Chop Chop Salad

Full disclosure when I try a new recipe and I like it, I end up craving it and eating it for a couple weeks straight.  What can I say?  When I fall, I fall hard.  This happens often times with me for example having the same favorite green smoothie in the morning (recipe below!) or there was the time I was obsessed with this broccoli bread from Green Kitchen Stories and had it everyday for lunch for weeks.  Lately I have been crushing hard on what I like to call the Chop Chop salad.  I call it the Chop Chop because all the veggies are chopped very small.  I love the consistency this creates, plus because we are using kale as our greens here, the smaller pieces allow them to be easier to chew as raw kale can be hard for some to digest.  Full disclosure it's a little labor intensive.  Cutting up and steaming the veggies take some time, but the nice thing is that if you make a big batch of it and don't dress the veggies it will stay fresh for days in your fridge.  I like this salad with the Green Goddess Dressing from Clean Eats cookbook from Dr. Alejandro Junger.  I am a big fan of his books, Clean and Clean Gut.  Clean Eats is a great compliment to these as well as a fabulous edition to anyone's healthy cookbook collection.  I have tried many of the recipes, many of which I make time and time again.  Sense a pattern here?

Approximate time: 60 minutes 

Serves 6 as a side, or approximately 4 portions if making individual portions as a mail meal

For the salad dressing:

• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup miso
• 3 tbs. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbs. lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 scallion, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves 

1. In a food processor, combine the tahini, olive oil, miso, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic cloves.  You can use a blender if you don't have a food processor.  The original recipe actually calls for using a blender, but I have done it both ways and I like the food processor best.

2.  Add all the fresh herbs, scallion and salt and blend until the herbs are combined and the dressing comes together.  If the dressing looks thick to you, then you can always add between 1/4 cup to a 1/2 cup of warm water.  I do this often as I like the dressing a little on the thinner side.  This dressing will store great in a glass jar for a week in the refrigerator.  

For the chop chop:

• 1 head of kale - preferable dinosaur kale 
• 1/2 head of purple cabbage
• 1 bundle of asparagus steamed 
• 1 cup of sugar snap peas
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes if making one portion at a time or 1 cup of cherry tomatoes if you are making the whole salad for a group 
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots - you can easily buy these pre-shredded to save on some time
• 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1 small cucumbers 
• 1/4 avocado if you are making one portion at a time or 1 whole avocado if you are making the whole salad for a group 
• 6 radishes 

1.  Trim the asparagus bottoms and cut them into thirds.  Place in a steamer and cook for approximately 5 minutes.  I like my asparagus on the crunchier side.  

2.  Cut the kale into very small thin slices.  I find the easiest way to do this is to roll two to three kale leaves like you were going to cut them into a chiffonade.  

3.  Shred the purple cabbage.  You can do this with a knife or with a mandolin.  Whichever is easiest for you.

4. Cut the sugar snap peas and radishes into small slices. 

5.  Combine the kale, purple cabbage, carrots, sugar snap peas, radishes and sunflower seeds into a large bowl if you are making it all at once or Tupperware to keep fresh if you are just going to make one serving at a time.

6.  Depending if you are making the salad for a group or if you plan to eat it throughout the week cut up the all the tomatoes, avocado and the asparagus or only the portions of each outlined for one serving.  I keep the asparagus separate and cut them as I go when I am just making myself a serving of the salad  The asparagus will stay much fresher if kept separate and cut when right before you are ready to assemble the salad.  

7.  Either in a large bowl if making the whole salad or if making one serving in a shallow bowl, dress the salad and mix all the veggies together.  I like to put the avocado on top and not toss with the rest of the salad but that is just a personal preference.  

In the Mood for Pasta?

Try my favorite veggie substitute!

I find myself often craving a warm bowl of pasta during the colder months and spaghetti squash is such a great alternative for a healthier option.  It takes almost no prep to make just some time in the oven.  I often like to make this for dinner for myself on a Sunday night as I have probably spent most of the day doing meal prep and the last thing I want to do is cook another meal! 

Approximate time: 55 minutes

• 1 Spaghetti squash
• 2 tbs. of toasted pignoli (pine) nuts
• ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper – I like things spicy but you can certainly cut back on this
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

1.     Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2.     Slice spaghetti squash in half; remove seeds with a large spoon.

3.     Place halves cut side up on a lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4.     Place in the oven and bake for approximately 45 minutes. Depending on the size of the squash you might need to bake it for longer.  You will know it’s done as you can easily pierce the flesh of the squash with a fork.

5.     Remove squash and use a large fork to pull the squash away from its shell creating strands like spaghetti.

6.     Place squash from one of the halves in a bowl and top with pignoli nuts, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper to taste and another drizzle of olive oil.

Banana Ice Cream

I LOVE ice cream especially in the summer so I am always looking for healthier nondairy alternatives and this is the best and easiest option I have found.  I always have frozen bananas on hand for smoothies so for me this is especially easy to whip up.  Best to use one frozen banana per serving or per person.  There are a bunch of different versions of this recipe calling for adding coconut oil or peanut butter to the bananas before you process them, but I have tried it both ways and it’s not necessary to get a wonderful consistency.

Approximate time: 2 minutes

• 1 banana per servings of “ice cream”
• Coco nibs
• Pistachios
• Equipment needed: Food Processor

1.     Place a cut up frozen banana in your food processor. 

2.     Pulse until it’s the constancy of soft serve.  If you prefer the consistency of hard ice cream you can put it back into the freezer in a freezer safe container for 30 minutes. 

3.     Top with whatever you prefer or nothing, but I am partial to coco nibs and pistachios sometimes drizzling almond butter on top making it a heavenly but health “ice cream” sundae.