Beanloaf Muffins with Kale & Carrots

Beanloaf Muffins from Peas and Thank You, Balsamic Glazed Kale and Carrots from 1000 Vegan Recipes, and a baked potato. The muffin recipe says it yields 4 muffins; I made five, but probably could have made it into six smaller muffins. Pretty quick and easy.

Baked Pasta Shells and Broccoli

So you may have noticed the title of this post and the picture don't match. If this is the case, I'd say you're very observant, and correct. Why the mismatch?

Well. I had a hell of a time with the broccoli. The first grocery store only offered limp, wilted, rubbery broccoli. Thanks, but no thanks. I went to a second grocery store, and their broccoli offering left something to be desired, but I found enough of what I thought was good broccoli.

Wrong.

After I washed and started cutting the broccoli, I realized the florets were infested with these tiny, dead black bugs that were stuck to the broccoli and left behind little brown marks when I removed them, somewhat forcibly. I have no idea what the bugs were, and but I did know that a) I was thoroughly grossed out and b) there was no way I was going to be able to remove all of these little bugs. And even if I had, I don't think I would have been able to get over the situation mentally.

So I got a little angry, because I really wanted baked macaroni and broccoli! Then I got over it, and made do. I ended up making just a simple macaroni and cheese based on the intended recipe from 1000 Vegan Recipes, kale chips, and heating up some Gardein I (thankfully) picked up at the store. Those little orange tomatoes are from my aunt's garden - I'd never had orange cherry tomatoes before, but they're really sweet and yummy!

Tempeh Asado with too many sides

At the bbq on Sunday, some awesome vegan gifts were bestowed upon me. See:

The cookies were delicious and didn't survive more than two days, and I was so excited to receive Viva Vegan! I had checked it out of the library recently, and loved it so much, I put it on my wishlist. And Jen is just so gosh darn amazing, she bought it for me! Yay for awesome friends who are also fabulous gift-givers.

Unfortunately, my first go-round fell on an evening when I was starving and needed to go to the store, and therefore, long prep time was absolutely out of the question. I couldn't decide between the side dishes I wanted to accompany my tempeh asado, so I made them all: fried plantains (so bad, but sooo good!), braised kale, and cilantro-lime rice. Everything was so good, and it was all relatively easy to put together.

Thanks, Jen! You're the bee's knees! (But you already knew that.)

Weekend Glow Kale Salad

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered Oh She Glows, an amazing blog, and fell in love immediately. Not only does Angela have the same name as my big sister (bonus points), she shares the most incredible recipes. The first recipe I tried from her repetoire was the Weekend Glow Kale Salad. You can check out her post to read all the wonderful benefits of this salad, or just make it and enjoy!

My only issue with this recipe was the dressing, but I think the tahini was to blame. My dressing seemed too heavy and too much for the amount of salad. Next time I'm going to try fresh tahini and see how that works.

Spicy Peanut Noodles with Kale

Mary over at This is Vegan raves about this dish. She's posted/tweeted about it several times, and each time I see it, I think, "Hmm, I should try that."

And finally, I did.

And now I know why Mary loves it so much. It's spicy and sweet and peanutty and just so yummy! And the kale and brown rice pasta add loads of vitamins and minerals. I will forever be grateful to Mary for introducing this meal to me!

I found an online recipe here. I don't know if I didn't add enough water to the sauce or if I had too much kale, but I ended up making a double batch of the sauce.

Spicy Kale Chips

 (Note: This picture is pre-baking. I forgot to take a picture when they came out of the oven... 

and there aren't any chips left to photograph.)

I feel like kale, like most leafy greens, gets neither the recognition nor the respect it deserves. More than once, I've had a cashier at the grocery store ask me, "What's that?" This question kind of blows my mind, because if you can't identify it (and hi, you're working at a grocery store), you probably aren't eating it, either. And you should be!

 I will admit that I haven't always been a fan of kale or its family members. I remember my mom making it for my brother and me a few times, but we weren't having it. After going vegan, though, I realized I'd have to make friends with not just kale, but collard greens and spinach, too. And now, kale and I have moved from friendship to love affair. Especially in the form of kale chips.

Chock full of vitamins and minerals, kale boasts loads of health benefits. Kale has high levels of vitamins A, C, and K; calcium, fiber, and beta-carotene, too, are present in large amounts. You can also find omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid, potassium, and magnesium in kale. Together, these antioxidants strengthen our bones and teeth; protect and maintain heathy eyes and skin; prevent the formation of cancerous cells; promote regular digestion; work as an anti-inflammatory agent in arthritis and asthma; lower blood pressure; promote a healthy immune system. Seriously, there's no reason to not eat it!

So, I bring you one of my favorite ways to eat kale. It's so easy and so yummy, and you'll probably have a hard time not eating them all in one day. Or is that just me?

You'll need:

- 1 lb of fresh kale
- olive oil
- sea salt and red pepper flakes to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and dry kale. Remove hard stems. Tear or cut leaves into smaller, edible pieces.
2. In a large bowl, toss leaves with 1 tbsp olive oil. You want to just lightly coat the leaves of oil; too much oil will make your leaves limp and greasy. If you need more oil to coat leaves, add oil 1/2 tbsp at a time.
3. Lay leaves on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with sea salt and red pepper flakes to taste.
4. Bake 12-13 minutes. Half way through, you can toss them on the sheet for more even baking.

These can burn easily, so keep an eye on them! You can also toss on cayenne pepper for a smoky flavor.