. Refreshing!

Fig Spinach Salad

I have never used fresh figs in my cooking other than eating them as fruit. Seeing fresh figs in the produce aisle at Whole Foods I brought some home. As I scoured the web for easy, fun recipes, this one was perfect since I had all the ingredients. Best of all it used spinach greens (remember my 1lb spinach box?)

Ingredients:
2 cups baby spinach
6-8 figs sliced into wedges
sliced red onion
sliced red bell pepper
feta cheese
pecans and sliced almonds

Dressing:
olive oil
lemon juice
honey
minced garlic or I used some garlic oil
fresh ground pepper

Mix all salad ingredients in a bowl. Whisk equal parts of lemon juice and olive oil with garlic and a tsp of honey. Top salad with pecans, feta cheese and drizzle dressing over salad before serving.

Note to self: I think next time I will skip the honey in the dressing. Figs are inherently very sweet so a tangy flavor to the dressing will provide better taste to the palate.

Spinach on my mind

Can’t believe that it is already September! Summer is almost over. With fall  barely a week away it was time for drastic measures. My fitness goals for the year remained adamantly frozen where they had been at the start of the New Year. With just 3 1/2 months left of 2012 it was time to take action.

With that in mind, I bought a 1lb box of fresh, organic baby spinach at the start of the week and enjoyed a new salad each day (see end of post for a link to the recipes I tried).

Today’s special for lunch was Greek spinach salad, mango Greek yogurt and fresh lichi and mango for snack.

This weeks spinach salad menu:

Fresh Greens Salad
Mango Spinach Salad
Mediterranean Spinach Farro Salad
Greek Spinach Salad

Greek Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
2 cups baby spinach leaves
red and green bell pepper sliced
cucumber peeled, cut and sliced into half moons
sliced red onion
kalamata olives
cherry tomatoes
pickled banana peppers
capers
feta cheese
sunflower seeds (optional)

Dressing:
Olive oil
lemon juice
dried oregano
fresh ground pepper
salt

Toss together all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Top with feta cheese and drizzle dressing before serving. If you like a nutty crunch to your salads toss some sunflower seeds and enjoy!

What’s in my lunch box?

Mediterranean Spinach Farro Salad

I came across farro a while ago and bought some at the local Whole Foods store and even dug around online for some healthy and tasty recipes. That was then. The bought farro sat in a bottle on the shelf for a few months, until this week 🙂

By chance I came across this fun recipe at Williams Sonoma and for a change I had all the ingredients and it’s what was for lunch today. Here is my adapted version of it:

Ingredients:
2 cups of baby spinach
1-2 radishes sliced thin
1/4 cup farro cooked
1/4 yellow pepper sliced
1/4 cucumber peeled and sliced
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1-2 tbsp capers
feta cheese
some walnuts (optional)

Dressing:
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
fresh ground pepper

Bring 1/2 cup water to boil and add the farro. Reduce heat, cover and cook the farro until the grains soften and all the water evaporates. Add more water if necessary to cook the farro. The farro can be cooked the previous day (which I did) and refrigerated. Set aside.

Whisk the lemon juice and oil with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl mix all the salad vegetables and cooked farro. Top with walnuts and feta cheese. Drizzle with dressing before serving.

Turned out pretty good. Farro is quite chewy and filling. Next time I think I will also add some raisins or dried  cranberries.

Mango Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 Mango peeled and dices
1/4 pint Blueberries
6-8 Dried apricots
Pecans and sliced almonds
1-2 cups of baby spinach
Blue cheese or feta cheese
Hemp hearts (optional)

Dressing:
Olive oil
Lemon Juice
Orange Juice
Salt and pepper

Toss all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the dressing ingredients. Drizzle over the salad just before serving. Optionally sprinkle some hemp hearts.

Rainbow Salad

Ingredients:
1 cup rainbow quinoa
chopped red onion
chopped red bell pepper
chopped cucumber
chopped tomato
chopped parsley
chopped spinach (optional)
1/4 cup canned or raw chickpea
1/4 cup canned or raw black beans

Dressing:
lemon juice
balsamic vinegar
olive oil (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

If using raw beans, soak them in water for 8-10 hours. Pressure cook them and set aside. Rinse the quinoa and cook in 2 cups water following the directions on the package. Fluff the cooked quinoa.  In a bowl mix all ingredients. Makes 3-4 servings.