Luna's & KaleKaleKale

Happy belated 4th of July everyone!  This past week has been semi-busy for me.  Hence the lack of blog posting.  My mother drove up from Georgia to take a mini vacation in The Queen City.  When my mom visits, it almost always equates to yummy food.  Ever since I graduated from eating nothing but cereal and chicken fingers (yes... real... i think... chicken fingers... I wasn't always vegetarian), my mom has been my right hand woman when it comes to having/making good food. 

For lunch one day, we visited Luna's Living Kitchen nestled in the Atherton Mill on South Blvd.  When I first moved here, I was PUMPED to find a vegan/raw restaurant just a few miles from my house -- only to find them mysteriously closed.  Well, the mysteriously reopened not too long ago and I've been enjoying their tasty alternatives to my usual meals.

They have the best veggie burger in town.  That is, if you're into the non-traditional veggie burgers.  There's nothing "meat" like about this one.  It doesn't come in the normal "patty" shape, and it tends to fall apart easily.  But that has never bothered me.  Delicious. 

Here's a picture of their veggie burger taken from their online Lunas Living Kitchen Menu.  That's avocado-deliciousness on top.

I enjoyed my burger with a homemade beet kamboucha.  My body was in heaven.  Funny -- sometimes when Jason and I are out running errands, and I'm either tired of cranky, he'll usually suggest that we stop and get me a kamboucha.  Key to my heart.  All things are better.  :)

For me, Luna's is definitely a treat.  It can be somewhat pricey, but when you consider the amount of time that it takes to prepare such dishes on top of the amount of fresh and raw ingredients that go in to each salad, sandwich, and juice... it's well worth the price.

Onward to the kale portion of this post...

We spend the night of the 4th at friend's cookout.  I decided to bring a marinated kale salad to share, as I have not been having my daily "green meal" since I've been on summer break.  So kale it was. 

My recipe is adapted from my 30 Minute Vegan cookbook that I usually turn to when I don't have a lot of time on my hands or am feeling a little lazier than usual (don't judge me).  I think the authors call it Rainbow Kale Salad.  Regardless, it was delicious and a huge hit.  I'm not sure about everyone else, but our Harris Teeters have local kale on sale for super cheap.  I probably got 15 cups of raw kale for only $0.79.  No joke.

Marinated Kale Salad  

(adapted from 30 Minute Vegan)

*eyeball all veggies to your preference.  you can never have enough.*

Raw Kale, chopped

Red and/or Yellow Peppers, seeded and chopped/diced

Carrots, chopped

Red Cabbage, chopped

Raw Almonds, sliced/chopped

Dressing: (if you have about 6 cups kale)

2-3 T Olive Oil

1-2 T freshly squeezed Lemon Juice

2 t Soy Sauce (or Tamari)

1 clove Garlic, pressed or minced

1 t Maple Syrup

Pepper to taste

Combine all veggies in a large bowl.  Whisk together dressing separately.  Distribute the dressing evenly amongst the salad.  Gently massage the dressing into the salad with your hands for 2-3 minutes.  You're marinating the kale at this point and it should be getting softer.  I stuck mine in the fridge for an additional 10 minutes to let things soak.  :)  If you haven't thrown in the almonds already, you can garnish the top with 'em.

Variations -- Add any vegetables you have on hand.  While eating it, I thought that some raisins might be nice.  You can probably substitute sesame oil for 1 T of olive oil mentioned above since you've got the soy sauce flavor going.

Happy Eating!!

Simple Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

My vegan/vegetarianism has hummus being a staple of my diet.  It is packed with flavor while adding quite a bit of protein.  I mostly eat it as the base of a sandwich with avocados, tomatoes, sprouts/cabbage (if handy), and salt and pepper.  Yum!

Warning: I eye-ball everything and prepare things according to taste.  So the following measurements are mostly guesstimates.  Adapt it to your own liking.

Also note:  I usually use freshly cooked garbanzo beans/chick peas.  They taste 10x better.  But when you don't have time to sit around for 3-4 hours while they cook (because I didn't on Sunday), canned beans work just as nice.

Here's what you need:

Ingredients:
2 cans garbanzo beans or a little more than 2 cups of freshly cooked garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2-3/4 cup tahini (think peanut butter but with sesame seeds)
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained (I opt for the more peppers the better.  J agrees)
2-4 cloves garlic (depending on how snuggly you plan to be later), chopped/minced depending on how good your food processor is
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp freshly ground pepper
and a little less than 2 Tbl tamari (or substitute soy sauce) -- this is my secret ingredient :)
less than 1/2 cup of water to thin the hummus out while processing.

Place all ingredients (except the water) in a food processor.  Add water slowly, and blend until you reach the desired consistency.

I prefer my hummus kind of thick and chunky.  I can't have it pouring out the sides of my sammy at lunch time.

That's it.  Super simple.  Garnish it with some pine nuts, olive oil, and a sprinkle of paprika.

The hummus keeps in the refrigerator for at least a week.  We go through ours pretty quickly.  The humus will thicken with time, so just add small parts of water to it and stir, and you should be fine.  When olive oil gets cold, it hardens.  So setting the hummus out before consuming will likely help your consistency, too.

All hummus recipes vary.  My mother prefers lemon juice instead of the tamari.  I've tried one that adds apple cider vinegar... and that just tasted weird to me.

Variations:  You can substitute the roasted red peppers with a combination of any of the following:  edamame, jalepenos, or artichokes.  My favorite combination involves replacing one can (or equivalent to) of the garbanzo beans for cannelini beans and instead of roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts.  The cannelini beans have a creamier consistency.  But the variation above is J's favorite, it is often made more often.  :)


Another variation note:  If you do not use roasted red peppers, you will likely need to up the olive oil.  Use your judgment.

Enjoy!  Let me know if you like it or have any suggestions.

-Kate