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

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon, Coconut & Cilantro

This soup is way more than the sum of its parts. The lemon, cilantro and coconut come together to make a Thai-inspired soup that is filling in a very light and satisfying way. Lentils are my favorite and most utilized vegetarian protein and I cannot say enough good things about them. They are high in both fiber and protein, as well as iron. For a very simple complete meal you could serve this soup with some avocado toast - sprinkle the avocado with sea salt and garlic granules.

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Red Lentil Soup with Lemon, Coconut & Cilantro

Notes: Use all orange (as opposed to rainbow) carrots in this recipe for visual appeal. In the same vein, use the traditional white (as opposed to purple) cauliflower. You can swap out yellow squash for the cauliflower as well. Traditional green zucchini gives it more of a muddled look, though. Also, I use lemon here because I always have lemon around, but lime would be great, too. You would probably need more limes as most limes tend to be less juicy than lemons. As always, don’t forget to go through your lentils and remove any pebbles or wheat berries that may be lurking in there!

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 medium / large carrots, cut in half the long way, then sliced
1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped into relatively small pieces to match the carrots
2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
7 cups water
1/2 can coconut milk
Juice of 1-2 lemons, depending on juiciness / taste
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
Sea salt to taste (usually 2-3 teaspoons)

To serve:
More chopped cilantro, if desired
Sriracha-style hot sauce is fantastic with this soup

Heat the coconut oil in a large stock pot over medium heat and add the onion. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and sauté a couple minutes more, still stirring so the garlic doesn’t burn. Next add the carrots and cauliflower and sweat all the vegetables for a few minutes more, adding a bit more coconut oil if the pot looks dry. Pour in the lentils and water, turn the heat to high, and bring everything to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down to medium or medium-low (just enough to keep a visible simmer), and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the lentils lose their structure.

Add the coconut milk, lemon, salt and cilantro to finish. Taste and adjust lemon and/or salt as necessary.

Serve with extra cilantro if you like, and hot sauce on the side.

Serves 6-8

Lentils with Delicata Squash, Garam Masala & Cilantro

When I was pregnant, I claimed I didn't mind what my son's interests would become, as long as he found his passion in life. And that's still mostly true. But now that we cook together almost every day, I get so excited that he loves being in the kitchen, and I really want to nurture his interest in food and cooking. So I guess I do mind a little bit.

The day before yesterday we made pesto together and he diligently worked for 20 whole minutes(!) putting chopped parsley and garlic into the food processor, pouring olive oil without spilling it and trying to juice a lemon. It was the best.

One of the side benefits that I hope comes from our time in the kitchen is a more adventurous spirit on his part to try the foods we cook together. Like most babies starting solids, he would eat just about anything when he was around a year old - pureed steamed kale, pureed steamed broccoli, pureed kale AND broccoli! At the time, I didn't know any better and thought he would always be a perfect little eater. Foolish, I know.

We made this dish together a few nights ago and I feel like you're expecting to hear that it was SO good that he not only tried it, but ate an entire serving. Sorry! He wouldn't even taste it, despite the facts that (1) he thoroughly enjoyed pouring unseemly amounts of garam masala into the pan, and (2) I tried to make my best yummy noises as I was eating it. But, it was so good. My husband and I loved it, doesn't that count for something?

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Lentils with Delicata Squash, Garam Masala & Cilantro

Notes: You can find garam masala in the spice section of most grocery stores. Also, since making this recipe, roasted delicata squash has become one of my favorite things to make.  It's buttery, caramelizes really well, and doesn't require peeling. You might want to make extra to have for a snack.

1 1/2 cups cooked brown lentils (1/2 cup dry)
1 delicata squash, halved, and sliced into 1/4 inch half or quarter moons
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 Tbsp garam masala spice blend
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Small bunch of cilantro, chopped

Cook the lentils. There's a great tutorial here.

Roast the delicata squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half length-wise and spoon out the seeds. Slice each half into 1/4 inch half moons - or quarter moons if your squash is on the larger side, as mine was for these pictures - and toss the pieces with some olive oil and sea salt on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes on the middle rack, tossing once half-way through. The pieces should be browned and a bit caramelized when done.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over somewhere between medium and medium-low heat (depending on how your stove cooks) and add the onions and garam masala. Let the onions slowly cook in the garam masala until softened, stirring regularly. It should take between 10 and 20 minutes for the onions to soften. Don't turn the heat up too high because spices can burn. When the onions are soft, turn off the heat and add the lentils, delicata squash and most of the cilantro. Toss together. Salt to taste. Serve garnished with the remainder of the cilantro.

Serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a side