Massaged kale with tahini-miso dressing

This afternoon at Wegman's I found a huge box of organic baby kale.  I knew it was coming home with me, and of course I immediately thought of massaged kale salad.

Massaged kale salad has been a thing for a couple years now.  Basically you tenderize the kale by physically massaging it with your hands, plus an acid, a fat, or some salt.  It's fun and messy.  I made a massaged kale salad a while back with beautiful fresh pineapple and tomatoes.  The acid from the pineapple and tomatoes tenderized the kale, and the fruit basically formed the dressing.

This time I knew I wanted to use a tahini-based dressing.  I had seen a yummy-sounding kale salad on Choosing Raw, with a dressing made from soaked cashews.  I can't have cashews in the house because they (and most nuts) are like crack to me, but for some reason I am OK with tahini.  I started to type "massaged kale" into Google, and it suggested "massaged kale tahini dressing" as a search option, so clearly I am not the first person, or the five hundredth,  to think of this combination.  

I used the first dressing recipe that came up, minus the cilantro.  I liked the idea of combining tahini with white miso (mmm, umami), and I had all the ingredients in the house.  I put everything in my mini food processor and whipped it up in less than a minute.  Here's what I did next:

First, I had to give some kale to the cat, so he would leave me alone and let me cook.  He loves greens.

This is what the kale looks like right out of the package.  The leaves are about the same size as baby spinach.

I put about a third to a half of the pound of kale in a big stainless steel bowl, and sprinkled it with a few pinches of coarse kosher salt.  Then I started squeezing and massaging it with my hands.  The salt adds friction and helps draw out the liquid in the kale.  After I'd worked on it for a few minutes, it looked like this:

 See how it's kind of glossy and wet looking?  It also takes up less room in the bowl than it did before.

Next, I mixed in a little dressing and massaged the kale some more:

Then I let the salad rest while I prepared the rest of dinner, which was basically the same leftover dry chickpea curry and brown basmati rice we've been eating all week.

Here's my dinner plate.  I drizzled some extra dressing on the kale.  Om nom nom.

If you like cooked kale but can't imagine eating it raw, I strongly encourage you to try a massaged kale salad.  The massaging really does transform the kale, as if it had been very, very lightly steamed or sauteed.  Plus it makes a mess, and it's fun!

If you've made massaged kale salads before, what is your favorite dressing?

Over the River and Through the Woods

I've written before about how I obsessively prepare for travel.  Well, on Wednesday my girlfriend and I are going to New York City for Thanksgiving; we'll be gone three days and you would think I'm packing for the North Pole.  It's not like they don't have vegan food there.

My thing is, I want to be prepared, and I don't want to be any trouble.  When I'm around my family, I go into serious people-pleasing mode and often don't take care of my own needs.  This is my issue and mine alone -- my family is wonderful and is incredibly accommodating of my vegan-ness.  My omnivore mom and aunt have planned what I think is going to be an entirely vegan menu, and my girlfriend and I will be the only vegans attending.  This won't be my first vegan Thanksgiving with them, either.  So they are amazing and kind  and supportive and nevertheless, I.  Have.  Issues.

For years, I would binge whenever I went to New York.  There is so much yummy food there, much of which you can't get, or can't get as good, anywhere else.  And there's a lot of food I connect with emotionally.  (Bialys are probably the best example of both these qualities, but there are many others.)  The last few times I've visited, I've been so worried about not overeating that I've undereaten, and then there has been an equal and opposite reaction when I've returned home.   On this trip, I am determined to do neither of these things.  I am determined to take care of myself.  I didn't take good care of myself when I lived in NY, and so far I haven't pulled it off on a visit, either, so this will be a first.  And for me these days, taking care of myself means bringing my own food.

Green Smoothie Cat

I'm sorry posting has been light lately.  I've been preoccupied with the election and with the fact that QUEERS CAN GET MARRIED IN THREE MORE STATES NOW, INCLUDING THE ONE I LIVE IN!  Yeah.  The girlfriend and I are getting married this winter, which is making me think I should do some posts about vegan weddings.  But today I want to talk about green smoothies.

I've been on a bit of a green smoothie kick lately.  I bought some pre-washed kale at Trader Joe's, and I've been blending it up with frozen pineapple, almond milk, and hemp protein powder for yummy breakfast delights.  Because my blender is a Ninja and not a Vitamix, the smoothies are not exactly smooth -- the kale does add some texture.  I like them anyway.  But not as much as Newman the cat does:

Acorn Squash and Apple Soup

We don't have a garden.  We live in an apartment, and our cats are such fearsome predators we can't even have houseplants.   We know people who have gardens, though, and sometimes they share.

