kale-quinoa cakes

First of all, excuse the terrible photo. I hadn’t intended to blog about these babies, so I didn’t take any photos of the process (I also made them on a Sunday afternoon I was also making a gazillion other things and it was a bit hectic in the kitchen) nor did I photo when they were finished. It wasn’t until days later when I actually TRIED them for the first time, that I realized how good they were and that a blog post was in order.

I found the recipe for Kale & Quinoa Cakes in a recent issue of the Wegmans Menu Magazine. I love kale and quinoa and they just looked so darn great in the picture. Mine, unfortunately, did not come out as pretty, but whatever. It’s one of those ‘I love to cook’ recipes, designated as such because it involved multiple steps. Before school, I didn’t bat an eye at page-long ingredient lists or elaborate recipes, but I tell you what–since I’ve been in school, any dish that takes more 30 minutes start to finish just makes me want to cry. I can’t wait to have my life back. Seriously. (Sixty-four days until graduation. But I’m not counting or anything.)

But, I liked these so much I decided to take time during one of my Sunday afternoon prep sessions to whip them up. The recipe isn’t complicated at all; it’s just one of those where you’re grabbing for bowls and spoons and the food processor and more bowls and once you’re finished you wonder, ‘Was that even worth it?’

I’ll be honest, I don’t know if it WAS worth it. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor was great. I’m thrilled that I have a whole bag of them in the freezer to have for months to come without any more work. However, I could easily serve kale and quinoa at dinner and accomplish the dish in a similar fashion. But, I’ll stop being a humbug and give some praise to the recipe. It had great flavor and texture and it really wasn’t that hard. I served the cakes with fish, but they would go equally well with salmon or pork or even eggs for breakfast. Definitely don’t ignore the tip to serve with Roasted Red Pepper sauce–so good!

Recipe below and linked above.

2 cups Wegmans Organic Vegetable Broth
1 cup (6.5 oz) Wegmans Organic White Quinoa (Bulk Foods)
1 bag (16 oz) Food You Feel Good About Cleaned & Cut Kale Greens
1 container (7 oz) Food You Feel Good About Diced Mirepoix
1 medium (about 9 oz) baking potato, peeled, chopped
6 Food You Feel Good About Large Eggs
2 Tbsp Wegmans Basting Oil
1/2 Tbsp Wegmans Sea Salt Fine Crystals
2 tsp Food You Feel Good About Tuscan Seasoning Shak’r
Wegmans Nonstick Cooking Spray

You’ll Need: Food processor, muffin pans

Directions:

Bring vegetable broth and quinoa to boil in pan on MED; stir. Reduce heat to LOW; cover with lid. Simmer 15 min.
Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 10 min to absorb liquid. Spread quinoa on large sheet pan to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blanch kale in large pot of boiling, salted water, 3-4 min. Transfer to bowl of ice water. Drain; squeeze dry.
Pulse kale, mirepoix, and potato in batches in food processor until finely chopped. Whisk eggs, basting oil, salt, and seasoning together. Add kale-potato mixture and quinoa to eggs; mix until combined.
Coat muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray. Place 1/2 cup mixture in each section of muffin pans. Bake 35-40 min, until egg sets and tops are lightly browned. Transfer pans to wire racks to cool 10 min before removing cakes.

Chef Tip(s):
Try these cakes paired with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Nutrition Info: Each serving (1 cake) contains 110 calories, 13 g carbohydrate, (2 g fiber), 5 g protein, 4 g fat, (1 g saturated fat), 55 mg cholesterol, and 300 mg sodium.

Calories: 110

G-Free Salads

I’ve made some great salads lately, and thought I’d share them with you.

They’re both from Elizabeth Hasselback’s Deliciously G-Free cookbook, although neither of them have any sources of gluten in them to begin with. (A major pet-peeve of mine is ‘GF’ labeling of items that never had gluten anyway. Truth in advertising, people.)

I whipped up the Hot Winter Salad with Kale one night and served it with roasted chicken. Excellent flavor! Even Andrew liked it, and he’s not a fan of beans. Or avocado. Or kale, really. I loved that it was hot, and the sweetness of the beans and red pepper really stood out.

I also made her Ruby Red Salad and packed two portions in containers to bring with me for lunches this week. I like beets and had some in the fridge, and I also love fennel, and it’s the perfect time for pomegranate. Clearly, I had to make this recipe.

Another huge winner! It calls for a homemade dressing that features basil, but you could really use just about anything on this. I loved the sweetness of the pomegranate arils, the crunchy fennel and herby dressing. So good!

I’m ONE DAY away from the end of my first rotation this semester, and I couldn’t be more excited. One down, two to go!

(I WILL write a blog post about my time at ECMC this past month. I even have photos. Lots of good stuff coming to the blog–and elsewhere–soon!)

a totally blog-worthy dinner

At least in pictures.

How I managed this when I didn’t even leave school until after 5:30, I don’t know.

Lemony Kale Salad

Cedar-Plank Grilled Salmon with Mango-Kiwi Salsa

Whole-wheat Spaghetti with Mint Pesto (can’t remember where I found the recipe…)

(Actually, I do. I assembled the mango-kiwi salsa the night before and the mint pesto was some I had in the freezer from earlier this summer.)

As we don’t have a grill at the moment, I had to broil the salmon. Andrew loved it–I did it dry (no olive oil because I was lazy) with salt and pepper on top under the broiler from probably less than 8 minutes or so–it created a crust on the top and it was lovely!

Andrew didn’t love the salsa, so I didn’t keep the recipe, but it was pretty good. I have leftover salsa, so I think I might mix it with some plain yogurt and use it to dip crackers or something.

The kale salad was yummy, and they give a couple variations on it (at least the magazine did), so I’m planning to try another one on Thursday with our Vegetarian Moussaka!