Sprouted Lentil Hummus

LENTIL SPROUTS!!

I love lentil sprouts. I recently ordered the Peasant Mix from SproutPeople (as well as the Moo Mix and I think the French Garden Mix). I have their small sprouter as well, which I love. But in this green multiple tray sprouter, I went for the mixed lentils this time. They are awesome, however I probably made too much at once. I'm not sure how long they last in the fridge.....anyone? 

I usually just sprout the regular ol' cheap lentils you get in a bag at the grocery store. Those are good too! You should try those first, if you've never done lentil sprouts before. Then you can go fancy :)

I had so many sprouts, I needed to use them in something besides just adding them to my salads. So...I added them into my hummus and it's delicious!

Sprouted Lentil Hummus:

1 can garbanzo beans

1 cup sprouted lentils

1 clove garlic

1 small tomato or roasted red pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

salt to taste

Blend all together in a food processor until the lentils are mostly broken down. Add more lemon juice if you'd like!

 (without sprouts)

(with sprouts)

What other kinds of hummus do you like?

ONE MORE DAY to enter my giveaway for a FREE magazine subscription! TEN WINNERS!

Eat smart,

T.

Avocado dressing

AVOCADO!!! It's a good fat!

Are you bored with your salads? I admit that sometimes I just don't want a salad.....same thing every time. But it doesn't have to be. These days I eat a salad for lunch almost everyday. Here are a few awesome ingredient ideas for your salads:

Replace your lettuce with arugula, kale, spinach, or a nice red leaf lettuce.

Add raw beets or roasted red peppers for sweetness and color.

Add avocado!

Orange/tangerine/grapefruit wedges? (not my thing, but a lot of people like it)

Beans....garbanzo (chickpeas), black beans, lima beans.

Corn, tomatoes, and black beans added make for a nice Mexican style salad!

Sprinkle hemp seeds or raw sunflower seeds on top.

Sprouts....go crazy! Lentil sprouts, broccoli sprouts, clover sprouts...or just plain alfalfa.

and of course.....chopped broccoli, celery, and cucumbers :)

Salad doesn't need to be plain. And to top it off, try a fresh new dressing! Some of my favorites are in the original Forks Over Knives book. My favorite is the OJ Hummus dressing.

Or just top your salad with hummus....or guacamole! Delicious and good for you.

Try this one:

Fresh Avocado Dressing:

1 Hass Avocado

juice of 1/2-1 lemon (depending how lemony you like it)

1 tbsp Creole seasoning (or salt and cayenne pepper)

1/2 cup+  water

optional: handful of basil leaves

Scoop out the avocado and put it in a blender or food processor. Add juice from 1/2 the lemon (to start) and the seasoning. Blend. Add the rest of the lemon juice if you want it more lemony. Add a little water at a time until you get your desired consistency. I like mine on the thick, yet pourable side. 

I've previously posted a slightly different version (but close!). You can find it on the recipes tab.

Coming up: More hummus ideas

                  Vegg reviews (a vegan egg yolk??)

You still have a few days to enter to win a FREE subscription to a magazine of your choice. Spread the word for extra entries (see post).

What are your favorite salad ingredients?

Eat smart,

T.

Super Soft Ginger Cookies

GINGER!!! So good and good for you!

I hadn't baked anything in a while, so I was flipping through some cookbooks looking for something good to make. I adapted this recipe from Dreena Burton's Gingery Cookies (Let Them Eat Vegan).

Super Soft Ginger Cookies (Gluten Free):

(makes about 12 cookies)

1 cup Gluten Free oat flour

1/3 cup almond flour/meal

1/4 cup raw cane sugar (+ extra to coat cookies)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp blackstrap molasses

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

optional: handful of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix. At this point, mix in the chocolate chips, if using. 

Take spoonfuls of the batter and roll into a ball. Roll it in the sugar then place on parchment paper or silicone mat on a baking sheet. Flatten the cookie a bit with your hands. Repeat until all batter is used. Bake for about 11-12 minutes. Remove and let cool. Transfer to cooling rack.

These cookies are VERY soft! You can try baking them a bit longer to see if they will get crispier...or let them dry on the cooling rack longer. 

OPTION: try using less sugar...these were really sweet.

Next up......really easy avocado dressing for your salads!

Don't forget to enter to win a FREE subscription to a magazine of your choice (including VegNews and Vegetarian Times)!! Giveaway ends soon....

Eat smart,

T.

Free Digital Veg Magazine Giveaway[CLOSED]

Everything's gone digital! Even magazine and newspaper subscriptions. I suppose it's much better for the environment, but I've gotta admit, I really love flipping through actual magazines and newspapers still....is that wrong?

If you could do it.....FREE.....would you? Well here's good news.....Zinio has offered to give 10 of my readers a FREE subscription!!! And guess what? They DO have Vegetarian Times and VegNews. I currently subscribe to both of these in the physical version, so I don't need a digital version as well. Zinio has tons of magazines to choose from, not only the ones I mentioned.

And they also have a current promotion for 50% off many of their magazines:

They also have lots of cookbooks and articles for download too. I have not tried them, although I did create an account with them. Perhaps when my current subscriptions run out, I will indeed try a digital version.

