Sweet Potato Steaks on Arugula and Kale with Pea Avocado Cream

All I want to do is eat fists fulls of arugula. Ok, maybe that is not all I want to do, but it is something that I have been doing a lot. I have always really like arugula but as of right now, it is my top choice green!

Anyway, big green salads are all I want to eat because it is spring and all and greens are the best in the spring. But I still am eating a lot of roots and will be eating them for a few more weeks unit winter farm share dies down. And because it is the end of the season, the choice of roots is dwindling and we basically get a bucket of carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes. Lots of sweet potatoes, which by the way, I am not made about. And greens, We get lots of greens!

So my new favorite salad comes to fruition. Thick cut sweet potato steaks on a bed of fresh spring arugula and kale toped with a thick creamy avocado pea situation and some toasted walnuts for flair and crunch. I mean, is your mouth watering and your tummy grumbling yet?

Mine is but that is just how it always is.

Now to the steaks and salad!

The stuff. A sweet potato, some arugula and tender kale, peas (frozen and thawed) half an avocado, some toasted walnuts, a lemon, and salt and pepper.

Start by cutting the sweet potato into thick steaks. 4-5 same thickness slices if you may.

And no roast up the sweet potato steaks. Just place hem onto a baking sheet and pop them into a hot oven. Bake for 2-30 minutes, flipping over after 15-20 minutes. Once tender, remove from oven and set aside.

While sweet potatoes are baking, make pea avocado cream. Place peas and avocado into a blender or cup if using a hand blender along with the juice of the lemon and about a tablespoon of water. And a small pinch of salt. Blend until smooth. Add more water a tablespoon at a time until you get a thick but pourable constancy.

Now rough chop the kale and toss together with the arugula and place in a large salad bowl

Place the sweet potato steaks on top of the greens. Note here that the sweet potato steaks can be hot, warm, or cold. The are good all the ways.

Then top it all with the pea avocado cream. Toss on the toasted walnuts and add some more black pepper and that be that. Grab a fork and a knife if you wish and get to it.

So much goodness in the mouth!

-C

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Sweet Potato Steaks on Arugula and Kale with Pea Avocado Cream

serves 1-2

• 1 medium sweet potato

• 1/2 cup frozen (and thawed) green peas

• 1/2 of an avocado

• a small lemon

• 2 large handfuls of fresh arugula

• 4-5 leaves of tender kale

• 1/4 cup toasted walnuts

• around 1/4 cup cold water

• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Wash sweet potato and cut into 4-5 equal thickness slices. Place cut pieces on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper and pop into oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping after 15 or until the sweet potato is tender. Remove from oven and let cool a bit.

While sweet potato is baking off, make pea avocado cream. Place the peas and avocado into a blender or cup if using a hand blender, add in the juice of the lemon and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth. Add in a tablespoon or two (or more) to thin out until it is still thick but pourable. Also rough chop the kale and mix together with the arugula in a big salad bowl.

Once sweet potato steaks have baked and cooled off a little bit (you can eat them hot or cold so whatever temperature you want), place them on top of the greens then top with the pea avocado cream, sprinkle on toasted walnuts, more black pepper, and maybe a squeeze of more lemon if you have it.

Then grab a fork and knife and start eating.

Roasted Sweet Potato, Broccoli, and Kale Bowl

The other morning I woke up chilly, lke legit had to grab a sweater. It made me smile so hard. And when I left for my morning run through the woods, I spent the entire time in a long sleeve shirt, not stupid hot, thinking about all the food that I was suddenly craving. An hour of soups, casseroles, and basically everything hot and comforting running through my mind. Honestly, it’s what I think about during most of my runs. Anyway I was going through my food inventory I had at home and decided what I was going to make myself lunch on this fine cool day was this. Roasted sweet potato with broccoli, onion, and kale. Tahini too. And za’atar. I was drooling while running, again not out of the norm. Good times.

So I came home, did stuff, and made myself lunch. Exactly as I wanted, all for me, and it was everything that I thought it would be. Simple, fresh, hot but not heavy, and just the right amount of comfort to feel all the feels of soon to be fall. I grabbed my food, a book, and sat out on the porch, still in a long sleeved shirt, and ate my lunch. A fine lunch that was. A fine fine lunch.

You should have yourself a fine lunch (or any meal) too.

