Fresh Apple Beet Juice

Our town's juice bar just closed. One of our favorite things to do on Saturdays was to go to the local market for a few items, & get a fresh juice at the same time. We made one final stop a few weeks ago on their last day open, & have been thinking about it since.

When I found myself with some extra produce, I decided it was time to try our juicer again. My mom gave us her old one & we had used it once, then put it away. I brought it up from the basement to try again.

It's fun to put in the chunks of fruit/veggies & watch the juice & pulp come out in 2 different spots. Juicers are pretty amazing!

Fresh juice is a great way to pack in vitamins & minerals from fresh produce without all of the bulk. Your body is easily able to assimilate the nutrients in juice form. While you wouldn't usually sit down & eat several fruits & veggies in one sitting, it's easy to drink them all.

It is a good idea to use organic produce when juicing. Since you are ingesting so many items at once, the pesticide content is more concentrated. If it's not possible to get all organic, at least try to buy organic for the Dirty Dozen. (For this recipe, the apples are highest in pesticides.)

My favorite part about fresh juice? The foam on top.

Just look at it! All frothy & delicious.

This particular juice is fairly sweet, perfect for beginning juicers. Although I think some cabbage or romaine lettuce would be great additions, we didn't have either to add. The lemon adds a nice tartness & the apples add enough sweet to counter the earthiness of the beets. The combination also produces such a pretty color of pink!

Fresh Apple Beet Juice

3 small beets
3 medium carrots
1 large apple
1 lemon

Trim stems from beets & carrots. Peeling is not necessary. Chop each into chunks small enough to fit into your juicer. Remove stem & seeds from the apple; chop into quarters. Peel the lemon & divide into quarters.

Feed chunks into the juicer, following juicer instructions. Drink immediately. Reserve pulp for future use or compost it.

If you do not have a juicer, you can still make fresh juice! Just use your blender to combine all of the ingredients & then strain through a cheesecloth, squeezing to release all of the juices. You could also make a smoothie, if you don't want to bother with straining.

Vibrant Lemon & Avocado Kale Salad

We really have a thing for kale in our house. I think I've mentioned that a few zillion times already! I hope you like it as much as I do.

I didn't really eat kale until a couple years ago, so I think I'm making up for lost time. Plus it's seriously delicious. I like it raw, cooked, as a spread, in soup, growing in the garden, as a chip, in smoothies, & everywhere in between!

Last night, we had our kale in the form of a huge salad paired with Jenna's Spicy Black Bean Burgers. These are one of our go-to bean burgers because they're super yummy & easy to throw together.

The salad is fresh & bright, with lots of flavor. I love the creaminess that the avocado gives to it. Avocadoes are full of healthy fats, & in this case, it adds some bulk to an otherwise fairly light salad.

I brought kale salad to the Bup's family Christmas dinner & to my family Easter dinner. Both versions had variations of this dressing, but I felt like it needed a few tweaks to be just perfect. The recipe below is that I've decided is the best of the bunch.

If you've never had a kale salad, here are a few tips:

1. Unlike lettuce salads, you can dress it ahead of time & it will only get better. The flavors marinate & the kale softens slightly, making it easier to chew.

2. You have to commit to getting your hands in there & massaging the kale. There's really no better way to get the dressing spread evenly & to soften the kale leaves. Just be prepared - if you have even the slightest knick in your skin, it will burn from the lemon juice!

3. Kale is a chewier green than lettuce, so it's not a traditional salad. It is, however, extra full of flavor & health benefits!

Enjoy!

Vibrant Lemon & Avocado Kale Salad
Dressing inspired by Tracy
Serves 2-4

1 bunch kale, stems removed & torn into pieces
1 avocado, cubed
1/2 small onion, sliced
1 apple, chopped

Dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T nutritional yeast
1 tsp. honey or maple syrup

In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Combine kale & dressing in a large bowl. Massage with your hands (wash them first!) until the kale softens & turns a dark, shiny green. Add avocado cubes, onion slices, & apple. Toss to mix & serve.

Note: Salad can be made ahead of time. Once dressed, just cover & place in the fridge until time to serve. Flavors will develop as it marinates.

