Barley salad with kale, walnuts, cranberries and an orange-maple dressing

When I bought cranberries for my cranberry and chocolate chip banana bread, I had more berries than the bread required. I used the leftovers for this barley salad. Whilst completely different to the sweet bread, I liked it just as much and have been eating it for lunches across the week.

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Creamy blackberry vanilla smoothie

If I had to compile a list of the top 10 things I love about the UK (and it would be a difficult list to compile), I suspect picking wild blackberries would make it on there. To someone raised in Australia, blackberries are a novelty in their own right. To be able to walk 20 minutes from my house and pick them freely from bushes is amazing.

This smoothie features blackberries picked in such a way, but if you're not able to gather wild berries yourself, store bought, frozen or a different type of berry could be used instead. The other ingredients are simple: kale (for nutrition), avocado (for the creaminess), and vanilla (for a delicious flavour). You can make this with water or your milk of choice. It's not a super sweet smoothie, but it is sweet for a green smoothie in disguise. If you like sweeter drinks, adding a few dates or some liquid sweetener would do the trick.

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Chocolate raspberry green smoothie

Like so many things, my smoothie consumption goes through phases. I'll be obsessed for a while, then forget about them, then resume my love affair. With the warmer spring weather, I think a smoothie phase is starting up. This one was the perfect blend of nutritional benefits and delicious taste.

As the colour shows, I didn't use a vast amount of chocolate flavouring, but you definitely still taste it. I combined regular cocoa powder and cocoa-based protein powder (the same mix I mentioned earlier in the month). If you don't have protein powder, cocoa powder alone will suffice.

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Peach and mint green smoothie

I've had a slow start to smoothie drinking this summer. I accepted that as a phase and was confident my smoothie love would surface again eventually. Fortunately, it now has and I'm keen to make up for lost drinking time!

This peach and mint green smoothie was what heralded the switch from "I guess I could use up these greens in a banana smoothie, but I'm not sure I can be bothered" to "I really can't wait to whiz these ingredients up and drink them". It's a great summer smoothie, with the mint and peach pairing together beautifully and conjuring up images of beach-side cocktails.

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5 minute meals: Grilled hummus on toast and chilli-tahini kale and tofu salad

Sometimes, even a 15 minute meal seems too much. When it's 2pm on a Saturday and you're keen for food in a hurry, or 8pm on a weeknight and you want a quick but satisfying meal, 5 to 10 minutes is the time frame I want to work to. These are two recent meals that came together in hardly any time but still tasted delicious.

From hummus in lasagna, it was an easy jump to grilled hummus on toast. Have any of you tried it? It is even better than grilled cheese, and incredibly comforting despite being a simple meal. Just lightly toast two pieces of bread, spread generously with hummus and some halved cherry tomatoes, and grill for up to 5 minutes or as long as it takes to melt the hummus and turn the edges crispy.

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Spiced sweet potato and kale stew with cashews

If you're like me, you are fond of straightforward meals that deliver flavour, comfort and nutrition without taking hours to prepare. It's relatively easy to tick two of those three boxes (flavour / comfort / nutrition) but sometimes getting all three is tricky!

Happily, this dish satisfied all of my meal requirements. With a whole foods and vegetable based ingredient list, it is definitely nutrition-packed. The sweet potato and nutritional yeast give a creaminess to the dish, lending comfort, and spices and cashews round out the flavour profile.

Oh, and you only need one pan and not much time.

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Smoky quinoa bowl with tofu, corn and kale

I seem to be going through a paprika and corn phase at the moment. The flavours featured in my sweet potato cakes of a few weeks ago, and in this dish they round out quinoa, tofu, kale and pepper to provide an easy bowl-based meal.

This recipe is fairly simple but I liked the result so much that I ate it for both lunch and dinner yesterday. I'm now wishing I'd made a larger batch, and suspect I'll be repeating the combination soon! It would be easy to swap legumes for the tofu if you prefer that, or to make the bowl with rice instead of quinoa if you aren't a quinoa fan.

