Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Gina Marie

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

My life has felt pretty full lately.

On one hand, it is wonderful. I’ve been working hard doing the things I love to do. I pretty much get to take pictures for a living. I get to put words to paper. I get to meet lots of new people and forge new connections. I get to use my hands to create things. I also get the chance to come here and chat with you and share my unbridled enthusiasm about smoothies and shoving things in a crock pot. Chatting with you is one of my favorite things. I feel pretty darn lucky.

On the other hand…

The dishes occasionally get piled a little higher than I would like. The number of emails in my inbox seem to be staring at me funny. The mountain of laundry is intimidating and something I would rather nap in than fully tackle. I have a brand new David Sedaris book that seems to be stuck in rabbit ears around page 12. The amount of scrap paper and weird Amazon packaging that seems to have accumulated in my office could be considered light hoarding. Seriously, as I type this, I am sitting in close proximity to: Magazines, duct tape, three cardboard boxes, poster board, a water color painting of Justin Bieber as a polar bear, scotch tape, unsorted mail, and about three different camera bags that look like they have all exploded. This is real life.

I am sure you get this. Maybe you’re sitting around less debris. I should really get rid of these boxes. It’s another level.

So, here we are on Monday. I am going to try to tackle my email inbox and attempt to clear out the messiness that is my work space. I already downed a large green juice. Can we put on some hype music and maybe bust a few moves? Get the blood pumping!!! Whoooo! Sometimes a mess of this magnitude needs a motivational soundtrack.

As far as meals go, I need something simple. I literally threw this together in five minutes. It’s going to be lunch. Look at all of that glorious nutrition! Insert more hype music, followed by more dance moves. Let’s make this Monday better with this Broccoli and Apple Quick Slaw! I’m in if you are. Go team!

I purchased a bag of pre-shredded broccoli slaw from Trader Joes. That stuff is incredible! I am pretty sure it is just shredded broccoli stems, and you could make it very easily in your food processor, however, I totally bought mine pre-shredded. I am in no mood to turn down a short cut. The other ingredients are chopped apples, shredded carrots, toasted sunflower seeds and some sliced red onion. Easy.

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

To dress our slaw, I threw together a quick honey mustard vinaigrette. All of the ingredients go into a mason jar and is shaken vigorously until everything comes together. BAM! You’ve got dressing.

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw | So...Let's Hang Out

See how easy that was? If you throw a chicken breast on here, this could totally be dinner. Or, you can do what I plan to do and literally eat this entire thing straight from the bowl. No shame. If you are looking for something to pack up and take to work for lunch, this slaw is a great move. The leftovers, even though they are dressed, will not get immediately soggy like a lettuce-based salad!

Wishing you a productive week with the appropriate motivational soundtrack! We’ve got this! xo

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw

Ingredients

Slaw

3 cups shredded broccoli slaw (I got mine from Trader Joes. If you can't find it, simply process broccoli stems in your food processor.)
1-2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 apple, chopped
1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds

Dressing

3 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbs raw honey
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Combine all of your salad ingredients into a large bowl and set aside.
Add all of your salad dressing ingredients into a mason jar. Put the lid on your jar and shake vigorously until all of the ingredients are combined.
Dress your salad, and toss together to distribute your dressing.
Serve and enjoy!

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Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Gina Marie

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing | So... Let's Hang Out

I like kale. I like it in a salad. I like it in a quiche. I like it in my dip. I find ways to put it into most everything. Remember that Shepherd’s Pie we made? I totally kale-d you. I just made a verb out of kale, and although that might be taking things too far, we’re going to run with it. Prepare to be kale-d.

So, this salad was my attempt at trying to recreate a salad that I splurged on at a restaurant over the weekend. The original recipe had a creamy tahini and peanut dressing. Can we just talk about tahini for a moment? I like the taste of it. I can never remember to purchase it. EVER. This is the reason that I never make my own hummus, or if I do, it ends up tasting like it’s missing something. This would be because it IS missing something. It’s missing the tahini I can never remember to buy. EVERRRRRR.

