Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

How is everyone handling the heat? I am handling it okay, but only because of the decision to finally turn the air conditioner on in our house. I am unsure if it has turned off since the heat wave began. That should be fun when the bill comes around! With all the heat, it is hard to get motivated to cook. Yesterday I made the mistake of making tea (to ultimately chill it), kale chips, and veggie burgers. The kitchen was a HOT MESS! Literally though, I spilt tea everywhere at one point. Luckily, I had an amazing lunch which was nice and cold. A kale and pasta salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

The salad came together rather quietly. It was the result of a series of fortunate events.

1. First it was just a container of leftover pasta. Maybe I will eat it with some pesto? Maybe I will just eat it cold straight from the fridge if I get THAT hungry?

2. But, when I was making a salad for dinner Wednesday night I saw the kale I had from my parent's garden. "Let's just throw that in there!" I said. So I did.

3. As I was chopping up some cucumber (from my Grandfather's garden) for the dinner salad, I had some extra. "Let's just toss that in the leftover pasta container too."

4. Kale is best raw when it has been in some dressing at least a few hours. Well, I was already dressing a salad, "why don't I just pour some of it on the pasta too?"

5. In the morning, I threw in some orange tomatoes, some goat cheese, and called it a day. A great day that is...because of this salad of course.

Kale and Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

farfelle pasta, cooked (penne, Conchiglie or rotini would also work well)
kale
tomato
cucumber
zesty balsamic vinaigrette
crumbled coat cheese

1. Toss together (everything except goat cheese and tomato), the night before. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Add tomato, goat cheese, and serve.

When I opened up the container for lunch I was so excited, and also very hungry. It looked so beautiful and vibrant that I had to take the 10 second to take a picture with my phone. I think it captures the colour rather well! The salad was really good and very filling. Be sure to use whole wheat pasta to get the same effect ; )

By the way, you should really check out this link. Deciding what pastas would work well led me to that wikipedia page. So many pasta types! I think I better brush up on my Italian pasta vocabulary!

Roasted Garlic and Greenhouse Vegetables

Tonight I roasted some garlic in preparation for my dinner tomorrow night. My housemate roasted garlic a few weeks ago and I tried a clove. It is delicious. If you have never done this or heard of doing this before, check out this video by Dani Spies, where she originally got the idea. One tip I was given was not to eat the whole garlic bulb in one sitting, as you will emanate garlic from places you didn't know garlic could emanate from.

On that note, I added a couple cloves to my salad for dinner this evening. Note: 2 only. Now, I normally veer from salad in the winter months (or when it is spring and snow is still in the forecast) becuase A) I am not in the mood for it, and B) most of my favourite salad ingredients are not as fresh and for the most part, not grown close to home. However, today while at the farmer's market, I found some Ontario greenhouse cucumber, tomato and bell pepper. I think I am a fan of this method of growing food. While very energy intensive, I like to think that it is better for the environment than importing these foods from the USA, Mexico, or Chile. Check out this link for more information on how the produce is grown.

With these vegetables in hand I had a fresh salad in mind. To add some protein I decided to throw in some lentils, and I would have added goat's milk cheese too if my last little bit hadn't gone bad :(

Greenhouse Vegetable Salad

1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 green bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup cooked lentils

Dressing:
2 roasted garlic cloves, mashed
1/2 tbsp olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

For this salad I encountered a couple problems with putting it all together.
1) I had larger chunks of veggies and I think chopping them finer would have been easier to eat with the lentils.
2) I usually make salad dressing myself, directly into the salad, mostly eyeballing it. However, I think I would have gotten the most out of the garlic had I shaken it up with the dressing outside of the salad, being sure to break up the garlic, and then dress the salad.
So keep these points in mind if you decide to make yourself this salad.

All-in-all it was a refreshing change from my recent hot meals. The tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumber, tasted no different than what you find at your grocery store currently (read: tasted okay). I got a bit of a taste for summer, and I cannot wait to get my hands on some backyard tomatoes.

Salad Rice Paper Rolls

I am home for the Holidays! I have had a crazy few weeks with school. Turns out I did have to wait until the end of term to write another post. Which works out well actually, the Holidays bring lots of food which means lots of preparing/cooking which give me a lot to write about. Just this past weekend my good friends and I had our 4th annual Christmas potluck party. This year the mom's came along and we each made something to bring along. Normally we have WAY too much food but this time it was the perfect amount with a bit of leftovers.

