Saturday, February 26, 2011

Good Food

I won't share recipes often here, because I don't really think of myself as a good cook, and probably most other people don't either.  But, I'm decent.  Some things I make are very good (people other then myself have said so) and other things well... (those who know me well have admitted as much).
But recently we've been enjoying some good food.

The first is a raw kale salad that is so easy anyone can make it, and even Rob (not typically a second helping of greens kinda guy) has been chowing it.  The kids will eat it with a bit of complaining.  The recipe was given to us by a friend, after we loved it at her house, and it came to her from Polly over at Village Farm.  I'm not sure who's it was originally (Polly,maybe you can let us know who deserves the credit.)



Here's the recipe, as I know it (as with everything I make, all measurements are approximate) :

2 bunches of raw kale, washed, stemmed and shredded
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup Braggs liquid amino acids
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 diced avocado
1 red onion sliced very thin (I left this out both times without missing it too much)
a hand full of toasted seeds (ie. sesame, pumpkin, sunflower)

Massage the dressing into the leaves, and (according to the directions given) giggle. A chuckle seems to work just fine.  Most food no doubt tastes better when you prepare it happily.
This salad is really good.

I have tried this with flat lacinato (also known as dinosaur kale), and the regular frilly kind.  Both worked well, but the frilly needed a bit more dressing.
*Recipe Update (3/6/12)  We still love this salad, but learned a tip from my sister that makes it even better.  Before dressing, massage the kale with sea salt, or kosher salt (regular table salt will not work).  This breaks down the kale and draws out the moisture really well.  Of course you should then remove the salt from your dressing--I cut out the Bragg's and just use an olive oil and lemon juice or cider vinegar to dress.  Yum.

After all that kale we needed some cookies:



As Rob will profess, cookies are not my strong suit (in baking measurements tend to matter a bit more).  I should mention here that all of my baking is gluten free (per allergies).  But my cookies need help even before going gluten free--in fact they've improved since then.

But these cookies were nearly perfect--perhaps a bit too crisp.   As standard form these cooks did not come from a recipe, but here's my best guess after the fact:

Cream together:
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients:
1 1/2 c brown rice flour
1/2 c ground almonds (I do mine in a cheap coffee grinder)
1/4 c tapioca flour (potato starch is almost the same thing)
1/4 c sorghum flour
1 tsp. xanthum gum
1 tsp. baking soda

Add dry to wet and mix thoroughly.  I added about 2 tbs. of maple syrup while mixing because it seemed a bit dry.
Add chocolate chips, or whatever you like.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on the pan as they are crumbly when first out. Don't worry, you can eat these warm (always the best way) just not seconds from the oven.  They are also good the next day, though crispy.

Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. Hey Jaz,

    I finally had a chance to make this recipe last night and oh boy was it worth it! The salad was so flavorful, yet simple. Chloe and I devoured the entire bowl. Thanks for sharing! :)

    ReplyDelete

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