Now to the food!

The stuff. A sweet potato, a head of broccoli, 1/2 a large onion (or 1 small one), tahini, a lemon, a clove or garlic, za’atar, and salt and pepper.

Start by chopping up the sweet potato into mouth sized pieces, break apart the broccoli into smaller mouth sized pieces, and slice up the onion.

Toss it all onto a sheet pan and cover with the za’atar seasoning. You can toss around in a little oil if you want, but I actually just spray it wit ha little water and call it. I am over roasting with oil, it is to oily.

Put the seasoned goodness into hot hot oven.

Oh and place clove or garlic on pan too, just for a few minutes to get a little roasted and remove. It’s for the tahini dressing.

Chop up kale up.

Make the tahini dressing. Tahini, roasted garlic minced up, lemon juice, and a little hot water. Mix tighter until creamy smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Roasted and delicious.

Grab kale and toss it around with everything while it is still hot so the kale kind of wilts. You can also pop it into the oven for a few more minutes to really get that wilt on.

Dump it all into a big bowl.

Drizzle that tahini all over, grab a fork (or not),and make you teeth dance with all this goodness in the mouth.

-C

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Roasted Sweet Potato, Broccoli, and Kale Bowl

Serves 1 as a meal

• 1 sweet potato

• 1 head of broccoli

• a small onion (or half a big one)

• a few kale leaves

• 1 tablespoon za’atar seasoning

• 1 heaping tablespoon tahini

• a lemon

• a clove of garlic

• a few tablespoon hot water

• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Grab the sweet potato and cut into mouth sized chunks. Break apart the head of broccoli into florets And cut up stem into chunks, and slice onion into thick pieces. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle on the za’atar, and toss around. Sprinkle or spray(with a spray bottle) with a little water. Also throw the garlic clove onto the pan too and place it into the oven.

After about 10 minutes, grab the garlic from the pan and keep everything else roasting.

In the meantime, make tahini dressing. Mince the roasted garlic and add to the tahini with the juice of half the lemon and a splash of hit water. Mix together until completely incorporated, adding in a little more hot water as needed to make the dressing into a thick, but drizz-able consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

And chop kale into smaller pieces.

After 20ish minutes, remove pan from oven and toss the veggies around and place back into oven and roasted for another 10ish minutes or until the sweet potato is soft and tender and the broccoli is looking all roasted. Remove and right away toss the kale with the hot veggies to get the kale to wilt a bit. Also can stick the pan back into oven for a minute to wilt it even more.

And then dump the contents of the pan into a big bowl, drizzle the tahini all over, and eat that shit.

Sautéed Rhubarb and Baby Kale Salad with Almond Dressing

Is it just me or can you also stuff an entire pound of fresh spring greens into your mouth by the fist full and be nothing but happy about it?

Spring greens are on point right now. So tender and sweet and just, agh, I just love greens. I picked up our last winter farm share a few days ago (3 weeks til summer share begins.. will I survive?) and I got a huge bag of baby kale which made me really freaking happy because I love me some kale but baby kale, I loooooovee it. Yay for me!

Then we have rhubarb. I get so excited every year when my patch starts to peek out from under all the rotten leave. The stalks I used for the salad were the first ones that I harvested from my patch! So I know that some people might think ruhabrb in any other form other then in a pie seems strange, but stop, don’t think that. Rhubarb is everything. You can use it and love it in all sorts of ways, sweet and savory, and in all sorts of things, like this salad.

Fresh greens tossed with tart and gingery warm rhubarb and onions, topped with a creamy almond dressing. There is not much more you can ask for in a spring time salad. Sure, I guess you can ask for a fork, but really, I ate more of it with my fingers because well, that’s just how I roll.

Now to the rhubarb and kale salad.

The stuff. Fresh rhubarb, baby kale, half an onion, a chunk of fresh ginger, a couple cloves garlic, almond butter, some roasted almonds, soy, vinegar, water, oil, and black pepper.

Start by mincing garlic and ginger and choping onion up into smallish pieces.

Add the stuff to a hot skillet with a little oil. Once it starts to sizzle, add in a couple splashes of water and let cook until soft.

While that’s cooking make the almond dressing. Mix the almond butter, soy, vinegar, and a little warm water together until smooth and creamy. Taste and add more soy or vinegar if you feel it necessary. More water too if it’s too thick.

