Super Easy Salad

Fresh, surprising, and satisfying. This #salad only has 3 ingredients: watermelon, feta, and fresh #mint. Try it now. The salty feta is a lovely counterpart to the sweet #watermelon.

A photo posted by Betty Clementine (@bettyclementine) on Jul 2, 2015 at 2:27pm PDT

Smashed Chickpeas

This is a great dish for lunch or dinner.  Eat this as a filling inside pita bread or over quinoa if you are gluten sensitive.  

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)

1/2 shallot (minced)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Place the chickpeas in a bowl and smash half of them with a fork

In a non-stick pan, over medium heat, add olive oil and shallots.  Cook the shallots for roughly 3 minutes.  Now add the chickpeas, cumin, oregano, and salt.  Cook for another 4 minutes.  Add cilantro and lemon juice and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Delicious Tofu Curry

This is a great recipe that can easily be turned into a vegan dish:

Here are my substitutions/alterations:

Instead of shrimp, use extra firm tofu

I don't like canned tomatoes, so I just pureed 2 large tomatoes with a tiny bit of water in a blender

To make it a lighter curry, use coconut milk (Coconut Dream) instead of canned coconut milk

I also added 2 teaspoons of curry powder

Enjoy!

Shrimp Curry recipe - use my substitutions to turn it into a vegan dish

Vegan and Gluten Free fruit crumble

This little vegan and gluten free crumble was so good, I almost forgot to take a photo. Here is the recipe: Fruit filling - 1 mango, 1 nectarine, 1 apple (remove skin from all fruit and cut into 2 inch pieces); 1/2 cup frozen blueberries; 1/3 cup dried cherries; 1 teaspoon vegan honey (made from apples); juice from half an orange; 1/4 cup of apple juice Combine all of the ingredients in an oven-safe container and set aside. At this point, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. 🍎 Crumble - Find a very simple sugar cookie recipe and make the following substitutions: Instead of eggs, use: 1 tablespoon of finely ground flax seeds combined with 3 tablespoons of water (this replaces 1 egg); instead of butter, use: coconut oil; instead of sugar, use: maple syrup; and finally instead of regular flour, use: gluten-free baking flour. If the 🍪 recipe you find requires any milk, use your favorite nut milk instead (almond, cashew, or coconut). The best way to mix this crumble is with your hands. Once the ingredients are mixed well, you are ready to put this #dessert together. Assembly- Evenly distribute the dough over the fruit. Once the fruit is covered with the dough, place the dish into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the dough/crumble/crust looks golden brown. Enjoy! 💚💛💜💙

A photo posted by Betty Clementine (@bettyclementine) on Jun 28, 2015 at 5:12am PDT

Kale Smoothie

I had extra kale laying around and didn't want to make kale chips or a savory dish.  I decided to make a kale smoothie.  Here's what you'll need:

Yes, the banana is supposed to be this ripe

Remove the kale leaves from the midrib (yes, this is what the tough "stem" is called)

Recipe serves 4 people, 2 really hungry people, or 1 person (if you want kale smoothie for breakfast, lunch, and dinner)

Equipment:
Blender
measuring cup
scissors (optional)
measuring spoons (optional)

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1/2 cup coconut water
1/2 cup low-fat kefir (if you are vegan, substitute the kefir with coconut milk or 1 very ripe banana - if you decide to go with the banana option, this recipe will end up needing 2 bananas)
6 ice cubes
1 very ripe banana
3 - 4 kale leaves cut or torn into small pieces (see photo above)
1/2 avocado (remove the giant seed, scoop out the flesh, and discard the skin)
1 tablespoon maple syrup (if you want a sweeter smoothie, you can add more maple syrup)
1/8 teaspoon (or a dash) turmeric
1/8 teaspoon (or dash) cinnamon

Put all of the ingredients in the blender and blend on high speed until the mixture is smooth.
Enjoy!

Matzoh Ball Soup

My husband was craving Matzoh Ball Soup, so I searched for a recipe and went with this one:

From the Food Network

It takes quite a bit of time, but the soup is well worth it.  I took one extra step and browned the chicken, prior to covering it with water.

Enjoy.

No Lettuce Salad #2 (Vegan AND Gluten free)

I made this salad for the first time last night and everyone loved it.  But, if you HATE cilantro, you can use flat leaf parsley.  This is a great salad to take to a party because you can combine all of the vegetables, ahead of time, and nothing will wilt.

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups of roasted corn (also available in the frozen vegetable section of Whole Foods, if you don't feel like roasting fresh ears of corn)
3 cups shredded cabbage
1 haas avocado (peeled and cut into cubes)
1 red bell pepper (chopped into 2 inch squares)
8 scallions, white and light green parts only (sliced)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup garbanzo beans
6 cherry tomatoes sliced in half

Place all of these ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

For the dressing:

In an 8 oz jar with a lid, combine:


1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon white granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
(Limes are GREEN!!! DO NOT confuse this with a yellow lemon.  LIMES ARE NOT LEMONS!!!)


Place the lid on the jar and shake the jar vigorously.

Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.

Enjoy!

Vegan AND Gluten-free pancakes

So many of my friends are gluten sensitive/intolerant/allergic and a handful of them are vegan.  One thing we all have in common is our love of breakfast.  Good morning menu-challenged friends, this recipe is for all of us!  These are vegan, gluten-free, and will satisfy the pickiest of eaters (husband tested and approved).

***Warning, it is better to make the batter in advance.  You can even make this a few days in advance and keep it in the fridge.  Cooking the pancakes right away, yields flatter, runny pancakes.  They are still tasty, just not as pretty or as fluffy.*** 

Ingredients:

1 large very ripe banana (yes, you want the peel to have some black spots)

2 tablespoons of sugar

Mash these two ingredients together.  Once you have a nice paste, add:

1 cup of rice milk

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

Mix well.  If you don't want banana lumps in the batter, put the previous 4 ingredients in a blender and pulse for 60 seconds.

To the liquid, add:

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free flour

Mix everything together in a large bowl.  Once you get rid of the gluten-free flour lumps, put the batter in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now that your batter has chilled, cook your pancakes in a non-stick pan.  If you are using a crepe pan or stainless steel cook wear (such as All-Clad), use coconut oil cooking spray for easier pancake flipping.

Enjoy!