Marinated Kale w/ Roasted Veggies & Some Fabulous News!

Well…. you caught me today with a project on my hands!  And as you know once you get knee deep into something it’s hard to want to stop and eat something nutritious. Today I went scrambling into the fridge and served up this delicious lunch in seconds flat.  You guessed it, right?  Left overs!  I have never posted my leftovers before but today….. I just had to! It was so darned deelish that I knew you would want to know about this recipe I created for dinner last night.

Now, I have to admit, as much as I know kale is aaahmazing for my health and is considered one of the kings of nutrients in the greens category I have a hard time finding ways that I truly enjoy eating it versus drinking it!  So many times it’s too chewy, or too hard to chew, or too green tasting or overpowering in green smoothies. But I’m slowly becoming more acquainted with kale other than tossing in in my green juice and smoothies each day (fresh lemon really cuts the strength of the kale flavour) and this recipe actually made me fall in love with kale!  Aside from kale chips which I do enjoy, this salad and it’s texture is my new fave.

What’s so amazing is that although it looks like the smallest plate of kale (most is buried under the veggies- sorry I didn’t make much of it show in these shots) there is a full cup of kale or a tad more.  And this cup of kale used to be 2 cups before I massaged it with some yummy extra virgin olive oil and lemon and then finished off with some avocado.  It rather shrunk, but it’s kind of a good thing, especially for a lunch dish, when we are all too often in a hurry to eat or chew.  Here you’re getting double the nutrients by eating a bowl full of this tenderized concentrated kale that used to be twice the size!  Bonus hey!

I was really wondering how the kale would hold up over night after all that massaging I did to it.  I imagined a soft soggy boggy mess today if I saved the left overs because I really couldn’t fit anymore in at dinner time but I took a chance.  And honestly, it was just as good at dinner, if not, even better today.  This makes me so excited cuz I really want to incorporate more kale into my diet aside from the juiced and blended kale that is always going on around our house.  I can already imagine the flavours that I can play with.  But for this one I chose chipotle with some smoked paprika, my fave, and gosh just writing this post is making me want to make another batch!

So like I said, you caught me busy as a bee painting today.  Can you guess what it is?  Yup, it’s a backdrop–so I can make some of my food shots for your eyes just a little bit prettier!  I’ve been hunting for old reclaimed peeley paint weathered boards but to no avail in my neck of the woods (if you know of any on Vancouver Island pls share!) so I’m working to create my own version of an old looking colourful panel or table surface to enhance the yummy plates of food that I photograph.  It’s kinda fun to be crafty again, cuz it’s been a while since I took the time to be creative this way yet… it was what I did as a designer and teacher of all things crafty with my retail home accessories and furnishings store that I closed last year to pursue this nutritionist journey.  As much as I miss the creative crafty part I have never looked back.  Just knowing that I really do love my new journey via this blog, here with you, feels so good inside.  To me it’s a sign of good things to come when you follow your passion and it feels right, don’t you think?

So….on that note… do you wanna hear the fabulous news?? Well, it’s all about this journey, right here. right now!  I’ve been striving for 3 years to find myself in a position to write this post.  Upon starting this blog I always thought it would lead to this but wasn’t sure exactly how but it was on my horizon line even as I enrolled in nutrition school and endured weekly travel to Vancouver leaving my hubby in charge of our young kids for 11 months- but phew I did it!  And now I can really say that it was all worth it! Drum roll………….you probably guessed it by now…but here it goes…”I’m officially writing an alkaline cook book”, woot woot whooo!!  …dancing in my slippers and cheering with my green smoothie!  So… looking back and now forward, the journey goes like this…. sore back, alkaline lifestyle change, make yummy new foods, sore back heals, start blog, close retail store, study nutrition at IHN, write book and inspire alkaline health the along the entire way and now bring it to the world! Yay!  And what more could I possibly ask for except along this journey but a fantastico publisher who ‘gets me and my vision’ and is wonderful to work with…Robert McCullough of The Appetite Imprint by Random House of Canada, right across the water from me!  I couldn’t be more ecstatic for you and for me!  I know that you have been asking for a cook book and now I can truly say that it is in the works, hence the new backdrop painting and fussing going on today!!

I’ll do my best to be here bi-weekly and maybe even sneak in a hello in between!  If you are an Instagrammer you can follow me cuz I seem to find stolen moments for updates here on your computer or of course on your phone @alkalinesister.  I promise I will also work harder to post updates and special links on our alkalinesisters.com facebook page right here so if you friend me you will get the updates.  And if you are a tweeter you can find me here on twitter.

