Green Carrot Club

French lentils are also known as green lentils.  They stay firmer than other lentils and don’t get mushy.  Yummm.

Ingredients:

makes 4 servings

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 or 3 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup uncooked French lentils
• 1 small red onion, chopped very finely (about ½ cup)
• 1 small tomato, seeded and diced (about ½ cup)
• 2 radishes, grated (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 small carrot, grated
• several pinches freshly ground black pepper
• greens

Dressing:

• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Adapted from the cookbook Veganomicon.

Bring the broth, thyme, bay leaves, garlic cloves, tarragon, and salt to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the lentils and bring again to a low boil. Cover the pot with the lid tilted, allowing a little room for steam to escape.  Let cook for 20 to 25 minutes. The lentils should be soft enough to eat but still firm enough not to lose their shape.

While the lentils cook, stir together all the dressing ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Drain the lentils in a mesh colander.  Let cool, giving the colander a few shakes every couple of minutes so that they drain and cool faster. Once the lentils are lukewarm (about 15 minutes), remove the bay leaves, chunks of garlic, and thyme sprigs. Add the lentils to the dressing along with the onions, tomato, and radishes, and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, cover, and chill for at least half an hour.

When chilled, serve over lettuce with additional dressing.

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I keep thinking that someday there are going to be no more new salad recipe ideas, but it never happens.  There are always new (and good) ones out there.  Amazing!  This one has quite a bit of chopping and it’s best to blanch the green beans for about 30 seconds.  Blanching veggies is always really cool to me.  You can watch them turn a bright green color right before you eyes.  I found this technique of putting them in a wire strainer and then just dipping them in a pot of boiling water works well.  Then you can do this a couple of times if you have a lot of beans and you can also use the water to cook your pasta that you’re going to eat for dinner.

The original recipe calls for green onions, but I forgot these and didn’t think it ended up needing them.   The dressing has a variety of peppers in it (which can be adjusted for your heat tolerance), and also sumac, which adds a lemony/tangy flavor.  I just learned that the plant this spice comes from is the same species as poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.  The spice, however, does not come from the poison variety.

I was hoping to get to use radishes from my garden, but alas they didn’t grow.  I planted seeds probably 3-4 months ago, but these ones just didn’t make it.  They sprouted and I got one about the size of a pea.  Hopefully I have better luck with the carrots.  I planted carnival carrots so I’m excited to see the different colors.

Adapted from smitten kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of green beans, sliced into 1/2″ pieces and blanched
• 1 bunch of radishes, thinly sliced and halved
• 1 cucumber, thinly sliced and halved
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and salted
• 3 Tablespoons thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
• a small head of green leaf lettuce, thinly sliced

Dressing:

• juice from one lime
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• a large pinch of each of the following:
• salt
• pepper
• chile powder
• cayenne pepper
• sumac

Whisk dressing ingredients together.  Add salad ingredients to a large bowl.  Toss with dressing.

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This salad calls for white and wild rice.  My friend who made this one thought she’d save some time and pans by cooking them together, not knowing at the time that wild rice takes twice as long.  Turns out it didn’t matter much since this salad is served cold.  When served cold, even if the rice was overcooked, it was still firm.  Cooking together did turn the white rice a sort of light purple color though, which was actually sort of pretty.  Along with the cranberries and red onion, it comes off really purple.

Based on this recipe from BBC.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 1.5 cups basmati/jasmine rice (uncooked)
• 1.5 cups wild rice (uncooked)
• 1 can chickpeas , drained
• 1 pack dried cranberries
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 pack feta cheese
• handful flat-leaf parsley , roughly chopped (optional)

Dressing:

• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt & pepper to taste

Rinse the rice and cook according to the pack instructions (white and wild rice are cooked separately).  Add the chickpeas for the final 4 minutes of cooking in the white rice pot.  Drain and allow to cool a little, then mix through the cranberries and onion.

Whisk together the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning to make the dressing and toss with the rice mixture.  Serve on a plate and top with crumbled feta and parsley (if using).  Can be served warm or cold.

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A lot of green onions are used for this salad.  Don’t get scared about this, sauteing them down really makes the flavor mild.  And no, that’s not lobster or crab bits, it’s apple!