Lemon Pepper Kale

There's nothing like a plate of greens to give you a burst of energy!

We eat kale pretty often & if you saw my garden last summer, you know I grew plenty!

I still have a little bit left to use before the next patch starts growing, so I'm trying out a few new methods of preparation. Since this crop lived through the winter, it has a sweeter flavor from surviving the frost. Any kale will work for this recipe, though!

This would make a light meal if paired with some crusty bread or topped with beans, hummus or tempeh. It's the perfect food to kick off spring!

I'm loving this crazy warm weather! 70 in March? I'll take it!

Lemon Pepper Kale

Serves 2

1 bunch kale, washed & stems removed

1/2 large yellow onion, sliced

1 tsp. coconut oil

Juice from 1 lemon

1 T lemon pepper seasoning

1/2 tsp. sea salt

In a large, non-stick skillet, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add onions & cook to soften, about 5 minutes. Add kale & cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes. Pour lemon juice onto kale & continue to cook until it turns dark green & wilts slightly, another 5 minutes or so. Season with lemon pepper & sea salt. Serve warm.

Roasted Garlic & Kale Spread

What if every night could be pizza night? I think it'd take me a pretty long time to get tired of pizza, especially with all of the varieties out there. We make 2 pizzas so that there are leftovers for lunches. One is always topped with bbq sauce, the Bup's favorite & a standard in our house. The other one is always different & I like to experiment a little.

I wanted to try carmelized onions & pears, but that got vetoed. :-( Maybe next time...

Instead, I made up a roasted garlic & kale spread, inspired by Ashley's Kale Pesto. We had 2 heads of garlic that were ready to sprout, so I roasted them before they went bad. Roasted garlic is fancy. The garlic turns creamy & spreadable after a short time in the oven., transforming it into a different food altogether.

We used the spread as a sauce on the pizza, but I can see it being great as a topper for baked potatoes or crusty bread, a spread in a sandwich/wrap, or mixed with pasta. I have some leftover to use!

Roasted Garlic & Kale Spread
Inspired by Ashley's Kale Pesto
Yield: about 1 cup

2 heads of garlic
1 tsp. olive oil
2 c kale, chopped (about 100g)
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/3 c roasted hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350*F. Slice off the top of the garlic heads, to expose the tops of the cloves. Wrap each head seperately in aluminum foil & drizzle each head with 1/2 tsp. of olive oil. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until garlic is soft. Squeeze cloves out of the husks. Place garlic & remaining ingredients into a food processor or blender & blend until combined. I left mine with some chunks, but if preferred, continue to blend until smooth. Taste & add additional salt and/or pepper if desired. Store extra spread in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer for future use.

It's New To Me

Sorry about the lack of posts this week! I'm adjusting to a new job and with that came a new schedule. And lots of iced coffee!

My days used to look like this:
5:33am  Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast
6:30am-2:30pm Work
3pm-5pm Exercise & Prep Dinner
5:30pm-ish Eat dinner
Evening stuff
9:30pm Bedtime!

Now my days are different!
6:30am Wake up, exercise, get ready, eat breakfast
8:30am-5pm Work
5:30pm Get home and figure out dinner/cook dinner/eat dinner
11pm Bedtime!

Just shifting things a few hours is going to take some getting used to.

I think in the end I'm going to like the new schedule and the new job, but I don't feel like I have as much time to be creative in the kitchen. Hopefully I adjust quickly!

We started off on Monday by grilling portobello mushroom cap sandwiches with a lemon marinade. No pictures, but I do have a recipe at the end of the post for you! These were almost as good as the Portobello Reubens!

On Tuesday, we had Creamy Tomato Soup, which we made before and just love. This time I altered it slightly by adding 1/3 cup of fresh basil. Yummy!

Last night I hit my plateau. I got home from work and crashed with a glass of wine. :-)  And then I decided that we should have salad and popcorn for dinner, so we did! It was THE BEST POPCORN I've ever had. Try it. It makes a perfect dinner.