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Kale, cabbage and apple salad with a peanut dressing

Kale. It's almost become unfashionably fashionable; the stereotypical health food, thrown out as an example of new age eating and January dieting. I'm torn between being pleased that kale is readily available and winning over an increasing number of hearts (and stomachs), and sorry that it's become another 'bandwagon' food.

Mostly, though, I don't worry about it too much. I just enjoy eating it.

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Chickpea pancake with spicy kale and mango

I didn't intend to share two mango breakfasts this week. In fact, my original plan for this dish was a chickpea pancake with a kale and apple filling. I was going to saute the apple until soft, and perhaps add some nutmeg or cinnamon to the mix. However, it is mango season here - despite the mangoes being imported because the UK is not at all a tropical country - and last week I bought 5 mangoes for £1 ($1.70). I hope you'll forgive me for indulging in as much mango as I can.

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Quick and easy side dishes: Fig balsamic kale quinoa, and spicy peanut tofu and broccoli

The two side dishes in this post could easily have been combined to form a complete meal. As it was, I had the kale quinoa alongside some Linda McCartney veggie sausages (yes, we do sometimes delve into processed foods!) and the tofu and broccoli as a nutrient-packed lunch before a planned afternoon tea out. They are both very versatile dishes, and could complement any number of other side dishes or main meal options.

The kale quinoa was flavoured by a sticky fig and balsamic dressing produced by Jamie Oliver. To be honest, I am not very enamored with the dressing and it is only in this dish that I have really appreciated its sweet and tart flavours. They worked to round out the kale and quinoa and made the dish a little more exciting than it would otherwise have been. If you don't have a fig and balsamic dressing, any fruit-flavoured balsamic would work, or you could use a small handful of chopped dried fruit with regular balsamic vinegar.

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Moroccan quinoa soup and savoury carrot hotcakes

One of the first dishes I made from my recent cookbook win, The Vegan Cookbook, was this Moroccan quinoa soup. Combining northern African spices with tomatoes, quinoa and kale, the soup is a deliciously hearty meal that is jam-packed full of nutrition and flavour.

I adapted the dish to suit what I had on hand, and to try and cater to Mr Bite's tastes as well as my own. To that end, I omitted harissa, which would otherwise have added a spicy kick; used slightly less quinoa than called for; didn't bother with mint (as I didn't have it); and added parsnip and carrot as well as zucchini (courgette). I also added a dash of lemon juice, which I have found brings out the flavours of tomato-based stews and soups.

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Sweet and sour tofu with kale

This sweet and sour recipe is not a traditional sweet and sour recipe. The type you can buy from your local Chinese take-away is likely to use rice wine vinegar for the sour component, brown sugar for the sweet component, and cornflour as a thickener. Most recipes online call for tomato sauce (ketchup) too. 

In contrast, this dish uses pineapple for the sour and sweet components and delivers a subtle spice kick thanks to (you guessed it!) sriracha. It also uses a whole bunch of kale. I liked it a lot. 

If you're like me, you will have all the ingredients for this as pantry (or fridge) staples. In an ideal world you would press your tofu ahead of time, but if you walk in the door at 6.30pm this could be on the table 30 minutes later. Served with quinoa or rice, it is a perfect mid-week meal. It is so good, though, that you might want to whip a bowl up on the weekend too.

Sweet and sour tofu with kale

Serves 3 if served with a grain base

Vegan

Author: Bite-sized thoughts

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Ingredients

1/3 cup natural pineapple juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sriracha or other chilli sauce, or to taste

350g block firm tofu, pressed and sliced or cut into squares

1 small onion, chopped

1 large carrot, finely sliced

1 small bunch curly kale, roughly torn or chopped

1/3 cup canned pineapple pieces

Oil, for sauteing

Quinoa, rice or noodles, to serve

Method

In a measuring cup or jug, whisk together the pineapple juice, soy sauce and sriracha and set aside until needed.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat and drizzle with oil. Add the tofu and allow to cook for several minutes on each side, until starting to crisp up and turn golden.

Add the onion and approximately one-third of the sauce mix to the pan. Allow to cook, uncovered, for another 5 to 8 minutes until the onion is soft and the tofu starting to brown. Add the carrot and another one-third of the sauce and cook for a further 5 or so minutes.

