Sautéed Kale & Quinoa

I am working hard to reduce the amount of meat and processed carbs my family consumes. I just bought a veggie spiralizer on Amazon to start making sweet potato and zucchini noodles! It should be on my front stoop today! As part of my meat and carb reduction, I was roasting up all the veggies in my house last week, and I thought to myself, why stop now?! I'll cook everything in my fridge! A little spur of the moment? Maybe. A lot of flavor? Definitely!

Kale and quinoa may be the two trendiest ingredients on Pinterest right now, but for good reason and they are a power house combo! Kale is one of the most nutrient dense foods out there full of calcium, magnesium, vitamin K, antioxidants, fiber out the wazoo... I mean the WORKS! For a vegetable that was once just a garnish for salad bar, it's a staple it in my family's dinner rotation. 

Now quinoa is one of my favorite foods EVER! It's so diverse and yummy. I make breakfasts with it, I make burritos with it, soup... You name it, I put quinoa in it. Sweet or savory. These delicious little pebbles are full of iron, b-vitamins, magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin e and has all the essential amino acids. And naturally gluten free if that's something you're concerned with. Did I mention toddler friendly too?

Organic Ingredients:

1 small yellow onion

4+ cloves of garlic

4 tbls olive oil (or coconut oil if you want the trendy trifecta!)

6 cups of ribbed curly kale torn into bite sized pieces

1 cup stock (I used chicken, but veggie stock is also great for the vegetarians & vegans)

1/2 cup rinsed quinoa

1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (or sprinkle on some "nooch" if you're vegan)

A few shakes of red pepper flakes - dependent on your heat preference

I chopped my onion, minced some garlic, and got that cooking in some olive oil. Once that was fragrant and the onions were translucent (about 5 minutes), I threw in about 6 cups of curly kale with 2 tablespoons of water and covered until the kale had wilted and was tender (12 minutes or so), stirring on the reg. 

While that was going, in a separate pot, I cooked up a half cup of quinoa-the perfect protein. To do that, get your stock boiling, dump in your quinoa, cover. Cook on LOW for 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. 

Once the kale was tenderoni, I tossed in some red pepper flakes, some Parmesan cheese, the cooked quinoa and tossed it all together!  Perfect.

I took the leftovers for lunch the next day and it warmed up VERY nicely. I like to have leftovers like this for lunch because man is it easy for me to eat garbage at the office.  

ENJOY! 

Em

A hearty soup: My favorite soup of all time

I happened upon a hearty soup recipe this last fall and have since made it my own. I believe soups should be hearty and easy to make. They should freeze well and be delicious. They should taste scrumptious and have some flexibility... This delightful soup captures all of those criteria, and I think I would be doing a disservice to the world if I didn't share this soup with you. 

First things first. Chop your shit....  I hate when I come across a recipe that is like, do this, then immediately do this, and I am like, wait.... it's going to take me how long to chop up that butternut squash!? Then my onions burn instead of caramelize and I eat pizza instead of my delish organic soup. See what I am saying here?

This is a vegan soup. It is definitely flavorful enough on its own. If you are looking for some good for you vegan fats, add some perfectly ripe avocado and you'll be on cloud nine. 

Or, if you are fine with a little cheese, which I am on occasion, mozzarella and/or parmigiana cheese pairs quite nicely with this dish. Mozzarella would be my first choice. 

So let's get down to it.

Organic Ingredients:
1 small - medium butternut squash (or simplify your life and get the organic freezer pack of it).
1 medium sweet potato - or a yam... (yams have more fiber too)
1 small onion - diced
4 celery stalks (or so) - chopped
2-3 carrots - chopped
3 cloves of minced garlic (or more if you like)

1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) - drained and rinsed
1 cup quinoa
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cartons of vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
2 cups of kale - de-ribbed and torn into 1" pieces
2-4 tbsp olive oil
-

Warm 2-4 tbsp olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot - like a big soup pot. Throw in your diced onion, celery and carrots and let them cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Stirring regularly. Add garlic and rosemary .

Throw in your cubed butternut squash and sweet potato, stir to coat the veggies, then cover for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of your pot. 

Next, add your tomatoes (if they are in tomato juice, that's good - just dump the whole can in!) garbanzo beans, quinoa, bay leaves and stock. Let that simmer until your potatoes and squash are fork tender. 

Just when you are ready to serve, throw in your de-ribbed kale. It will wilt perfectly as you eat it. Serve with crusty bread or cheese! 

Also, make sure to share some with your friends! Everyone loves a good soup made with love! Garnish cute jar with rosemary. 

If you want to freeze this soup, put it in the freezing container, then let it cool completely before putting it in the freezer, otherwise you will certainly have what looks like freezer burn, but is really condensation burn... No one wants burn. Let it cool. 

Other options: my mom made a version of this soup recently too, and she roasted the sweet potato and butternut squash before adding it to the soup. I am not one to enjoy doing excess dishes, so I don't do that, but the sky is the limit with this dish. Do what you will with it! Make it your own! Do whatever feels right.