Kale, Cabbage, Carrot & Cilantro Salad

This is my favorite salad and, in my opinion, it’s the salad to beat. It’s a delicious, nutrient powerhouse of a salad. You’re getting loads of fiber and nutrients in each bite. Kale offers a large multitude of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients and is particularly high in vitamins K, A and C. Cabbage is high in vitamins C and K as well as folate, and is fantastic for your gut health. And with both cabbage and kale you get the impressive benefits of the cruciferous family including heart disease and cancer prevention. Carrots are high in vitamin A in the form of beta carotene which is great for your vision and immune system. And cilantro is very effective in lowering blood sugar. Eaten consistently, this salad can give your health a big boost.

There are two main tricks to making this salad great. (1) Use good kale. Overly mature kale will ruin any raw preparation. If you have overly mature kale on your hands, I highly recommend using it up (and cooking it down) in a recipe such as this Spanish Kale. And (2) SLICE THIN. This is important if you’re trying to win people over to eating more kale and cabbage salads. Thinly sliced vegetables, dressed with a good vinaigrette, make for a very enjoyable eating experience. If you slice the kale, cabbage and carrots very thinly (the cilantro can be roughly chopped), you’re golden! I promise :) I usually toss this salad with this mustard vinaigrette, but you could use a wide variety of dressings here. You can also dress it with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This salad is delicious served with all kinds of things. It goes very well with steak or roast chicken if you’re cooking meat, and it’s also great on top of some warmed quinoa, or as part of a grain / legume bowl.

I hope you like it as much as we do!

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Kale, Cabbage, Carrot & Cilantro Salad

Note: I make about this much for a side salad for 4 or a main course salad for 2. Kale leaves can vary a lot in size so use this as a rough guide. After you make if a few times, you’ll learn the proportions you like of each vegetable and you’ll never look at the recipe again :)

3-6 Lacinato kale leaves,, destemmed and sliced thinly crosswise, then cut down the middle once lengthwise
About an equal volume of green cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
About 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Vinaigrette of your choice
Roasted pepitas or sunflower seeds to serve on top (optional)

Assemble the kale, cabbage, carrot and cilantro in a salad bowl, add your favorite vinaigrette, and toss gently. Serve with seeds sprinkled on top, if desired.

Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a side

Curried Vegan Broccoli Fritters

Not long ago I tried a recipe for a chickpea frittata that inspired me to use the concept for a vegan fritter full of finely chopped broccoli and quinoa. The vast majority of fritters use eggs and some sort of cheese and it isn’t always easy to find a vegan version. This one is packed with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer compounds from the curry powder and broccoli.

Broccoli is part of the incredibly special cruciferous (brassica) vegetable family, which also includes cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and my favorite kale, among others. What makes this family of veggies so special, and so deserving of your attention, is that they are packed with nutrients and phytochemicals - most notably sulforaphane - that protect your DNA from damage (many researchers say that these veggies can even repair DNA damage) and thus they protect against numerous forms of cancer (including breast, prostate and lung cancer, among others). Cruciferous vegetables also tend to be very nutrient dense and high in fiber.

These fritters cook really well when they are prepped ahead of time. Much like when making socca (chickpea flatbread), the garbanzo bean flour and water mixture becomes more cohesive as it sits for longer. Beyond that, there is another big reason to prep these in advance: in order for sulforaphane (the important anti-carcinogenic compound) to form, it needs an enzyme called myrosinase. BUT, myrosinase is destroyed with cooking so you need to eat cruciferous vegetables in their raw form to get the benefit, with a couple exceptions. One exception is that if you chop up the broccoli first and then wait some amount of time (the article I reference below says 40 minutes), then the enzyme does its job to form the sulforaphane and because sulforaphane itself isn’t heat-sensitive, once it is formed you can cook your broccoli all you want.

For those of you who really get into this stuff, you will probably enjoy this article that goes into more detail.

But, in summary, to get the maximum health benefits from this recipe, prep the mixture in advance and let it rest in your fridge until you’re ready to cook later.

I love these fritters with this parsley pesto on the side; the earthy curry and the bright pesto go really nicely together. They are also nice with some avocado on top.

If you make them, or adapt them in some way, please let me know!!

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Curried Vegan Broccoli Fritters
Inspired by the Chickpea Omelette recipe (pg 34) from Happy Food by Bettina Campolucci Bordi

Notes: I almost always have cooked, unsalted quinoa in my fridge. If what you have on hand is salted quinoa, then reduce the salt in this recipe to 1/2 teaspoon or so.

1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour
1/2 cup filtered water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup cooked quinoa (unsalted)
1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped small
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
4 teaspoons curry powder
Olive oil for cooking

Combine the garbanzo bean flour, water, sea salt, baking soda and apple cider vinegar together and whisk well to combine. It will fizz a little bit due to the combination of the baking soda and vinegar. Let this sit for about 10 minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

Add the quinoa, broccoli, garlic and curry powder to the garbanzo bean mix and stir well. At this point you can cook the fritters now or, as I usually do, throw the mix into the fridge until you’re ready to use it (see text above for why I do this).

When you’re ready to cook, put a large nonstick skillet over medium/low heat and add some olive oil. I use my 12-inch cast iron skillet for this. Use a spoon to form four fritters on the pan. Cook for 15-20 minutes on the first side. I sometimes gently move the fritters around after about 10-12 minutes for even browning, but please note that you need to let them sit on the pan for at least that long else they won’t hold together. After they are browned on the bottom, flip and cook for about 10 minutes on the second side. You will have to flip gently because these don’t have eggs.

Serve with pesto, avocado or plain and enjoy!

Serves 4

Hot Chocolate Mix

Some time ago I started to make my own hot chocolate mix and this December, probably because a new wave of the pandemic and the holidays have descended on us at the same time, my hot chocolate making is in full force. I’ve been making it for the kids in the evenings when we read stories before bed and for just a few moments it makes me feel like everything is simple and perfect in the world. That, in my opinion, makes the effort completely worth it.

I’ve adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it couldn’t be easier. It lasts for quite a while in a repurposed 16oz nut butter jar. Coconut sugar works beautifully here; it’s just the right amount of sweetness without the blood sugar spike. I also use arrowroot powder rather than corn starch because it’s an easier starch to digest. If corn starch is what you have around, use that instead!

I love that this mix is dairy-free so you can choose what milk works for you and your family and go from there.

I hope you’re getting a little time to practice some self care during this holiday season in this most unusual year. xx

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Hot Chocolate Mix
Adapted from the Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix on smittenkitchen.com.

Special equipment:
Food processor

1/2 cup (80 grams) coconut sugar
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
3 ounces (85 grams) 70% dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup (35 grams) unsweetened cocoa/cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until you have a fine powder. As mentioned above, I store the mix in a repurposed 16oz nut butter jar.

To make hot chocolate, warm up however much milk you’d like on the stove and whisk in 3 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix for every 1 cup of milk. Pour into mugs and enjoy and/or serve to some very excited kids :)