Add the kale, pineapple pieces and remaining sauce to the pan and reduce heat to low-medium. Allow to cook for 10 minutes or until the kale has cooked down, stirring occasionally.

Serve with quinoa, rice or noodles.

I'm linking this in to Catherine's Anyone Can Cook Vegetarian Food challenge for March - non-terrifying tofu; and to Ricki's Wellness Weekend.

Do you like sweet and sour dishes? I go through stages with them - sometimes they seem just right, other times not at all what I want!

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Alternative green smoothies: sweet potato and almond (banana free!), and banana, mango and kale

I've been getting through a lot of green smoothies recently. In fact, I've started day dreaming about a blender for my workplace, so I can whip one up for my at-work breakfasts, or as a mid-afternoon snack, or an addition to lunch...or any time at all really. Sadly, I don't think that's on the cards, but I'm making the most of weekends and the weekdays I'm home in time to squeeze one in before dinner!

Sweet potato and almond green smoothie

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Tomato and kale spaghetti with chickpeas

2013 seems to be the year where I go from having no pasta recipes on this blog (oh, okay, a couple) to having 7 and counting. In the last 6 months, we have had angel hair spaghetti with roast peppers, basil and tofu bacon; Asian-spiced tofu with green tea soba noodles; beetroot pasta with a spinach and white bean sauce; more beetroot pasta with cumin-spiced tomato split pea sauce; and now, this chickpea, tomato and kale spaghetti.

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Peri-peri tofu and kale on toast

If you read Bite-Sized Thoughts regularly, you may know that I don't often have sandwiches, toast or even bread. It's not that I dislike those things, but rather that I find leftovers easier than sandwiches for work lunches, am a fruit/cereal/smoothie girl for breakfast, and prefer crumpets, English muffins and fruit bread to plain toast or bread for snacking.

With the above said, today I am sharing a bread-based recipe that is as delicious as it is simple, and which I would happily have for lunch every day if I could manage it.

This tofu meal brought to mind memories of baked beans on toast and eggs on toast, and reminded me that toast is rather lovely when topped with savoury foods that soak into the bread beneath. When those flavours include a subtle kick of peri-peri spice, all the better.

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Thanks giving and a kale salad with strawberries and chickpeas

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but my perusal of American blogs has ensured that I know it is happening. I can't say I pine for it to be introduced here (it falls so close to Christmas!) but I do very much like the concept of pausing to give thanks for people and things, both big and small.

You see, there isn't a day that passes at the moment where I don't feel thankful for my life. This doesn't mean that I am always happy, or that my life is perfect. I have my share of bad days. However, even on those days, I am grateful for what I have.

Kale salad with strawberries and chickpeas

Watching Mr Bite sleep in the morning, coming home to a note from him, reading a text or email with his characteristic humour, or just watching TV together in the evening - I am hugely thankful for the turn my life has taken and for finding the person who makes me feel complete.

Shutting the door to my Workplace #1 office and immersing myself in work with a cup of coffee, room to myself, tree-lined views out my window - I am thankful for a work environment that lets me do what I want to do, in a space that is set up to facilitate that.

(Workplace #2 doesn't give me my own office, but I still have a window, so I can be thankful for that too.)

Having tea with my parents, and siblings when they deign to join us, catching up on the week and talking about the past, present and future - I am thankful for family who are a 15 minute drive from me and who I enjoy talking to and spending time with.

Chatting to work colleagues or catching up with friends for a coffee - I am thankful to have people who 'get' me and share my interests, and who I can talk to easily even if there have been months between our conversations.

Reading a good book, drinking tea and coffee, enjoying chocolate or a new supermarket discovery - I am thankful for the small things that give me such pleasure.

A long run, a good workout in the gym, or a new level in strength or stamina - I am thankful for what my body can do and for the joy that I get from movement.

Blogs that make me smile, inspire me, or give me new ideas to try - and blog comments that go back and forth and forge relationships across the country and the world - I am thankful for the online world and what it facilitates.

Im all, I am very thankful.