Tonight is one of my friends from high school's bachelorette party! Then tomorrow is the rehearsal dinner, Saturday is the wedding, and Sunday we leave for a week at the beach in North Carolina. Busy, busy! I'm going to try to post while I'm away; beach pictures are always gorgeous!

Lemony Marinade
Serves 2
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
splash of balsalmic vinegar
pinch of Italian seasoning

Zest and juice the lemon half, combining both zest and juice in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and whisk until combined. Brush over veggies while grilling. Be sure to coat them on both sides, repeating each time you turn over the veggies.


Lemony Marinade

Pinto Spelt Burgers

Monday was bean burger day in my kitchen. I cooked a big batch of pinto beans and made 3 different types of bean burgers. I followed the recipes for the first 2 but by then I was so tired of using the stupid food processor that I decided to change the third recipe to suit myself. Plus I didn't have some of the ingredients and truly, I just like a chunkier bean burger than these recipes were giving me.

Lots of mashing and chopping ensued.

Yeah, I know, not the most appetizing looking mash-up.

But once you form the patties, the colors really pop. So pretty! Even by looks alone this looks waaaaay better than raw ground beef.

We have a fish fillet thing for our grill that the Bup uses for bean burgers. It's perfect! The wires are thin so they don't really stick and he can turn them over without the burgers falling apart.

These held together very well and would probably be fine without the fish-basket-turned-burger-basket. Just in case you want to try it and don't have one. The patties that are just mashed and not done in the food processor have proven to stick less and hold together better.

It was Memorial Day, so we had to grill! We roasted in the 90* heat, but we suffered through and ate outside. It might not have been so bad if our table wasn't right next to the 400* grill.

The burgers made it worth suffering the heat. They were delicious! We had them on Spelt Sandwich Bread Buns. I like to think that the spelts complimented one another, but probably that was just in my imagination.

Pinto Spelt Burgers
Adapted from Angela's In a Jiffy Spelt Veggie Burgers
Yield: 9 patties

2 c pinto beans
1 small carrot, minced
1 small onion, minced
1/2 small green bell pepper, minced
1/3 c minced radish greens (or other dark, leafy green)
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1 T chia seeds
3/4 c spelt flour
1/4 c lemon juice
1 T Bragg Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)

Mash pinto beans well. Add carrot, onion, pepper & greens. Mix. Add spices, seeds, and flour, stirring until flour coats everything. Add lemon juice and Bragg liquid aminos. Combine. Using hands, shape into 9 patties of uniform size. Cook on a medium heat grill for about 5 minutes per side, or until patties begin to brown.

Notes:
-The patties can be frozen, just place wax paper between them and wrap tightly. They can go straight from the freezer to the grill, but may need to cook slightly longer.
-If it's not grilling season or you just don't want to be in the heat, the patties can be baked or cooked on a pan, stovetop. Times may vary.

Pinto Spelt Burgers

Burger Grilling Basket

Lemon Pepper Asparagus Pasta

I was inspired by these noodles from Trader Joe's. And the fresh asparagus my friend Jen from Jill Spills It All got for me at Roots Market. I just love asparagus season!

It looked so yummy that I had to try it fresh. My dad tasted this dish and didn't believe that I hadn't cooked the asparagus first. So yummy!

It really didn't need to be cooked. Now, I HATE mushy veggies. Especially things like asparagus, broccoli and green beans. So if you like mushy veggies, please cook your asparagus to oblivion. But I do not recommend it. You'll loose the bold flavor and the crisp crunch that meshes so well with the soft noodles.

Lemon Pepper Asparagus Pasta
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side dish.


1 8-oz. package lemon pepper papperadelle
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large bunch asparagus, cut into 1" pieces
1 T olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Prepare pasta according to package directions. While it cooks, mix together onion, garlic, asparagus, olive oil, and lemon juice. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Add pasta and water to veggie mixture. Toss to combine. Add lemon pepper seasoning and sea salt. Stir and serve immediately.

First Note: This holds up well in the refrigerator and can be made ahead and served cold as a side salad.

Second note: A sprinkle of parmesan cheese would probably be tasty!

Lemon Parmesan Vinaigrette