Superfood Salad (and bonus skin treatment!)

Hi there folks! Long time no see. I've been busy with the holidays and FINISHING COLLEGE (yay!) and am now applying for jobs, so forgive my lack of posts lately. But now that I'm back, I'm excited to bring some new changes to the blog and start writing about more than just food!

I've actually been on a new, pretty strict eating plan as of late, so that's another reason there haven't been any new recipes lately.

But here's one I haven't shared yet, and it's one of my absolute favorites. This salad is a great meal to make on the weekend and eat for lunch all week. As a bonus, you can actually give yourself a little natural skin treatment after you make it! Cooking and a relaxing spa treatment, sounds like a perfect weekend, no?

Superfood salad with quinoa, kale, avocado, and more goodness

Serves 4-ish

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 cup dry quinoa (rinsed and drained)
• 1⁄2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 avocado, pitted and diced
• 1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 1⁄2 cucumber, sliced
• 1⁄4 red onion, sliced

For the dressing:

• 1⁄4 cup lemon juice
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Note: The diet I'm on is very restrictive on oil and salt. Today I would blend the avocado right into the dressing instead of the olive oil, and use a salt-free lemon pepper seasoning instead of the salt and pepper. In case you want to up the health quotient on this even more!

Method

1. Cook the rinsed quinoa in 1.5 cups water, over low heat in a pot or rice cooker for about 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Set aside to cool, chill in fridge. (Quinoa can be prepared up to a day in advance)
2. Chop tomatoes, avocado, onions, cucumbers, and rinse black beans and combine in a medium bowl. De-stem and chop kale and place in a large bowl.
3. Mix lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over the kale and “massage” for a few minutes. This helps improve the texture and flavor of kale.
4. Mix all ingredients into the dressing and kale mixture.

Makes about 4 servings as a main dish, 6 as a side. Will last 5-7 days in the refrigerator.

Optional: Skin Treatment

Some of the ingredients used in this salad can be used as skin treatments after you finish making the salad! 

• Scrape the skin of the avocado and rub the extra into any dry skin as an intense moisturizer. 
• Leave on for a few minutes and set some cucumber slices on your eyes.
• After a few minutes, wash off the avocado with a warm wash cloth.
• You can use any leftover lemons/lemon juice as a toner.

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Throwback Thursday: Last Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is only a week away, and I'm getting so excited! I'm in the final planning and prepping stages for this year, and reflecting a bit on how things went the first time around.

Hollylujah's original incarnation is still out there, and its only two posts were about last year's Thanksgiving. This post explained my crafty pumpkin place cards, and this post was a roundup of how each recipe turned out.

Here are some photos from the day:

Homemade pumpkin spice lattes (vegan, natch)

Craftiness

The setup

Pumpkin candle holders = <3

Kale salad with delicata squash and all kinds of other goodness

Roasted green beans with cranberries and walnuts

It was pretty delicious if I recall.

Chocolate brownie pumpkin pie with crunchy pecan topping and maple coconut whipped cream. Say that 3 times fast.

My parents, ladies and gentlemen.

Good times :)

If you're interested in trying any of those recipes, they were all linked on the old blog. Last year was so wonderful, and one of my favorite memories ever. I can't wait to do it again!

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My Thanksgiving Menu (first draft, anyway!)

Hello! It's been a while. I've missed blogging, but some other things have been taking up my time.

For example, we rescued a bunny in August and she's been the center of my world ever since. She's a sweet, silly, and shy little lop with helicopter ears (one up and one down - the cutest thing ever). We named her Penny Lane, and spoil her rotten. There will probably be some posts about her in the near future, actually. But for now, just look at that cute face!

I've also been really busy chipping away at my last semester of college EVER. Only another 5 weeks or so until I'm a college grad! It's an exciting, slightly terrifying, and definitely busy time.

In between all that and more, I've still been cooking up a storm, and I'll have quite a few new recipes to share soon.

This month, however, my focus is delightfully directed toward Thanksgiving, as once again I am hosting this year! (There will probably be some flashback posts soon about the menu and decor from last year - they were on a different blog.)

