Kick A$$ Kale Salad and other musings.

May 14, 2014

Gluten Free Kale Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash and Polenta Croutons

bomb diggity. the croutons are good solo.

bomb diggity. the croutons are good solo.

Those ten words basically define the term rich white girl. I’m definitely two of those things, and to be the third, throw a couple dollars my way, peeps. (I accept AMEX).

But seriously…. how f*cking trendy can I get? Truth: I actually like kale (said no one ever). And squash tastes as close to a potato without being a Fatty McFatpants salad topping. And gluten free croutons (that are actually just as bad for you as the real thing). Sign. Me. Up. This is an easy weeknight meal that can be served with or without meat. Also—I thought of this meal this morning and thought I was a genius for creating a delish meatless Monday meal. Turns out, it’s Tuesday. I’ve got to stop drinking.

Anyways, this salad it the ( . Y . )s. Make it before it gets way too hot to eat roasted squash. It’s freezing in Midland today (61 degrees), so roasted veggies didn’t seem so asinine.

Ingredients for salad

  • 2 bunches of lacinato kale, stalks removed, chiffonaded (pretty sure that’s not a word)
  • ½ butternut squash, cubed
  • ½  tube of polenta (you’ve seen it before in the pasta aisle), cubed
  • 1 tbs. olive oil, mixed with juice of half a lemon
  • 10 leaves Fresh basil, chiffonaded
  • 1 tbs. safflower oil

Ingredients for the dressing

  • 2 tbs. olive oil
  • 2 tbs. water
  • 1 tbs. miso paste
  • 1 tbs. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp. agave (sup trendy)
  • Fresh black pepper to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss butternut squash with a small amount of olive oil and salt and pepper, and roast for 30-40 minutes until tender and a little golden—making sure to stir during cooking. While the squash roasts, heat a nonstick skillet with tbs. safflower oil (has a high smoke point, use olive if you don’t have it!) Once the oil starts to shimmer, add in the cubed polenta and sauté until crispy (you will have to judge this by sight—all pans/temps cook differently!) Mine were about 4 minutes per side. Also, burned the shit out of my arms/face (or maybe covering up for the fact that I have acne and a rash?…) so use a splatter screen. For the dressing, blend everything together. For a thicker dressing, use less water.

This salad basically rules. If you legitimately will not eat kale (plebeians), use spinach or another dark green. Enjoy!

P.S. Spellcheck had a hayday with figuring out what I meant by ( . Y . )s. YES.

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B4D-Mexican Style

April 7, 2014

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This is one of those “semi-homemade” meals… I made it when I was exhausted, and honestly did not want to cook, but I had food in the fridge, and always feel guilty eating at a restaurant when I have food at home. Plus, it was a Wednesday, and we all know that the Midland Chili’s has a bitch of a wait on Wednesdays. So, since I had leftover salsa from the previous night’s dinner, I went mexi. This serves one–I don’t really love Mexican breakfast, so I had quinoa fried rice. I’m assuming my readers (all 4 of you) know a little bit about math, or have a calculator on your iPhone, so just multiply.

  • 2 Tostada shells
  • 1/2 c. non fat refried black beans (don’t like black beans? Racist. JK, used whatever you want)
  • 2 fried eggs
  • dollop of guac
  • salsa
  • green salsa for the plate if you want to get pretty
  • fat free white cheddar or mozzarella cheese

Literally layer it all together, just follow what my picture looks like, and you will have a happy man/wife/dog that gets your leftovers!

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Mexican Chicken with Bada$$ Stacks

April 7, 2014

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Breasts for dinner and March madness….Literally my nightmare and every man’s dream.

 

For the Chicken + Stacks

  • 2 boneless skin on chicken breasts (take the skin off if you are scared of it)
  • mixture of juice of 1/2 lime mixed with 1 tbs vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp garlic salt and 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 c. non fat refried black beans(basically half a can–you can use the other half tomorrow)
  • 1/2 c. chopped roasted poblanos
  • 1/2 c. guacamole
  • 1/2 c. corn

Heat oven to 400. I seasoned my chicken breast with that mixture, but you could always just use salt and pepper. Bake your chicken for 30-40 minutes, and if your skin doesn’t crisp up, broil it for a minute or two. Let it rest for at least 5-8 minutes before you try and slice it. I was impatient and ate the skin off of my chicken breast before I let the chicken cool. #fatkidprobs

While the chicken is cooking, make the stacks. I heated the beans with a little bit of cotija cheese and lime juice. For the corn, sauté it with a little olive oil and some chili powder and cumin–or whatever floats your boat. Stack it all together like my pic–using half serving for each one.  For the salsas, see this recipe from a few weeks ago… http://thewifewithaknife.com/2014/03/03/salsa-and-sav-b-saturdays/ photo 2