VEGGIPALOOZA

Last night was a clean out the fridge type meal. I have had scraps of vegetables leftover from various clients, not enough to make their own side dish. So, I combined all the orphan veg into one happy side dish, well, two really. The first was a combo of julienned carrots, asparagus, zucchini, and of course, kale. The second was a combination of spinach, collard greens and kale that I pureed with a little cheese. The two accompanied two different main courses, one for my husband and one for me.

Normally, I am not in the habit of making separate meals, but I really wanted seafood and he is not a huge fan. Both dinners were exactly the same, with the exception of the protein. I am at the end of a two week cleanse and have been trying to incorporate way more vegetables into my meals. This was pretty quick and easy and most importantly, delicious.

New Year's Brunch

Happy new year to everyone. Welcome to the first blog of the year. I am not really one to make resolutions. I mean who really sticks to them for more than a few days anyway? But, I do like to start the new year clean and healthy.

Speaking of clean, I woke up this morning, and my apartment had been cleaned during the night by a magic elf who turned out to be my husband. It was awesome. So, I thought I would make him breakfast and since I am in love with him and kale, I decided to make a kale frittata. Let me go back to kale for a minute. I love it, I really do. I should change the name of the blog to "A Love Affair with Kale" because I eat it a lot.

Frittatas are really easy to make if you have a non stick pan (which I am generally opposed to because the non stick finish is somewhat, how shall I say...toxic) or a great cast iron skillet. You can use almost any vegetable and I really recommend that you add a green vegetable as it is a great way to start your day. Simply cook the veg in your pan, then add some lightly scrambled eggs (I happened to have some milk from a recipe I made for some clients so I added a bit of that to the egg, but it is not necessary). Keep the flame low as you are adding the egg and then transfer the pan to a preheated oven (325 degrees). Cook until the egg mixture is just set.

DINNER FOR ONE

There is rarely a night when the husband and I don't have dinner together, but tonight was one of those very rare times. I decided to make one of my favorites, scallops. I used to hate them. It was a textural thing, but now I love them, although I don't have them as often as I would like. I served them with a bunch of sautéed kale, thinly sliced potatoes and pea puree. The whole dinner took about 15 minutes to put together.

I simply roasted some potato slices in a 400 degree oven. While the potatoes were cooking, I sautéed the kale with some olive oil, shallots and red pepper flakes and dropped some frozen peas into boiling water for a couple of minutes. When the peas were done, they were drained and pureed with a hand blender but you could use a regular blender or mini cuisinart. Using the same pan that I cooked the kale, I cooked the scallops, about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Easy.

KALE SALAD

This afternoon I went to the farmers market for the sole purpose of getting kale to make the massaged kale salad that my friend Aarti made on her new food network show Aarti Party. Coincidentally, I ran into Aarti at the market.

I love kale! I always have it in the fridge and generally eat it at least three times per week. It incredibly nutritious-from the same family as broccoli. My recipe is a loosely based on Aarti's recipe, but it is a good example of how you do not have to follow a recipe word for word. I used the same technique of massaging the kale, but I swapped out the mango for another sweet ingredient, golden raisins and instead of the pepitas, I opted for toasted almonds. Now, back to the kale massaging, you might think that sounds weird, but kale is pretty tough. By literally rubbing it with a little sea salt, olive oil and lemon juice (or a bit of your favorite salad dressing), you break down the fibers in the kale and it becomes really tender. Give it a try.

Kale Salad
1 lemon, cut in half and juiced
olive oil
sea salt
1 tablespoon honey (optional)
1 bunch kale, cut into ribbons
1/4 cup almonds, toasted (or your favorite nut raw or toasted)
1/3 cup golden raisins (or mango or apple)

Mix the lemon juice with several tablespoons of olive oil to make a simple vinaigrette. Place the kale in a large bowl, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with half of the dressing. Using both hands, gently rub the dressing into the kale for about 2 minutes. You will notice that the kale turns deep green and becomes softer. Stir the honey into the remaining dressing. Add the nuts and raisins to the kale. Drizzle with the remaining dressing to taste.

ONE GRAIN, TWO MEALS

Farro is an ancient Tuscan grain. It is a whole grain that packs a bunch of fiber, protein and B vitamins. Over the lat few years, it has become pretty popular, turning up on menus in restaurants and for sale not only in specialty shops but in Whole Foods too. I love farro and use it often. A couple of years ago I went on a farro hoarding spree. Don't ask me why, but I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to find it, so when I did, I bought lots of it. I was down to the last package and no longer fearful of being unable to find it when I prepared these two dishes.

A tip I learned from Heidi Swanson is that you can freeze grains! What a time saving tip. I prepared the whole package, used part of it in a Tuscan inspired mushroom soup, then I froze the rest and a few days later used it as the basis for a pilaf type side dish to go with my Tuscan grilled chicken. Can you tell I have Tuscany on the brain? It's been a year since I first went to Italy and am longing to go back.

For the pilaf, I just sauteed some garlic and red pepper flakes in some olive oil, added some quartered mushrooms and cooked until they were golden, then added some chopped mustard greens and the cooked farro. Sauté until the greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper and a drizzle of good, fruity olive oil and serve. I topped this with a whole grilled chicken.

Tuscan Mushroom Soup
1 four ounce package dried mushrooms
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, finely diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
1 sprig sage, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup lentils (beluga or green-not red or orange)
1 four quart container chicken stock (or homemade)
1 small bunch kale (chard, spinach, dandelion or any dark green will suffice), chiffonade
olive oil
salt and red pepper flakes
1 1/2-2 cups farro, cooked according to package directions

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water to reconstitute. Set aside for 20 minutes or until soft. Remove mushrooms from water and set the water aside for later. Thinly slice the mushrooms and set aside.

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan. Sweat the vegetables until soft, then add the garlic, lentils, sage and red pepper flakes to taste. Add the mushrooms to the pan, then add stock and reserved mushroom liquid. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until lentils are cooked then add farro and kale. Cook until kale is wilted. Adjust seasoning and serve topped with parmesan shavings.

VEG

We always hear that we should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, so I figured I would show you some of the ways I get fruits and veg into my diet.

Most mornings I have a variation of a green lemonade, made in the juicer from kale, lemon, ginger, celery. Even the meat and potato loving husband will drink it without complaining.

Another way that I try to get my 5 a day is by eating mostly vegetables during the day. Rarely do I eat any meat for lunch. Instead I try to stick with big salads with lots of vegetables and legumes, maybe a little cheese. It's not that I am opposed to meat, but by avoiding it during the day, it leaves more room for veg. I eat vegetable sandwiches often. I love a sandwich, I really do. They are so convenient. The picture above is a raw vegetable sandwich. I just threw some lettuce, sprouts, shredded carrots avocado and tomatoes in between two slices of sprouted grain bread. Sometimes, I grill or roast a bunch of vegetables and then they are at my disposal whenever I want them for a salad or sandwich.

Finally, I just made a batch of kale chips. It's the easiest thing to do-tear up some kale, toss in a bowl with a tiny bit of vinegar and a tablespoon or so of olive oil and bake at 350 degrees until crispy. Much better than a bag o' chips.

How do you get your five a day?