I have been pinning and organizing the potential recipes for weeks, and today I may just have finalized the menu. I recently eliminated wheat and refined sugars from my diet, so had to factor that into the planning process, and I managed to create a menu that works! So without further adieu, here is a 100% vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free Thanksgiving menu that I can't wait to bring to life:

Main Course: Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf from FatFree Vegan Kitchen. After 3 blissful years of ordering the Native Foods Wellington (a puff pastry filled with meaty seitan, yams, kale, and stuffing and topped with what is arguably the best mushroom gravy in existence), we decided to go our own way this year (plus, the wellington has tons of wheat). We chose a meatless loaf that doesn't pretend to be meat. It's full of vegan staples - beans, tofu, veggies - delicious thanksgiving herbs and spices, and looks like it will be completely perfect when slathered in mushroom gravy. Speaking of which...

Gravy: Happy Herbivore's Everyday Mushroom Gravy - Quick fangirl moment - Lindsay Shay Nixon is by far my favorite plant-based cookbook author (and idol). She's a pro at creating recipes that are as simple as they are delicious, and her compassionate "progress not perfection" approach to the vegan lifestyle is a refreshing change of pace. Anyway! I'm not sure if this simple gravy recipe is anywhere online, but it can be found in two of Lindsay's books, Everyday Happy Herbivore and Happy Herbivore: Holidays and Gatherings (which is new this year and also the source of another recipe I plan to try - fangirling over!)

Stuffing: Southern Cornbread Stuffing from Food to Glow - When I asked my boyfriend if he had any special requests for Thanksgiving (which also falls on his birthday this year), he suggested cornbread. So when I realized I also had to start looking for a wheat-free stuffing recipe, this was a no-brainer. This recipe was the first to pop up in my search, and it had me at hello - I think it's going to be the home run recipe of the year.

Salad: This is going to be my original recipe, so look for that post in the next few weeks once I get it right. But it will be a kale salad with plenty of autumn accents.

Other side dishes: Garlic/rosemary mashed potatoes, simple roasted green beans, and Happy Herbivore's sweet potato casserole from her new holiday book.

Dessert: GF Maple-Nut Pumpkin Pie. I'm trying a hybrid of this simple pie filling made with cashews and this gluten-free crust made with pecans, and topping it all off with the maple coconut whipped cream that we loved last year. Making some small changes to make the recipes work together, and to work with my current diet, but I'm excited to see how this turns out.

And there you have it! I couldn't be more thrilled to make and eat all of this in a few weeks. What new recipes are you trying this year?

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Cheesy Vegetable Kale Chips

Those delicious cheesy kale chips you can buy at the store are delicious and oh-so-healthy, but at about $5 a bag they are quite an investment. This is a pretty easy batch you can whip up for about half the price, yielding about 3-5 times as many chips. SCORE!

(If you want a simpler, faster roasted kale recipe without all of the cheesiness, I gotcha covered too)

This recipe is super fleixble. You can make them in the oven or dehydrator, using a blender or food processor, and you can even mix up the ingredients if you want. Swap lime juice for the lemon and squirt in some sriracha sauce. Use sun dried tomatoes instead of a carrot. Go nuts and be creative and enjoy the magical disappearing act that follows (read: these taste great and you will eat them quickly).

Onward to the recipe!

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Hollylujah! Onion Rings

There's a burger spot in our neighborhood with vegan options, and my boyfriend and I like to go there after an active day, or when we're simply feeling indulgent. I love their vegan and portobello burgers, but their onion rings are the BEST, and probably the reason we go about once a month. They're beer-battered and deep fried and probably not even vegan though, so I've been jonesing to come up with a healthier alternative to make at home.

The idea to make them with almonds was always there, in order to lower the carbs and make the fats healthier. But I started off a bit over-zealous, planning to make the almond milk at home and dehydrate the leftover almond crumbles to turn into almond flour and a crunchy coating. This is exactly what I did, but it took forever, so next time I will probably simplify a bit. :) In fact, I have come up with a simple method, so I will share all of your options in this post, depending on where you fall on the zealous-ometer.

Note: I will continue to tweak this recipe and add more photos and an instructional video. But if you can't wait, give it a go!

On to the recipe...