Many times recipes call for using some reserved pasta water, and I ALWAYS forget to save this before straining the pasta.  I seem to remember the second I dump the pot into the collander.  This calls for the reserved water, but since I forgot it, I just used water and it seemed to turn out just fine.

Also, don’t worry about slicing the onions super thin.  They will be pureed later so it doesn’t really matter much.  The onions cook down quite a bit.  I forgot to take a before picture, but they pretty much filled the entire pan, and after cooking there were just a few large spoonfuls left.

To make the sauce, I used my mini-chopper, since I’m scared of getting my full size food processor dirty.  I did it in two batches, just dividing the lemon juice, zest, spices and water for each batch.  I stirred them both together at the end.  It ends up looking like a pesto sauce with the same consistency.

Inspired by 101cookbooks.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

1 pound elbow macaroni
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 bunches of thinly sliced green onions
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
fine grain sea salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
zest and juice of one lemon
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
5 big handfuls arugula
1 large apple, diced

Cook the macaroni in a large pot of water per package instructions.  Set aside at least 1/4 cup pasta water.  Then drain pasta and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet until hot.  Add the green onions, garlic, and a pinch of salt.  Cook until the onions soften, and the garlic begins to take on some color, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes.

Use a hand blender or food processor to puree the green onion mixture along with 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, zest of the lemon, half the lemon juice, and the reserved pasta water.  If using a mini-chopper, half everything and puree in 2 batches.  After it’s pureed, stir in half the parmesan.  If sauce seems too thick, thin out with more olive oil or water.

Combine the macaroni with the green onion sauce in a large bowl.  Toss well.  Chop the apple, and if not eating immediately, toss the diced pieces with some lemon juice.  Then add the apple to the pasta mixture.  For serving, add a large handful of arugula on each plate and top with the pasta.  Sprinkle with more parmesan.  If making this as a side dish, you can pre-mix in the arugula with the pasta.  Less may be needed in this case.

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Since it’s peach season, I thought I’d make a peachy salad.  I had my mind made up that this was what I was going to make before I went to the store.  When I showed up though, I found that almost all the peaches and nectarines were not ripe.  I did manage to find 5 that seemed ok.  I had to get an assortment of white and yellow peaches and even a couple nectarines.  When I opened them up, a few of them were still pretty crunchy.  Mainly it was the white peaches, which I later found out are actually bred to be harder in order to prevent bruising.  The basil, peach, and cheese make such a great combination.

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

• 5 ripe peaches
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 package of arugula

Dressing:

• 1-2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• course salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Cut each peach into 6 to 8 wedges, then cut each wedge in thirds crosswise.  In a large bowl, combine the peaches, basil, and mozzarella. Drizzle with the oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss.  Serve on top of a bed of arugula.

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We made this salad last winter and weren’t sure we could find a butternut squash in the middle of summer, but Whole Foods pulled through.  You could also use a kobocha squash in place of the butternut.  The shredded carrots were included in the prepackaged kale we bought.

This recipe was adapted from Food52.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 1 butternut squash, cubed
• 1 large bunch of kale (2 pre-packaged bags)
• 1/2 cup whole almonds
• 1/2 cup aged white cheddar (or parmesan), grated
• olive oil, for roasting
• salt/pepper

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• juice from 1/2 lemon

Heat oven to 425° F.  Toss squash cubes in just enough olive oil to coat, and season with salt and pepper.  Spread on a baking sheet (lined with parchment for easier cleanup), leaving space between the cubes.  Roast in the oven until tender, about 40 minutes, tossing with a spatula every 10-15 minutes.  Allow to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together kale, almonds, cheese and squash.  Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice and toss with salad ingredients.

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Quinoa again!  Aside from the greens and a cucumber, all the other ingredients in this one were leftovers or odds and ends in my fridge.  The quinoa and chives were from dinner and my friend donated some celery to me from her CSA box.  There’s nothing interesting about preparing this, but I had to take one picture on my new cutting board.  I got a really good deal on it at Peppercorn in Boulder, CO on Pearl St.

Ingredients

makes 5 servigns

• 1 cup of celery, thinly sliced
• 1.5 cups of baby carrots, sliced
• 1 medium cucumber, quartered and sliced
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1.5 cups water
• 2 avocados, cubed
• 2 bags of greens

Dressing:

• 2 Tablespoons of chives, minced
• 1 Tablespoon of white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Rinse quinoa with water.  Cook quinoa:  add quinoa to water and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, turn down to simmer and cover for about 15 minutes.  Slice celery, carrots and cucumbers.

