Day Twenty-Seven: Wilted Kale Salad

Keeping with the salad theme I changed my mind at the last second as I was about to make some more kale chips. Remembering a delicious meal I'd had once at my grandparents', I pulled out my recipe book to finally make Wilted Kale Salad!

The dressing is another I can add to my slowly growing list, and its packed with good fats. With a 1/4 avocado, black pepper, garlic powder, olive oil a tiny bit of soy sauce and a little lemon juice (one wedge's worth should do it!), I just mixed it all up with a fork!

To wilt kale, first you have to take the stems out. Once it is in bite sized pieces in a bowl, add a little bit of water and a little sea salt. Then basically just squeeze it and mash it up with your hands until it goes an even darker green and begins to look wet all over, spinach-like sort of.
I combined this kale with my dressing, before topping it with cucumber, chickpeas, pumpkin seeeds, mushroom and red onion. This was a great salad, if maybe a little sour. I think this was a combination of too much lemon juice and my not being very used to using salt, but next time I'll tame it down on both counts!

A great lunchtime fix! Probably not great for leftovers, though perhaps once everything sets it might gain a little more subtlety that would add even more layers!

Some might be asking where the protein component is here, but rest assured I paired it with some leftover chili and felt plenty full and recharged!

Adios for now!

Day Nineteen: Hearty Bison Chili

With a helluva work day coming up tomorrow (3 hours of class, followed by 8 hours of work, followed by a night out with the girls), I knew I needed to make something especially filling and easy that I could transport for easy eating!
In comes chili!
With some thawed lean ground bison, and half a can of chickpeas I simply tossed together a big ol' pot of delicious spicy goodness.
In a big pot get the ground meat going (you can use virtually anything, but I do like the taste of bison!), and add in whatever vegetables you can spare! I went with an onion, yellow pepper, zucchini, cabbage, and diced canned tomatoes (no salt added). Then I added garlic, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1 cup of water and a plethora of spices. Ginger, cumin, curry powder, chili flakes, black pepper, paprika and oregano were the main players, with a bay leaf thrown in for a little extra something!

Let it reduce, let the veggies get tender, and then enjoy! I put some fresh basil up on top for an interesting mouthful and a pretty picture:

Easy, quick, and utterly painless!