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Mediterranean Grilled Veggie Bowl with Tahini Sauce

I was a bit tired last night and trying to come up with a last-minute dinner that could use the leftover zucchini from this pasta, as well as the red pepper and eggplant I got at the farmers market on Sunday. I found this recipe, which I could make with a few substitutions, so I went for it. It is absolutely delicious and I suggest you try it if you enjoy mediterranean flavors. Rather than retype the recipe (maybe I'll update it later, but I don't have time today), here are the substitutions I made:

Mediterranean Grilled Veggie Bowl with Tahini Sauce (Adapted from Chow)

(Click the link if you want the original recipe, these are only the changes I made)

• I didn't have roasted tahini, so I ground up some roasted sesame seeds. It was about 2 2/3 tablespoons to make 2 tablespoons of packed sesame seeds, and I just blended that right into the lemon juice and olive oil for the dressing. I also forgot the garlic, but didn't notice, and it was still fantastic.
• I didn't have a shallot, so I used up 1/3 of a red onion I had leftover from a different recipe.
• I used Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend instead of just couscous, because it's what was in my pantry. It's mostly couscous, but with a orzo, garbanzo beans, and red quinoa mixed in. Upgrade!
• I also grilled up the leftover inside chunks of zucchini from yesterday's pasta adventure.
• I sprayed the vegetables with my misto instead of brushing them, but who knows if this used less oil in the end. I sprinkled them with lemon pepper instead of just salt and pepper. It tasted very lemony (but not overly so) in the end, which I love.
• Grilling took forever because I have a george foreman grill, but hopefully that helped with the oil problem.
• I also didn't have fresh parsley, so I threw in a tablespoon and a half of dried.

The result was so delicious, it was addictive, and I had to fight the urge to eat the rest right out of the pan. It was the perfect end to an exhausting day.

Not a very exciting post for today, but I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow with marinated portobello mushroom burgers! :)

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Hollylujah Hummus

Hummus, you know I love you. You're the perfect dip and sandwich spread, you are a delicious and easy source of protein, but we've got to talk. You're packed with oil, and everyone knows it. You're not fooling anyone. What we have is beautiful and I don't want it to end, but just hope I can change you, so that I can enjoy you without all of the guilt.

Turns out hummus is pretty flexible. Check out this new and improved version of my love, with a quarter of the oil, half the salt, and all of the taste.

Inspired by and adapted from my favorite hummus recipe, which you can find here.

Hollylujah Hummus Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 can garbanzo beans/chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tbs. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 3-5 tablespoons low-sodium vegetable broth or water
• a few dashes of paprika (optional)

Method

1. Begin by blending the lemon juice and tahini in a food processor or blender. Scrape the sides between blending to keep everything evenly mixed.
2. Add the garlic, olive oil, salt, cumin, and 3 tbsp. of broth or water and blend a few more times, scraping in between.
3. Slowly add the garbanzos/chickpeas and continue to blend, adding more broth or water to reach the desired consistency.
4. Serve with a few dashes of paprika if desired!

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Roasted Kale Chips Recipe

Kale is one of those vegetables that can do no wrong. It's both nutrient-dense and versatile in recipes. My personal favorite uses are to either steam it and cover it with sauces and stews, or dehydrate/bake it into a crispy chip. Today I'll be sharing a quick and simple way to make a crunchy side dish of kale while you're preparing a meal. All you need is some kale, and any oil/seasonings that you like. This recipe is oven-baked, but stay tuned if you have a dehydrator, I have plenty of kale recipes for that!

Roasted Kale Chips Recipe

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)

• 1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and cut into small pieces
• I often use a bag of trader joe's organic tuscan kale, as I did in this post. Even with ready-to-go kale, however, you can de-stem a little further if you want just the leaves. I skipped that step this time, but I do it when I have more time, and recommend it!
• Just enough oil to coat the kale, about 1/2 - 2tbs.
• I often use olive oil, sometimes sesame or coconut when I'm going for a different flavor. Any oil will do!
• Seasonings to taste 
• I just used sea salt and crushed pepper today. I've done this with lemon pepper, sesame seeds, a little lemon or lime juice, 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250° F. (You can do 300° F or possibly higher if you're in a hurry or baking something at a different temp, just be prepared to check the oven often to avoid burning.)
2. Prepare your kale, and toss in a bowl with the oil and seasonings until coated evenly. I use my Misto sprayer to use as little oil as possible while still evenly coating the chips. That's why I'm not sure exactly how much I'm using :)
3. Spread the kale evenly on a baking sheet or two, and bake for 15-20 minutes until crispy. Check the oven often and rearrange the chips if necessary to insure even baking. The exact time will depend on your oven, the temperature you bake it at, and how much oil you used, so the first time you make these you'll figure out what works best for you.
4. When they're done, remove from the oven and enjoy immediately! If you manage to have any leftovers, store them in the refrigerator and reheat in the oven at 200° F. 

I made these while I cooked Happy Herbivore's Caribbean Sweet Potatoes (which is one of my favorite recipes for using up apples). That recipe is from Everyday Happy Herbivore, which can be found here.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

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