Needless to say, there was no tahini in my cupboards. There was also no peanut butter in my fridge. Peanuts are not on the paleo approved lists of foods(since they are technically a legume), so for the last 26 days, I have been grooving on almond butter (unless, of course, I am out at a restaurant and ordering salads that are slathered in peanut butter. Flexible morals.). Without the two basic ingredients that I knew for certain to have been in my weekend salad splurge, there was only one thing to do. Improvise. It worked out. I ate a lot of this salad. I ate the leftovers for breakfast. It worked out just fine indeed.

See how creamy that almond dressing is? Delicious. Let’s mix it with the kale. You are going to use your hands so that you can massage the dressing into the kale leaves and mix it in really well. This will be a little bit messy, I am not going to lie to you. My insider tip would be to remove your wedding ring or other jewelry. I did not do this. My diamond is tinged with a delicious film of dried almond paste.

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing | So... Let's Hang Out Once you massage it in, you will get this. Yum.

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing | So... Let's Hang Out Now, simply add all of your toppings! BAM! You just got kale-ed. (Yup. Still happening.)

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing | So... Let's Hang Out I got fancy and served mine up with a half of an avocado. You will not regret it.

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing | So... Let's Hang Out

Hope your day is kaletastic! Kalerific? Kaletacular? Too far? Noted. Have an awesome Wednesday, Friend!

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing

Ingredients

Kale Salad

1 bag of prewashed dinosaur kale (or two bunches, washed and de-stemmed)
1/2 cup of scallions, diced
A handful of mint leaves, thinly chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds (without shells)
Avocado, optional

Creamy Almond Dressing

3 tbs almond butter
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
4 tbs olive oil
1 tsp raw honey (use maple syrup to make vegan)
1 1/2 tbs gluten-free soy sauce (use coconut aminos to make it paleo)
1 tsp grated ginger
2 small cloves of garlic, peeled
juice of 1 lemon
water, as needed

Instructions

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients for your salad dressing. Blend on high until the mixture comes together and becomes creamy.
If your dressing is too thick, you can add a little bit of water and process again. I would add a very small bit of water (1/2 a tbs) at a time to make sure that you do not water it down too much.
After your dressing has come together, set it aside.
In a large bowl, mix together your kale and your dressing. Using your hands, massage it into the leaves until the dressing is mixed thoroughly throughout.
Once your dressing if mixed into the kale leaves, you can add your toppings.
Serve with a couple of slices of fresh avocado. This salad can be served right away, or stored for a couple of days in the fridge. Since the base is kale and not lettuce, it will not wilt in the same way,Enjoy!

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Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Gina Marie

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out

Look-y here. I’ve managed to make you something that isn’t breakfast. I’ve apparently been on one serious breakfast-y kick. I’ve been turning out waffles, quiche, and smoothies galore. I point out the fact I’m bringing you something non-breakfast since I am pretty sure tomorrow (or at least soon) I am posting something breakfast-y. Sorry (not really).

So…yesterday got weird. Mostly because I’m me and can’t seem to stay off the internet no matter how terrifying it can be. I had a weird tingle in my leg, which I promptly Googled (bad move). Don’t do this, friends. Don’t Google every twinge or tingle or pain that happens in your body just because you can. I’ve been telling myself this for years, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. When you Google a symptom, no matter what your symptom is, it usually leads to “OMG, I AM DYING!!!” Since I was experiencing a weird leg tingle, the sage and soothing advice of the interweb made me believe that I was probably, most likely, right in the middle of a stroke. Things got dramatic. I started pacing back and forth, thinking “OMG. I am having a stroke. This is not good. This is extremely bad.” The dog looked at me suspiciously and without major concern. Aren’t dogs supposed to be sympathetic? Geez.