Most of the time, receiving a gift of fresh produce from someone who gardens is unmitigated wonderfulness. Once in a while, though, you think "This is so great.  Now what am I going to do with it?" That's how I responded when I received this acorn squash:

Cat:  "This squash is so great . . . ." 

". . . now what are we going to do with it?"

Teasers

I was going to post pictures of the newest additions to our collection of Fiestaware kitty bowls (the Homer Laughlin Company calls them fruit bowls, but I think I know a kitty bowl when I see it), but my phone is dead so you'll just have to take my word for it that the new flamingo color (in stores now!) is the bomb.

I know some people have come up with themes for their vegan MoFo posts, and have even laid out a schedule of what's coming up.  I'm not that organized, but I realized that I do have the first few posts pretty much laid out in my head:

October 1:  World Vegetarian Day
October 2:  Roasted poblano peppers
October 3:  Refried beans
October 4:  Chili

After that, I'm not sure.  Maybe calabacitas.  Maybe something with acorn squash. If I'm able to find more dried hominy, I'll make posole.  But that's a big if.

I've been on a Southwestern food jag since I got back from New Mexico two weeks ago, and as you can see it shows no signs of ending.  I'm not going to commit to making the whole month about the Southwest, though.  At any moment I could crack and go back to my first love, Indian food, or throw in a macrobiotic recipe or something.  And at some point this month I'll probably write about my local farmer's market and fall produce.  Maybe I'll even sneak in those kitty bowls.

See you tomorrow!

The Cat Who Would Be Vegan, Part II

A few days ago I wrote about my kitten Newman and his devotion to carbs.  Today he continued to amaze me by showing his love for another vegan staple, refried beans.

Kitty crack -- who knew?

This morning I decided to include Trader Joe's refried beans in my lunch, and as soon as I got out the can opener Newman was right there on the counter.  You might think he was just responding to the presence of a can,  as cats who eat canned food will do, but no.  He wrapped his little kitten arms around the can, and eventually I had to shut him in the bedroom to get him to stop licking up all the beans.  He was  pretty excited about the kale and corn that weregoing into the lunch container, too.  That got me thinking -- if I weren't such a lazy bitch, maybe I really could turn this cat vegan.

Please don't troll me with how terrible a vegan diet is for cats, or what a hypocritical vegan I am for having cats at all, never mind feeding them meat food.  I've done the research.  I know it can be done.  I also know it's risky, especially for male cats because they are more prone to urinary tract problems.  And I have two boys.  And I'm a lazy bitch.  So this isn't happening any time soon, if ever.  But I do find it fascinating how excited these "obligate carnivores" get about vegan protein sources.

Here's what I ate for lunch.  I can't call it a recipe since it basically consists of opening packages and mixing the contents together, but it's fast, nutritious, and yummy, so I'll include it here.  All ingredients are from Trader Joe's:

1 can salsa-style refried beans
1 pound package frozen kale
About half of a one-pound package frozen roasted corn kernels

Nuke the kale and corn until completely thawed.  Put in a lunch container with the beans.  Nuke it again at work until hot.  Eat this with an apple and you've nailed all your vegan food groups.  Don't forget to floss!

I can haz oatmeal?

Cats are carnivores.  I respect vegans who do the hard work of feeding their cats vegan food while making sure they stay healthy, but I'm too lazy to try it myself.  I feed my cats meat cat food every day.  But the cats, and our kitten in particular, insist that they also need vegan food!

Every vegan cat caretaker knows about cats and nutritional yeast.  They just can't get enough nooch.  Maybe it's because we named him after a cookie, but our kitten Newman is also in love with carbs.  He eats bread, rice, potatoes, and this morning it was oatmeal.  First he practically tried to climb into the pot.  Then when I served the food he was trying to eat out of our bowls.  I had mixed hemp protein powder into my oats, and that only seemed to make it more appealing (I'm glad somebody thinks that stuff is appetizing).   I shut him in the bedroom so I could eat, but I figured my food was safe with our older cat, LC, who in six years has never shown interest in oatmeal.  Well, he and the kitten have clearly been talking to each other, because as soon as I walked away to answer the phone he was in my bowl as well.  In order to eat without audience participation I have to shut both cats in the bedroom, or wrap my arm around my bowl like I'm in prison.

What unexpected foods do your cats crave?