Autumn Quinoa Salad with Kale, Beets, and Pears

New recipe post!

This week we got so many fun fall ingredients in our CSA delivery. Have I mentioned how much I love the fall? On Tuesday night, Tim and I spent a lot of time together in the kitchen, and I put together a salad to have for lunch the rest of the week. I wanted to use multiple ingredients in one meal, and I chose to use the kale, beets, and pears.

Autumn Quinoa Salad with Kale, Beets, and Pears

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 bunch kale, rinsed, chopped, and massaged with juice from half a lemon
• 3 small to medium-sized beets, peeled, and chopped into quarter to half-inch cubes
• 1 pear, peeled, and sliced into match sticks
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• Half a red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• A few squirts of agave
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Crumbled goat cheese, optional

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Put the beets in a tinfoil pouch with a half to full tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Close up the pouch and cook for about 10 minutes or until fork tender.
3. Meanwhile, put the 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups of water in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, then simmer 15 minutes until cooked.
4. Mix all the other ingredients with the quinoa and cooked beets in a large bowl. Sprinkle with goat cheese if desired, and enjoy!

One thing I think people often overlook when they make a dish is not the flavor of their ingredient selection, but the variety of textures used. Since the quinoa, kale, and cooked beets all share a similar consistency, the pears added a unique mouth-feel to this salad. They weren’t overly ripe yet, so the crispy and juicy combination worked to our advantage.

Even though I’m calling this my autumn quinoa salad, I think it would make a festive addition to any holiday table in a couple of months! Isn’t it pretty?

–Let’s chat–
Do you ever think about the consistency or texture of the ingredients you cook with? What ingredients (besides pumpkin and apples!) come to mind when you think of fall?

One last thing today… congratulations to two of our dearest friends, Cate and Joe, who welcomed their new baby girl, Brynn, into the world yesterday. We cannot wait to meet her!

Cabbage, Kale, and Kohlrabi Slaw

Three items we’ve been getting a lot of in our CSA lately are cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi. Our fridge was starting to overflow with these veggies last week, so we combined them all into one dish and made a slaw. Whenever we make slaw, I tend to eat it as a salad base, but Tim gets psyched for sandwich time. We just stick a big batch in the fridge and use it in our preferred ways throughout the week!

Cabbage, Kale, and Kohlrabi Slaw

Ingredients

• 3 cups of chopped cabbage
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1.5 cups of chopped and massaged kale
• 1 kohlrabi, thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  

Directions

Mix the cabbage, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, and parsley in a container or bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the lemon juice, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and s&p. Drizzle the mixture over the slaw and enjoy!

I love that this slaw is light, crispy (the kohlrabi really adds a nice crunch!), and still flavorful without using any mayo. You can enjoy slaw in many different ways, but last week we ate it with a variation of this slow cooker peach BBQ pulled chicken recipe. Our variation was sans rice and with Tim’s homemade BBQ sauce (less sodium than buying BBQ sauce from the jar). The chicken and slaw combo lasted us several meals too.

Try it out, and let me know what you think!

 

–Let’s chat–

Do you eat slaw? Do you have any go to ways to make slaw or eat slaw? In your homes, do you ever make a big batch of something, just to eat it in a few different ways?

 

P.S. Not sure how the heck to cut up a kohlrabi? I thought it was an alien when I first saw one, but this post really helps!

Tropical Kale Protein Smoothie

Exciting news!  And it has nothing to do with the royal baby.

…I finally found a kale smoothie that I actually like!

Okay, maybe that’s not that exciting to most people, but it is to me.  I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect kale smoothie for what feels like a long time now, and I was just about to admit defeat and announce that kale smoothies just aren’t my thing.

But then this little sucker saved the day.

Tropical Kale Smoothie

Serves 1 or 2, depending on how much smoothie you like to drink!

Ingredients

• 1 cup coconut or almond milk
• 2 cups chopped kale (massaged first)
• 1.5 cups frozen pineapple
• 1 ripe banana
• 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp flax seed
• Water/ice as needed

Directions

Combine the coconut or almond milk, kale (make sure to massage first), frozen pineapple, banana, protein powder, yogurt, and flax seed in a blender.  Puree until smooth for at least one minute. Add water and/or ice as necessary to reach your desired consistency.​

This was refreshing and made for a great snack during one of the 90 degree days last week.  Unlike the other kale smoothies I’ve tried, this one has enough other flavors that you can’t taste the kale in the smoothie.  I’m glad I didn’t give up on kale smoothies because kale is SUCH a nutritional powerhouse.  Plus, we’ve been getting some in our farm share the past couple of weeks, but because I’m only bringing home 25% of the produce, I haven’t had enough kale to actually make a full entrée with it.  Smoothies and single serving salads have been my go to!

Anyways, I don’t think this smoothie has enough protein to hold me over as a whole meal, but it’s definitely snack worthy!  If you try this one out, let me know what you think.

Anyone have any other kale smoothie recipes they’d like to share? 

I still haven’t planned class for tonight… any requests!?