I needed to be talked off the ledge and the dog’s cavalier attitude led me to believe she was not the one for the job. I called my mother. “Mom, I am fairly certain,with the advice of the internet, that I am having a stroke.” It turns out that if you have the where withal to call someone semi-casually, and the strength to pace your hallways over and over, you are probably not having a stroke and most likely just have some sort of pins and needles situation from sitting on your leg for too long at the computer. You are however, probably in the middle of a WebMD-induced panic attack. After a pretty grandiose freak out, some light tears and some heavy breathing, I managed to pull myself together. Long story short…WebMD is not a real doctor, Moms are good people to call when you are having non-strokes, and I can be an over-dramatic hypochondriac. This is my real life brain in ultimate crazy-mode. It happens. We all have our things.

After one is done having a non-stroke, one gets hungry. At least, this is my personal experience after said non-stroke. I took out some hearty healthy veggies and began to work some healthy magic. I chopped a cauliflower into florets. I diced up a couple of cloves of garlic very finely. I broke out the fancy Copper Hill olive oil and poured a couple of tablespoons over my cauliflower and garlic mixture. All good things at work here. This is definitely healthy eating. (I know this because I Googled it. Old habits die hard, no?)

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out I tossed the mixture with my fingers, making sure that all of the florets were covered with the olive oil and the garlic mixture. I roasted the cauliflower until it became tender and golden brown. This gives it a lovely, nutty taste.

I indulged in a little more chopping therapy, and minced some kalamata olives and some green onions. I measured out capers and juiced a meyer lemon.

Once the cauliflower florets had cooled enough to be handled, everything went together in a bowl to mingle and get cozy. I tossed the mixture again with my hands. There is something therapeutic about using your hands. It’s the same feeling you get when you are kneading biscuits. It just makes sense for me. I topped the whole mixture with a couple more tablespoons of olive oil.

I filled a plate up with fresh spring mix and put a generous helping of the cauliflower mixture on top. You don’t even need to dress your greens, because the olive oil and the lemon juice mixture will seep down into them. The whole mix is packed with flavor. No salt is needed, since the capers and the olives pack a salty punch. I grated a bit of freshly-cracked black pepper over the top just to add a little bit of a kick. This dish is simple, clean and completely satisfying.

Be cool, eat your veggies, and lay off the internet medical advice. High fives all around.

Disclaimer: The nice people at Copper Hill Olive Oil sent me some samples for recipe development and testing purposes. However, all opinions are my own.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
4 tbs high quality olive oil (I used Copper Hill's Koroneiki Olive Oil)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs capers
15 kalamata olives, diced
1/3 cup diced green onions
Juice from 1 meyer lemon
Spring mix
Freshly cracked black pepper, to top

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Remove the stem from your cauliflower and chop up into florets.
Mince your garlic and add into a medium sized mixing bowl with your cauliflower florets.
Add in two tablespoons of your olive oil and massage with mixture with your hands until the cauliflower is completely coated and the garlic is also distributed evenly throughout.
Lay the cauliflower out flat onto your aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Once ten minutes has gone by, remove the cauliflower from the oven and flip each piece. Put the pan back into the oven for 10-15 minutes or until your cauliflower is fork tender and lightly golden brown on the edges.
While your cauliflower is baking, prepare your other ingredients. Chop up your olives and your green onions, juice your lemon, and measure our your capers.
When the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, put it back into your mixing bowl with your other ingredients and using your hands mix together. Top with the remaining 2 tbs of olive oil and mix again.
Serve over a bed of spring mix and top with freshly cracked pepper.

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Kale & Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Gina Marie

Here a short list of things that come to mind upon hearing the name “Caesar”:

1) Did I spell that correctly? Why does the A come before the E. Freaks me out every time.

2) I went to Waldorf elementary school. Our teacher was a wild story-teller. All of our history lessons would be told to us in magical life-like stories, and for this reason I remember most of what I learned there to this day. I still vividly remember him acting out Julius Caesar’s assassination and colorfully exclaiming “Et tu, Brute?” For this reason, when I am offered a Caesar salad, I find myself mumbling “Et tu, Brute?” to myself. Nope. Not awkward at all. I might have also said that to a waiter once upon receiving my Caesar salad. He didn’t get it. Tough room.