Today's recipe is a simple one, but it seems to suit the spin I am putting on thanksgiving: pausing to appreciate the little things, to live life a little more fully, and to enjoy what is good. This salad has a short ingredient list, it works well by itself or rolled in a wrap, and it is good. The fact that it is good for you too is a bonus.

Kale salad with strawberries and chickpeas

Easy, simple, and full of nutrition and flavour

Vegan

Serves 4 as a side dish

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Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp maple syrup

10 strawberries, washed, stems removed and cut into quarters

6 cups kale, rinsed in hot water and hard stems removed

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 tin)

Method

Combine the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup in a bowl or shallow dish. 

Take 2 or 3 of the strawberries, cut into quarters, and press with a fork into the vinegar / maple syrup. The idea is to release the strawberry juices and crush them roughly; they can retain some of their shape.

Pour the balsamic dressing mixture over the kale and toss to combine. Use your fingers to work the dressing through the kale. Allow to stand for 15 minutes or longer.

Add the chickpeas and remaining strawberries and serve. 

In theory, I don't like salad dressings on salads, but kale salads have proved to be an exception. I like it best when the kale has sat in the dressing for a while (even overnight or for several days), absorbing the flavour and also softening slightly. Here, the chickpeas and strawberries add extra flavour and sweetness and turn a simple dish into something very enjoyable.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, American or non-American.

What are you thankful for this week?
If you are American, what are you doing to celebrate the holiday?

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Red pepper hummus, and quinoa with purple kale

Thank you for your well wishes regarding my migraine, general 'wrongness', and overall finish to last week. I am pleased to say that the weekend brought happier times and this week things have been smoother - and migraine free.

The red pepper hummus featured today wasn't made last weekend, but it was a happy contributor to the one before. It stems from Mel's generous gift package including more than just liquid smoke. Her smoky paprika and chile chipotle powder are both new additions to my kitchen, and I suspect my experimentation with them will continue for some time yet.

Red pepper hummus - note the scrap of paper which allows me to tell you what I put in it...

My first 'experiment' was to add some of each powder to a bowl of chickpeas and vegetables. I realised afterwards that Johanna's kale and chickpea bowl on Green Gourmet Giraffe featured cayenne pepper (chilli pepper), and I may have benefited from modelling my ingredients on hers. She used a pinch of cayenne pepper, whereas I used a very generous dash of both the smoky paprika and the chile chipotle powder. This is how I discovered that chile chipotle powder is spicy! For some reason it hadn't dawned on me that it was actual, smoked jalapeño chilli, with all the heat that brings. It was an enjoyable bowl, but a warm one...

After this impromptu creation, I was a little more cautious. I was still stuck on chickpeas, though, and red pepper hummus seemed like a good way to bring together the chickpeas with modest chilli tones. There are a few sources of inspiration out there if you want to make a red pepper hummus of your own - I did recall Johanna's version this time around, as well as Angela's recipe on Oh She Glows, and a Google search brings up many more varieties.

My hummus probably drew inspiration from all of these places, but didn't follow one particular recipe. It included half of a large roasted pepper and just one-quarter teaspoon of the chile chipotle power, as well as half a teaspoon of smoky paprika. It worked well and I really enjoyed the twist on regular hummus, as well as the colour of the dip. However, I think my caution may have led me to over-compensate and under-season, just slightly. I would probably increase the spice again next time, particularly for the paprika.

I enjoyed this dip as a dip, but something about it called 'quinoa'. I don't know why. My tastebuds just wanted it to be placed on top of a pile of grains and vegetables, and I was quite happy to indulge them. This also gave me an opportunity to use the purple kale I had discovered. After not having any kale for months and months, my local markets now seem to have it in green and purple varieties, much to my delight. 

The quinoa mix was simple, with nothing more than quinoa, vegetable stock and vegetables, but it provided a perfect base for the smoky dip. My taste buds were happy. It was a great dinner for one (quinoa and chilli and kale aren't really Mr Bite's sorts of foods...) and very enjoyable to take to work for lunch.

And if you happened to have some of those smoky almonds? Throw a few of them in too. Highly recommended.