I decided to make rice paper salad rolls. I decided this after flipping through a book my Grandmother gave me for Christmas, called 'The Complete Illustrated Book of Herbs' by Reader's Digest. There was a recipe for the classic salad roll with cilantro and mint. Looked wonderful! One problem though. I cannot stand cilantro. So something different had to be done. The result was these Goat Cheese Salad Rice Paper Rolls:

Goat Cheese Salad Rice Paper Rolls:

rice paper (small size)
goat cheese
cucumber, sliced julienne
carrots, matchstick cut
muschrooms, chopped finely
alfalfa sprouts
sweet chili sauce, for dipping

1. Dip rice paper in warm water until soft to roll. Shake to remove excess water.
2. Put goat cheese in a row on the middle of one side of paper.
3. Top with veggies. I used cucumber, carrot, mushrooms and alfalfa sprouts.

4. Wrap it up. Fold up the one side, then the bottom, and then follow with the other side. Rice paper is actually really easy to work with and after a couple you get the hang of it. It sticks together so they hold fairly well.
5. Serve chilled with sweet chili dipping sauce.

These make for a great appetizer at any holiday party. My Mom requested I make these on Christmas eve! I imagine making many different varieties of them in the future. Since the package seemed to come with a thousand pieces of rice paper, this is definitely going to happen.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has a wonderful evening with family, friends, and fantastic food and drink!

Cheers!

Bean and Couscous Salad, and the Friends Who Inspired It

Summer is almost over! It's almost time to go back to school! I am so nervous/excited! This back to school season feels totally different than the rest. I am going to go through a huge change! A new house, new housemates, new school, new subject of study, new degree. Everything is new! All of my friends seem to be starting something new in September whether it be grad school, a new job, or traveling. Last weekend, a few of my friends from Waterloo got together and had a nice dinner which was perfect timing as the summer is coming to an end and before we get super busy in September.

I'm going to give you a quick rundown on these friends becuase I feel it is important in choosing the dish that I brought. Maybe not that important, but it will give this story a little something extra. There is William, a fellow lover of food, especially if cookies and chocolate are involved. He also loves to cook and try new recipes, particularly if it is French. He will turn the most simple dish sound like a French masterpiece. Then there is Max, the one who really convinced me to finally start this blog. He is always up for trying something new in the kitchen. Then we have Andrew, the token carnivore. Everyone has a carnivorous friend right? Clearly I'm exaggerating but not as much as you'd hope. Last but not least we have Miles. Oh Miles, how one can exist on cereal and pizza we will never understand. I like to tease him about his lack of vegetables because he literally defies all odds. This guy never gets sick while only getting his veggies from the top of a pizza! He has an immune system to die for! But I digress; why am I telling you all of this? Because making a dish to bring to a dinner with these friends has to A) impress the food critic that is William, B) have veggies becuase clearly I won't get to eat any otherwise, and C) make those veggies taste great so the carnivores will get their vitamin C for the year (I joke).

Bean and Couscous Salad

1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cm piece of chili pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1 medium carrot, chopped
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can red kidney beans
3 cups cooked couscous
1 small purple pepper (any colour really), chopped
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 cup chopped cucumber

Dressing: from allrecipes.com

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2.5 tsp chili powder
2.5 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Add olive oil, garlic, and chili pepper to a pan and heat on medium-high. Heat for a few minutes until fragrant.

Add carrot, onion, and cumin and saute until onions are translucent and carrots are softer (but not fully cooked).

Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. In a large bowl, combine beans, couscous, onion mixture, peppers, tomato, cucumber, and celery and mix to combine.

Combine ingredients for the dressing in a closed container and shake to mix well. If you have the time, allow dressing to refrigerate for a couple hours to allow the flavours to come together. I did not quite use all of this dressing for this salad. How much you want to use is really up to you. It is also good to add the dressing and refrigerate a few hours before serving.

As far as I could tell, the salad was a hit. Straight from Miles' mouth: "It tastes like tacos!"

Mission: Accomplished.

I move into my new house tomorrow and am in the middle of packing. I am not sure when the internet will be up and running but I hope to be posting from my new kitchen soon!