Mix chives, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to make dressing.  Pour dressing over greens, veggies and quinoa and toss.  Top with avocado.

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Sorry for not posting in a while.  I was on vacation over the 4th and just got time now to post salads from last week.  This salad is one of my favorites.  Quinoa is really growing on me.  I also just learned this weekend that it’s a complete protein.

Adapted from Robin Robertson’s 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

Ingredients

makes 5+ servings

• 6 cups water
• 3 cups quinoa
• salt
• 4 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 1 can pinto beans
• 1 can black beans
• 4 celery ribs, diced
• 5 tomatoes, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 hot chile, minced
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons agave nectar
• ½ cup olive oil
• black pepper, to taste

Cook the quinoa in a large saucepan.  Bring the water to boil over high heat.  Add the quinoa, salt the water, and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.  Transfer the cooked quinoa to a large bowl.  Add the corn, beans, celery, tomatoes, bell pepper, and cilantro.  Mix and set aside.

In a blender or food processer, mix the garlic, chile, lemon juice, agave, olive oil, and black pepper.  Add dressing to salad and toss to combine.

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I’m still working through my 5 lbs of carrots.  I found this pretty simple recipe.  It’s got simple ingredients, but it does take a little while to prepare.  Mainly it’s cutting up the beans that takes the most time.

This is probably one of my favorite kitchen tools, the Cuisinart Mini-mate Plus.  I use it for pesto and dressings a lot.  Recipes always say you can use a food processor for these type of things, but I just think this would be too big for the amount of volume I usually make.

This dressing is basically a cilantro pesto with lemon.  See below for how it looks once all mixed.

Recipe inspired by 101 cookbooks.

Ingredients

makes 6 servings

• 2 lbs carrots, peeled, sliced
• 2 lbs green beans, ends trimmed, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1/2 head of lettuce, torn
• 1 cup of sliced almonds

Dressing:

• 1 cup loosely packed cilantro, stems removed
• 4 small garlic cloves
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Boil a large pot of water.  While the water is heating up, trim beans and cut into 1″ pieces.  Using a mandolin, slice the carrots thinly.  A food processor would also work well for this.  Once water is boiling, add green beans.  Cook for 1 minute.  Then add carrots and cook for 30 more seconds.  You want the vegetables to stay crisp so avoid over cooking.  Drain vegetables immediately and rinse with cold water.

For dressing, place everything in a mini chopper and puree until smooth.

Toss carrots and beans with the almonds and dressing right before serving.

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This picture, unfortunately, doesn’t show off all the awesome ingredients, like the quinoa, black beans and avocado.  They’re in there though.  We actually made this one 2 consecutive weeks because it was so good.  And because one of our salad members got their salad stolen!  Sometimes if we’re busy during lunch we’ll pack someone a to-go salad in a box and they can eat it whenever they’re free.  We usually put it in the refrigerator in our break room to keep it fresh.  We did this with this salad a few weeks ago and when they went to go find it, it was gone!  We think we had salad stealers before from this fridge too.  At the beginning of salad club we used to make enough salad to last for 2 days so we’d have to store it in the fridge overnight.  Sometimes on day 2 we thought we had considerably less than we thought we had saved the day before.  It is a mystery.

Luckily we made this salad again and everyone got to try it this time.

Recipe from Chloe’s Kitchen.

Ingredients

makes 5 servings

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 heads romaine lettuce, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces
• 2 large tomatoes, finely chopped
• ¼ red onion, finely chopped
• 2 avocado, pitted, peeled, and diced
• ½ cup cooked quinoa
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

Agave-Lime Vinaigrette:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons agave
• ¼ cup lime juice

To make the agave-lime vinaigrette: Blend oil, vinegar, agave, and lime juice in a blender until smooth.  Set aside.

To make the chipotle chop: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, and sauté black beans, onion, garlic, chipotle powder, and salt for 5 minutes.  Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the romaine, tomatoes, avocado, quinoa, black bean mixture, and cilantro.  Toss with desired amount of agave-lime vinaigrette.

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