Grab rhubarb ad cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

Toss it into skillet with the other stuff. Add in another splash or so of water and keep on cooking.

Once rhubarb starts to soften, turn the heat off of the skillet. Grab kale and toss it around in the skillet to mix around with the good stuff.

Immediately dump it all into a big bowl and top with almond dressing. Toss it around to evenly coat. Oh and throw in some chopped almonds. And black pepper. Add lots (as much as you like) of black pepper.

Now it’s fork(or fingers) to bowl to face.

What a salad. What. A Salad.

Get at it!

-C

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Sautéed Rhubarb and Baby Kale Salad with Almond Dressing

makes an entree salad for one or a side salad for a few

• 2-3 stalks fresh rhubarb (about 2 cups chopped)

• 3 large handfuls (about 6 oz) baby kale (you can really use any greens)

• 1/2 a yellow or sweet onion

• 1tablespoon freshly grated ginger

• 2 cloves garlic

• olive oil

• black pepper

• 2 tablespoons almond butter

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoons soy sauce

• 1-2 tablespoons warm water

• smal handful of chopped toasted almonds

Start by mincing the ginger and garlic and chop onion into small pieces. Place it all into a skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and place on medium heat. Once it starts to sizzle, add in a tablespoon or so of water to help soften and cook. Should take about 5 minutes.

In the meantime make the almond dressing. Mix almond butter, soy, vinegar, and a tablespoon of warm water together in a small bowl until completely incorporated. Taste. Add a little more soy if not salty enough, a splash more vinegar if not acidic enough, or bit more water if to thick.

Now chop up rhubarb into about 1/2 inch pieces and toss into skillet along with the other stuff. Cook for a few more minutes until the rhubarb becomes slightly soft. If the plan seems to get dry, add in another few splashed of water. Once rhubarb starts to get tender, take skillet off heat. Add in the baby kale and toss around then immediately transfer to a big bowl or plate. Drizzle almond dressing all over, toss, then top with chopped toasted almonds and lots of black pepper.

Eat.

Crispy Kale and Corn with Blueberries and Avocado Salad

I think that my favorite thing abut summer is probably the food. Yeah, no, definitely all the food. If it weren't for all the delicious amazing things that grow during these summer months, I would probably hate summer.  Well, I mean, not hate it because summer is nice when it it nice, but lately it has not been so nice and so I am trying to make myself feel better by finding all the good things that I like about summer. Summer trees, summer flowers, the smell of fresh cut grass, river rocks, summer sandals, summer... well that's what I got right now. But summer produce, that is the best and what keeps me happy when I am extremely over heated and over sunned and just want a blast of cold air accompanied by some dark clouds, a sweater and the smell of decomposing leaves. Obviously I am being a little crank butt, and I actually do usually like me some summertime, I am just over this summer. To hot, to humid, to dry. I am ready to move on. 

But back to the good parts of summer that I am not over. The food. The corn is flowing steadily (I am getting on average 10 pieces of corn a week from the farm. That is a lot of corn for 2 people, one of which says he doesn't like corn), the kale is growing in super abundance in the garden, and it's is for sure blueberry season. When we  have those three things and we toss in a avocado, as little onion, and lots of lime juice , BAM, another super fantastic summertime eating time, reason that summer can be a ok. Makes  all the heat a little worth it. 

I am telling you, this is my new favorite food combination. Blueberries are magical (I think so anyway) and really add the perfect little sweetness, tartness, and texture to this salad. Crisping up the kale and corn elevates the deliciousness, and avocado always is welcome is any salad situation. This is one of those salads that you will make for yourself and then immediately want to make for someone you like because it is so good you want to share. OR you just want to make it for yourself again because you could share or you could just eat more of it yourself. It's ok either way, you do you. 

The stuff. A cob of fresh corn. some fresh blueberries, a bunch of dinosaur kale, a lime, an avocado, a piece of a sweet onion, sea salt, pepper, and a little oil. 

First off preheat the oven then cut the corn off the cob.

Then deal with the kale. Each leaf needs just the slightest bit of oil. The easiest way to do this is to dump a little oil into your hands and grab each piece of kale and rub your oily hands all over the kale.

