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Category Archives: Lunch
Kale Crunch Salad for the week
This salad takes legit 30 minutes to prep, and you can get 3-5 delicious daytime salads out of it. Don’t like feta? Use goat. Don’t like tart cherries? Use another dried fruit…you get the picture. If you need more protein, toss some sliced chicken or quinoa on the top and call it a day. Just make it. **
All the ingredients are pictured below the list, this can also work as a large side salad for a group of 6. (If you use all the ingredients.
- 2 things of lacinato kale (I don’t like curly kale), stalks removed, thinly sliced
- 1 head of radicchio, core removed, thinly chopped
- 1 small tub of feta cheese
- 3 oz. dried tart cherries (they sell these in the bulk section of the store, or by the raisins.
- 2 lemons
- 1 bag of cauliflower florets (10 oz.) or a head of cauli broken into tiny pieces
- pesto (either store bought or this pesto)
- balsamic glaze (I use Fini reduction)
- good quality olive oil
- chili garlic olive oil (not necessary, but I like to roast my cauliflower with this)
- chopped candied pecans
Dried tart cherries, crumbled feta, kale, radicchio, cauliflower, lemons, pesto (HEB brand from cold section is actually pretty good), chili garlic olive oil, Lucini olive oil, and Fini balsamic glaze
Preheat the oven to 425. Toss the cauliflower with 1 tbs of chili olive oil (or regular EVOO if you don’t care for spice or don’t want to buy chili garlic oil) and roast for 25 minutes until browned. While the cauliflower is roasting and making your house smell like a mega fart, wash and chop the kale and radicchio (which will eventually make you actually fart which is fine because your house already smells like death).
To make the salad, take a big handful of kale (2ish cups) and half a cup of the radicchio and massage with 1 tsp good olive oil and juice of half of a lemon. Add in 1/2 – 1 ounce of the cheese, 1/2 ounce of cherries, 1/2 cup of cauliflower. Toss with 1 tbs of pesto and a hefty drizzle of balsamic glaze (about 1 tbs). Toss all together and top with crushed candied pecans if you like them. Or top with sliced chicken or quinoa. Enjoy!
**Don’t mix everything together until you’re ready to eat it.. store the kale and radicchio together and the cauliflower by itself. Another cauliflower recipe (and an apology to strippers everywhere) will be on the blog tomorrow if my recipe test goes well tonight…..
Even tiny humans who don’t eat vegetables eat it…
Easy Pesto Zoodles with Goat Cheese
I wish I could claim that I love zoodles. But they will never be noddles. I don’t feel like I’ve had an incredible pasta dish, or some crazy good pad Thai when I use spaghetti squash or zucchini in place of a good ole nood, but in an attempt to eat lunches that resemble less of an overweight Italian man, I give you pesto zoodles. Now, if you don’t want to make homemade pesto, use store bought. If you want to use a different noodle substitute, mazeltov. Don’t like goat cheese? Use Parmesan, IDGAF.
If you want to use this as a side, I suggest serving it as the side for Bolognese or Chicken Parmesan Meatballs.
For the homemade pesto…combine the following in your Vitamix/cuisinart. This will make a ton more than you need, so either freeze the rest, or use it in another recipe…
- 2 cups fresh basil
- 3/4 c. Olive oil
- 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/3 c. Toasted pine nuts (or toasted blanched almonds, toasted pecans, etc.)
- 3 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper to taste
For the zoodles, I sauted one package of Cece’s Veggie Co. Noodles-Zucchini Veggiccine. They have all sorts of different zoodle types and I’m 99% sure that if we have them in Midland, you have them at your grocery store. Just sauté with a splash of olive oil for 3 minutes until they are soft. Add in 2 tbs of the pesto and cook for another minute until well combined and top with crumbled goat cheese and crushed red pepper. One package serves one as a big vegetarian meal, or 2 as a side.
Kale & Toasted Quinoa salad with Pesto Dijon Vinaigrette
I write this post while in a deep depression from my couch. I am only 3 episodes away from the completion of the entire Gossip Girl series (yes, I’ve seen it, just binge re watching it). I have watched 118 episodes, and upon completion, I will have spent 4,017 minutes watching high schoolers be way cooler than I can ever hope to be. Time well wasted, and to drown my sorrows, I believe I’ll open a bottle of Sauv-B and wait for my husband to come home and judge me.
Watching all these high school hotties made me realize that my post baby bod could use a little more lettuce in my life, and inspired me to amp up my salad game. Enter in the chopped kale/arugula salad with pesto dijon vinaigrette.
Pesto Vinaigrette
- 1 bunch basil
- 1/2 C. toasted pine nuts
- 1 C. olive oil
- 1/3 C. grated parmesan
- juice of one lemon
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 C. white wine vinegar
- 2 tbs. dijon mustard
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. You can also omit the vinegar and mustard for a plain pesto.
Kale and Arugula salad (chicken optional)
makes 4 entree sized portions
- 1 bunch kale, chopped
- 1 bag/box arugula (5 oz.) chopped
- I had some spinach in the fridge, which I added. If you have any leftover salad greens you need to use, throw them in there
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1/2 C. chopped candied pecans
- 2 chicken breasts (I just used ones from a rotisserie chicken) thinly sliced
- 1 C. toasted spicy quinoa, recipe below
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne
- 1/8 tsp. garlic salt (really just a few shakes of each)
- 3-5 dried apricots, chopped (could also used craisins, golden raisins, dried cherries)
Combine all the ingredients together and toss with dressing (you probably won’t need all the dressing, just add in enough to moisten (EW) the salad.
I served mine with bread because I’m human, and I wanted my friends to like me.
To make the toasted spicy quinoa, cook 1/2 C. dried quinoa according to the package instructions. Transfer to a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with cayenne and garlic salt, and cook at 425 for 10 minutes until toasted. I use cayenne because the candied pecans and apricots give the salad a little sweetness, and the acid from the dressing and spice from the quinoa balance it out well. I actually like to buy the central market pre-cooked quinoa that they sell in the rice section, which saves time (this one: https://www.heb.com/product-detail/central-market-quick-heat-white-amp-red-quinoa/1761920). You could really use any grain, just make sure you toast it, as it adds a nice crunch!
Well, hope you enjoy. I have to get back to what is really important in my life….my family GOSSIP GIRL