Red pepper hummus with a dash of smoke and spice, served with quinoa with purple kale

Red pepper hummus

With inspiration from Johanna's smoky red pepper hummus and Angela's ultra creamy red pepper hummus

Makes about 1 cup

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Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (1 tin) cooked chickpeas, drained

1 small or 1/2 large red pepper, roasted or grilled and then cooled (I grilled mine as part of dinner preparations the evening before, in medium slices for 6 - 8 minutes on each side)

1/2 - 1 tsp smoky paprika

1/4 - 1/2 tsp chile chipotle powder

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp maple syrup

Dash of salt and pepper

Method

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Note. I used the lower end of the ingredient ranges for the paprika and chipotle powder, but would increase them in future.

Quinoa with purple kale

Makes 2 serves

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Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed

1 cup vegetable stock

1 small or 1/2 large red pepper, diced

1/2 large zucchini, diced

4 leaves kale, roughly chopped

Method

Place the quinoa and vegetable stock in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the vegetables and cook on low heat for a further 5 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just cooked and the quinoa is fluffly.

Serve as a side dish or topped with red pepper hummus and optional almonds.

Seriously, wonderfully, brilliantly good.

As for the rest of the hummus? It's been a versatile dip, and I've enjoyed it in a number of ways - one of the more notable being as a zucchini stack.

I am definitely fond of these new spice additions to my cupboard.

How do you like to use dips - for dipping, or as part of meals? And have you ever caught yourself out with spice quantities?!

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On kale

I've already mentioned my recent kale discovery twice, so this post may be taking things one step too far. However, if there is one thing this blog is useful for, it is reminding me of recipes and food preparation techniques that I would otherwise forget. Thus, we have this post.

I hadn't heard of kale prior to last year, when it started being mentioned all over the blogosphere. I can't say it grabbed me at first. It didn't seem all that different to spinach, and I knew where to find (and how to cook) spinach. But then I read more and more about it. Positive things. Kale started to hold my attention.

When I looked into it, I discovered it wasn't related to spinach at all. Kale is part of the cabbage family and its purported anti-cancer benefits are consistent with that group. It is high in beta-carotene (76% of recommended daily intake per 100g), Vitamin K (778% of recommended daily intake per 100g!) and Vitamin C (49%). It's also moderate in calcium (7%). 

As I now know, kale also comes in many varieties. The type I have found, and the only one I've yet to find in Perth, is curly kale. Tuscan kale is reportedly sweeter and more versatile, but I'll defer judgment on that to people who have actually tried both varieties.

Last week, my one head of kale provided me with four servings and four preparation methods. 

The first I have already mentioned - Mama Pea's Sunshine Kale. Although raw, this kale isn't plain. It's massaged with dressing (a mix of tahini, sweet chilli sauce, nutritional yeast) and left to absorb the flavours before eating.

I liked it. But it did make me think that raw plain kale probably wouldn't be my thing.

The second serving actually involved left-over Sunshine Kale. I used about half of the head of kale in making the raw salad, ate half of that (one-quarter of the head) plain, and put the remainder with leftover vegetarian burrito filling.

Four-bean mix with vegetables and tomato salsa, on top of the kale, all heated up together. It was quite divine.

This approach is definitely one I'll be repeating.

The third method wasn't photographed, but wasn't too different to the above. Mr Bite makes a signature tomato pasta dish and I placed some raw kale underneath my pasta, heated it all up together in the microwave, and then ate the kale with tomato pasta flavouring. Very good.

The fourth and final approach was steaming. I'm surprised it took me so long to get to it, as steamed vegetables are usually my default. This method allows the kale to reduce in quantity nicely, helping to avoid a large bulk of green on one's plate!

I had this topped with flavoured tofu, in what was effectively a 'cheat' dinner (in other words, super easy with no real cooking).

          

            

Quite a good cheat dinner if I do say so myself.

So there we have my kale experiences - I promise not to return to the topic for a while! I will enjoy buying kale as a rotating vegetable option though, as I enjoyed all of the above preparation methods and it proved surprisingly versatile. I'm definitely pleased I was able to find it after so many months of looking.

Do you like kale? What is your favourite preparation method?

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