Here's a little more information directly from Zinio:

About Zinio:

• Thousands of top magazines from around the world. You can browse and purchase subscriptions or single issues instantly from your computer or mobile device to read wherever and whenever you like
• Explore section lets you read - even without a subscription - thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends
• Use on iPad, iPhone, Android mobile phones and tablets, laptop or desktop
• Can also be used on Kindle Fire and Nook by following these steps: http://form.jotformpro.com/form/23203574664958?__jsonlib_toJSON=function+()%7Breturn+this.valueOf()

HOW TO WIN A FREE SUBSCRIPTION:

Please leave a comment here telling me which free magazine you'd like from Zinio

AND

Either follow me on Facebook, Twitter, OR right here on my blog with Google Friend Connect (upper left side) and leave your ID/name you used in the same comment as above. 

FOR AN EXTRA ENTRY: 

Tweet about this giveaway and make sure to include BOTH @EatingKale and @zinio
Leave a second comment here telling me you did (and your Twitter ID).

You must give me an email address or Twitter account to contact you if you win (if it is not available via your profile). If you win, I will need the following information: First and Last Name, Email Address, and the name of the Magazine you want. If you do not respond to the email or Twitter contact within 3 days of winner notice, you will forfeit your winnings and I will choose another winner.

I will randomly select 10 winners. This giveaway ends January 15th, 2013 at 5 pm EST.
Worldwide entries accepted!

Good luck!

Eat smart,

T.

Thanksgiving and a preview

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted.....hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, though you've mostly moved on to the Winter Holidays by now. Hope you are enjoying those as well...

Here are just a few snapshots of my Thanksgiving dinner this year. I wimped out. I was going to make my own seitan roast again, but saw the new Gardein roast and thought I should try it....and since I always buy a Tofurky (because it's tradition), I had two store-bought roasts. I did make a nice colcannon (mashed potato/parsnip/turnip with cabbage & onion) with homemade cranberry sauce and my mom's awesome stuffing (veganized)!

The new Gardein Holiday Roast:

The ol' standby, Tofurky:

Cranberry sauce in the making:

Pumpkin pie made from a fresh Long Island Cheese Squash that I cooked (though I admit the whole wheat vegan crust is store-bought):

Our desserts (yes, I made cranberry bread too...and our friend, Dave who visited from New Orleans, brought vegan cookies):

Here's the main plate:

And guess what else? I finally bought a kitchen compost keeper (RSVP 1.5 Gal).......and I love it! Now I don't have to waste space in the fridge, or take it out to the backyard compost everyday:

I have biobags that I use inside. I suppose I don't need them, but it's easier to just lift the bag out and throw the whole thing in the composter and then I don't really need to clean the bucket.

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, but this year I've got two. Since our basement renovation is finally complete....

.....I can finally resume my p90x workouts!!

And secondly, I need to get back to blogging. I also need to get back to reading other peoples' blogs....as in, I'm scared to open up Google Reader. I haven't read anything in months. I still somewhat keep up via Facebook.....but I've been a little MIA on Twitter as well. I'm coming back!!

Coming up on the blog:

Digital magazine downloads (and possibly free subscriptions to Veggie mags)
Reviewing The Vegg (a vegan egg yolk??)

Stay tuned!!

Eat smart,
T.

Fall in New England

Ok, so this post isn't food related, but I wanted to share some of the pretty foliage scenes from our neighborhood! I'm excited, since this is our first Fall in our new home here. And by the time this "storm" hits tonight/tomorrow, the wind will probably have blown all the leaves off entirely!

And the following pictures are from my phone:

 (yes, the squirrels ate our pumpkins)

Hope you are enjoying the Fall weather......

Eat smart,
T.

Roots and Soups

As we prepare for the impending storm, I thought I'd link again to my storm prep post. It seems it doesn't matter where we move, we always bring along the hurricanes. When we left New Orleans to live in Cincinnati for a year, we brought a hurricane....lost power for 5 days! And now we have moved to New England, here we go again. Sorry!! But anyway, good idea to be prepared, so get going.

Now on to the actual post. It's ROOT season! Yup, potatoes, onions, turnips, parsnips, you name it....

I roasted a big pan of roots, including parsnips, turnips, celeriac, kohlrabi, onions, and beets for color (since it was all white!). So good. Cut them up, spread them out on a baking sheet, sprinkle on some "Herbs of Provence" and some salt, bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes....done! (you might want to stir them a bit in the middle)

I love roasted root vegetables!! What's your favorite root? This was my first time with a kohlrabi and celeriac. Here's a picture of the dirty, half peeled celeriac:

Have you had celeriac before? It tastes like celery, but with a really weird texture.

Made some beet salad too (boiled beets, raw onions, apple cider vinegar, salt):

It's also SOUP season! A nice warming bowl of soup on a cold Autumn evening. Yup :)

(Harvest Corn and Squash Soup)

(Couscous and Roasted Pepper Soup)

Both of the above soup recipes are from Devra Gartenstein's "Local Bounty: Seasonal Vegan Recipes". It's an excellent book with recipes by season. Both of these soups were so delicious!!

What's your favorite Fall/Winter soup?

Eat smart,

T.