Now, I HAVE to share this story tho about this book writing journey, but I’ll be quick!  While I was in school my goal was to somehow establish a publishing contact or deal by the time I was done. I was on a mission!  So crazee me, I even faked a book signing presentation with a faux book cover and all!  My class mates all congratulated me after my speech, thinking it was the real deal!  I totally convinced them during this speaking assignment that I was already published! LOL!!  How brazin’ of me, huh!  If you are one of my class mates reading this right now you are probably chuckling!  The thing is… the more real you make your dream, the more you share your goal with others around you, the better chance you have of achieving it.  By sharing my dream I found amazing support that lead me to find a publisher that was a perfect fit!  In fact, it was our instructor Sherry Strong who lead me to Robert at Random House and I am ever so grateful, thank you Sherry:) And I also have to thank You for your loyal readership and support here on the blog cuz without that no publisher would say yes these days!  So there you have it, I’m busy, busy, busy creating lots of new recipes and taking pretty, pretty food shots for you.  The process is lengthy of course so don’t expect to see an actual book until late summer 2014 but time does fly fast when you are busy and having fun, right?

This was the mock up I made for the presentation…this is NOT the actual book and the book I’m writing probably won’t even resemble this but I couldn’t resist sharing!  Sorry but I had to make my message bold for those of us that are in a hurry and don’t have time to read all the jib jab and might mistake the image above, as they quickly scroll, for a new release! -eek!

Now I would sooo love to hear from you if you have a moment to share what you would like to see in the book, you can leave me a quick comment below this post.  We are compiling the table of contents and your thoughts and ideas are important to me if you would be so kind to share:)  In the meantime tho, I want you to be cooking and eating healthy recipes so if you are interested in an alkaline cook book I can’t help but share the newest one that was released last June in the UK that has recently come to my attention.  Honestly Healthy is well put together with lovely photography and some yummy recipes, even Spice girl Victoria Beckham is tweeting about it!  I also highly recommend Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr and Chad Sarno which is packed with tons of info and some tasty business!  In the mean time check out this yummy recipe that I couldn’t get enough of!  Hope you love it:)

Tender but Raw Chipotle Kale with Roasted Veggies
Yield: 2 lg plates or 4 small plates
1 med sweet potato, 1/2″ diced
1 large beet, 1/2″ diced
1 onion, 1/2″ diced
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
sprinkle of fine Himalayan salt
5 cups kale, ribs removed and finely chopped into small bite sized pieces
juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 avocado, pitted and diced
1/4 tsp chipotle chile pepper spice (or to taste)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp Himalayan salt
2-3 drops stevia or 1 tsp maple syrup
Method
Preheat oven to 350F.  Toss sweet potato with a drizzle of the melted coconut oil (I usually just pop a heat proof custard dish in the oven for a few mins to melt the oil) and a sprinkle of salt and pour onto one end of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Repeat with onions and pour alongside the potatoes in a bit of heap so they will cook a little slower that the rest, and do the same with the beets and pour them at the end of the tray.  This all seems fussy but prevents the beets from colouring the entire batch of veggies pink. Go ahead and mix them all together if you don’t mind the bleeding:)  Roast the diced veggies for 30 mins or until fork tender.  Meanwhile, place lemon & olive oil into a large deep bowl and massage using your hands for about 1 minute then add (have someone help you if you don’t want to rinse your hands) remaining ingredients and massage till the avocado is completely creamed thru the greens and the greens have softened somewhat, approx 1-2 mins.  Divide onto plates and top with roasted veggies (I allowed the veggies to cool a bit before topping the greens to avoid heating the greens at all). Voila, enjoy!
ps. An added bonus to this recipe is a wonderful hand treatment!  Avocado massaged into your hands makes them nice and soft!  Remember to remove any jewelery or rings before hand to avoid mucking them up. And finally, the kale is more tender the next day of course after marinating over night.

Do let me know if you give this a shot or if you have played with  your kale like this before!  I’ve seen demos of massaged kale but I haven’t actually taken to it so it was about time!

Thanks for sharing in my news today, I was thrilled to announce it for you and I look forward to the journey of writing a wonderful resource for living an alkaline lifestyle.

Until we meet again have a wonderful week!

A Green Smoothie Cheer and a little dance for you:)

Julie

ps. Anyone going to Oprah tonight in Vancouver? If you are, enjoy… I’m so grateful and sooo excited to also be going, inspiration at it’s best!