After the kale is oiled, chop it into chunks. First place the corn on a baking sheet then add the kale on top. Placet it into the oven to get all crispy... The kale will might get crispy before the corn, which is fine because you can remove the kale then pop the corn back into the oven for a few more minutes to keep cooking if you want. Or you might just want to call it cooked, it's your call. 

I popped the corn back into the oven to get a little more color. I like a real crispy corn. 

Cut up some onion and avocado into chunks. 

And time to compile. Kale, onions, corn, avocado, blueberries, and lime juice. And don't or get a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper. 

Toss it all around and be delighted. 

Just look at that salad. Who wouldn't want to eat that? 

Heres to summer salads....The reason I can barely stand the heat!

-C

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Crispy Kale And Corn With Blueberries And Avocado Salad 

makes one salad

• 10 or so large Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale leaves
• 1 fresh cob of corn
•  1/2 of an avocado
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 of a sweet onion (about 1/4 cup diced)
• 1 lime
• teaspoon olive oil
• sea salt and pepper  

Preheat oven to 350

Cut the corn off the con and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Take a little oil and rub into hands then grab the kale leaves ans rub oil all over them. Once oiled, rough chop into medium sized pieces (don't chop small, it will shrink a lot in the oven). Place chopped kale on top of corn and stick into hot oven. Bake until the kale is crispy, about 12-15 minutes.. What closely after 10 minutes to prevent burning.

Remove the kale from the baking sheet and place in a large bowl. The corn will be cooked, but if you want to make it a little crispier , just toss it back into the oven for a few minutes.  Once corn is to your liking, remove from pan and toss into two with the kale.

Small dice up some onion and dice up half of the avocado. Toss into the bowl with the kale and corn. And the blueberries, add those in. Sprinkle the whole shebang with a little sea salt and pepper and squeeze the juice of at least half of a lime all over (use the whole lie if you want) Give it all one last toss and that is it. 

Eat your new favorite salad. Think about making it for all your favorite friends and family and how impressed they will be because this is one of those impressive salads. T

Balsamic Corn Tomato Kale Salad

I got my first few ears or corn from the farm share this week which is exciting because I wait until we get corn from the farm to eat it. I figure that we get so much from the farm that there is no freaking way I am going to buy it and plus I know that that corn was picked a few hours before I got it. If you are going to eat corn, it needs to be fresh (life lesson).

Have I told you that the mr hates corn? I am pretty sure I have. I also have a theory that he really doesn't hate it so I just go ahead and make food with corn in it. Then he eats it, likes it, and I am all like" AHA, you like corn be-otch! I win!" (not sure what I win). But then the next time I mention we have fresh corn and how would he like it he is all like, I hate corn.  It's a game we keep on playing. 

So I got fresh corn, lots of tomatoes, and the kale is growing strong out back. I figured I would give the mr a break from all the zucchini for the night and make he a nice warm summer salad with the corn that he "hates".

The mr ate it all and didn't even mention corn so now I am thinking that he just hates the word corn and if I don't say the word then there will be no problem. HA HA, I am a genius.

The stuff. A tomato, a ear of corn, some kale, a little balsamic vinegar, oil, and salt and pepper.

Chop the tomato and remove the corn from the cob.

Toss into an oven safe skillet with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt.

Now stick it into the oven

After about 10 minutes the tomato has fallen apart and the corn is all nice and tender.

While the skillet is still hot the vinegar goes in and the (chopped) kale goes in. Mix it all around until the kale wilts. And be careful, the pan is hot.

Dump it into a bowl, sprinkle with pepper, grab a fork, and you are on.

Happy eating.

-C

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Balsamic Corn Tomato Kale Salad

makes a salad for one or two small side salads

• 1 medium tasty tomato
• 1 ear of corn
• like 4-5 good sized kale leaves
• 2-3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
•  oil of choice (i used avocado oil)
• salt and pepper

You can cook this in or on the stove. I did it in the stove because I was baking anyway

Preheat oven to 425

Remove corn from cob and chop tomato into medium sized chunks. Toss into a oven safe skillet with a drizzle of oil and a little pinch of salt. Stick in oven and cook until the corn is tender and the tomatoes have fallen apart, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and mix in vinegar. Chop kale into mouth sized pieces and toss into hot skillet. Mix around until kale starts to wilt. And it's done. Serve with a pinch of pepper.