SmarterFitter Daily

How was I to know this would be my last raw kale salad of the season? But alas, it seems they've come and gone - at least that is the case with The Organic Farm Shop where I buy my kale from.

This salad was super. Raw kale, grated carrot, red onion, roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Topped with some leftover grilled tempeh, avocado and Sriracha. The only thing that would have made it better would have been some toasted sunflower seeds. Next time! Er... next year!

I have a stash of various veggie burger incarnations in the freezer, many of which come from recipes in Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way book. I love this stash because they make lunches sooo easy. And I'm all about using veggie burgers in non-sandwich motifs, treating them as more of a "steak" rather than a bread filler. To that end, I love using veggie burgers to turn raw kale salads into a complete meal. 

Here, it's Lukas Volgers tempeh burgers to the rescue, a good match for this Asian-esque raw kale salad with curly kale, orange wedges, spring onion, grated carrot, toasted almonds, lemon juice, olive oil, and the magic: Sriracha sauce. A little requisite avocado and this was a total win.

Handy tip: frozen veggie burgers heat up pretty well in the toaster, giving them a crisp outer crunch that makes them also crouton like in the salad. I dig it.

Basically raw kale salad anything makes me really happy at the moment. 

Veggie burger is this one: Red Lentil Veggie Burger

Beetroot hummus courtesy of Roz Golding, a little treat she brought for our working lunch last Thursday. Seriously freakin' delicious. Apparently from the River Cottage Veg book. The lentil croquettes are from a Rose Elliot recipe. Served with raw kale salad. Pretty much the ideal lunch.

British-Mexican fusion? Regardless, I loved this. The kale (Red Russian) and parsnips (and a bit of carrot, too) were delicious with the rich mole sauce and a bit of feta cheese. 

On the side: more kale and parsnips mixed with pinto beans, plus salsa and jalapenos.

Recipe: Mexican Mole Sauce from The Vegetarian Cookery School

Curly kale, white onion, carrot, boiled egg, red cabbage, toasted sunflower seeds, red chilli, orange wedges, and the magic ingredient..... orange marmalade! 

Dressing was just lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This was really really good. The mashed swede recipe is well worth remembering. Fish was simply seasoned with salt and pepper then pan fried. Served sauteed kale and lemon. Super.

Another raw kale salad inspired by Munch. Assembly as follows

Slice a piece of garlic in half and use the juicey sliced part to rub the inside of a big salad bowl. To this add:

• 2 cups raw curly kale, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 100g cooked adzuki beans (lentils would also be good)
• 1/2 orange cut into large pieces (any juice left behind on the cutting board should also be scraped into the salad bowl)
• 1 tsp of honey mustard dressing + squeeze of lemon juice (or just use lemon juice and olive oil)
• Salt and pepper

Toss it all together, pile on a plate, top with toasted sesame and sunflower seeds and a few slices of hot red chilli.

My favourite use of Carl Legge's vegetarian haggis thus far: stuffed in a portobello mushroom and topped with the Backyard BBQ Sauce from Veganomicon. Pretty awesome. 

Had this with sauteed leeks and curly kale (a favourite combo), avocado on the side, and a squeeze of lime juice. Oh, and lots of hot chillies. 

More on the haggis: Vegetarian Haggis for Burns Night