Recipe Wednesday

Good afternoon/night/Wednesday to you.

I trust everyone has made it through Hump Day, yet again. Today has practically flown by for me, incredibly enough, since I woke up this morning at the wee hour of 5:15 a.m. and got myself ready to drive down to yoga. Yep, sadly, the new year has brought a new time to my yoga studio's classes. From 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Oh well, now I have a whole half hour extra to waste before work... ha. And a warm, frothy, so delicious, soy chai preoccupied me for at least 15 minutes this morning. And man, I was pretty hyper from it for most of the morning.

Today's post is going to be a little short because, well, I can't really think of much to write about today (aside from all the blogging ideas in my head), and I have a few recipes to post, so that will be the bulk of my writing for Wednesday.

As promised, here is the recipe and picture of last night's dinner. Yes, you have to look at my food again. And yes, that is an almost finished salad the family participated in enjoying.

Raw Asian Cesar dressing
Inspired by The Raw Food Detox Diet, by Natalia Rose for her Raw Caesar Dressing
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup beans (I used chickpeas, and yes I'm on a bean kick...extra protein)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup lemon
• 1/4 cup nama shoyu (or soy sauce)
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 2 dates 

Blend, blend, blend in your favorite blender. And then add 1/4 cup olive oil and briefly blend or mix.
Serve over greens and friends. This dressing tastes great if left to sit for a few hours, letting the flavors get to know each other.

I accompanied my nice big salad with baked kabocha squash leftovers.

And tonight, one of my all time favorite dishes that I do not make often enough, Tahini Kale Salad. Oh my, it's scrumptious. I have made this a few times for friends and family and it's always a hit. Promise.

This superfoodied, super healthy, high protein, totally filling salad, is a rendition of a recipe I found from a local organic grocery store, by Natural Chef Jenny Brewer. Mine has a few more items in it. (Mine had romaine added too since we wanted a big salad for tonight's dinner).

Tahini Kale Salad
Ingredients:

• 1 head of kale, thinly sliced
• sea salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp miso
• 1 tbsp nama shoyu (optional)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• dash of cayenne pepper
  
• 2 carrots, shredded
  
• handful of grape tomatoes, halved
  
• 3 green onions, sliced
  

Place sliced kale in a calunder and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of salt. "Massage" the kale for a few minutes to break it down, to soften it. Rinse off some of the salt and set aside.

Mix the garlic, tahini, water, miso, nama shoyu, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper together in a large bowl to make the dressing. Add the kale and rest of the ingredients. Toss and enjoy.

I enjoyed my salad with a baked sweet potato and a little mango salsa. Easy salsa of mango, onions, jalepanos, dash olive oil, salt, and lemon juice.

Have a great rest of your night...

And if you are reading this, post a little comment saying hi. I'd like to know who's out there.