3) Haircuts. Julius Caesar is depicted in many a statuette and paintings sporting a look that would later be brought back by the lead singer of the Backstreet Boys. Everybody…Rock your body. Don’t believe me? Just google image search”Julius Caesar“ and then google image search “Lead singer of the Backstreet Boys”. BAM. Trendsetter.

4) Cleopatra. They shacked up. They had a son. They named him Caesarion. I find this to be particularly ballsy. I wonder if he got picked on in school? I like to imagine what this kid looked like. I am thinking the eyeliner of Cleopatra (i.e. Elizabeth Taylor circa 1963′s film depiction) with the trendsetting hair cut of Julius, also kind of muscly. So, basically FIERCE. (Yes, my mind goes to these places.)

5) Caesar Milan. Dog Whisperer. Leader of the Pack Mentality.

6) Oh, yes. Salad. DELICIOUS!

Welcome to my true life crazy brain.

Also, Et tu, Brute?

I still fantasize that I will say that someday over a Ceasar salad and someone will laugh. That person and I will be best friends. Obvs. This probably won’t happen. I should probably stop trying to make it happen. Okay. I am done.

Funny thing is… the Caesar salad has nothing to do with Julius Caesar. At all. This just makes my antics all the more awkward. Read on.

Today I bring you a powerhouse of a salad. We are leaving behind the traditional romaine for a hearty and nutrient rich kale. There is some added crunch and texture from some shaved brussels sprouts and of course a nice creamy dressing, some cheesy goodness as well as some toasted up croutons. Yum.

Salad Ingredients:

1 whole bunch of lacinato kale, ribs removed

7 Brussels sprouts, shaved or chopped thinly

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 pieces of Udi’s Gluten-Free bread to make croutons, or store bought would do fine also

freshly cracked pepper

Caesar Dressing Ingredients:

1 2 oz tin of anchovies in olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbs Dijon mustard

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

Set your oven to 350 degrees.

Start by washing, drying and de-ribbing your kale.

Chop it up, and put it in a large salad bowl.

Wash your brussels sprouts, and either thinly slice them by hand or run them through your food processor with the slicing attachment and add them to your salad bowl.

Add the parmesan to your salad bowl.

Place two pieces of Udi’s gluten-free bread onto a baking sheet that has been lightly greased. If you want you can spice up your bread a little bit. I added granulated garlic to mine.

Allow bread to toast until it is golden brown on both sides. 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Cut it up into crouton sized pieces and add to your salad.

For the dressing, add all of the ingredients into a blender and process on high until they’re thoroughly combined.

You might have some leftover dressing, depending on how dressed you like your salad. It should last for a couple of days in the fridge sealed in an airtight container such as a mason jar.

Dress your salad with your desired amount of dressing and toss it well. You can even massage it into the leaves using your hands in order to soften the kale a bit.

Add some fresh cracked pepper to taste, and enjoy!

Hope you are having a Ceasar-Style Tuesday. Trendsetting Haircuts, Dog Whispering… the whole nine yards. xox

So…Thanksgiving Happened | A Pie Recovery Salad

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Gina Marie

So…Thanksgiving happened.

Like most years it started off with my early day mantra of “I’m so not going to overeat this year”. Fast forward to 6pm. I am breathing heavily with a case of the ham sweats. Fast forward even further to 10pm. I am sitting at home eating my second piece of leftover cake. It got real. The big sweatpants came out.

The next morning I had gluten-free stuffing and eggs. Later that evening my husband threw me a birthday party where I decided it would be wise to stuff my face with tortilla chips and spinach dip and then drink like I was peg-legged sailor. Super real. Did I mention there was a dark chocolate and peanut butter cup gluten-free masterpiece of a cake AND creme brulee? I totally ate both.

I’m not going to lie to you guys. I’ve been celebrating for four days straight. Between Thanksgiving and my birthday, I feel like I’ve been hit by a holiday hurricane. I’m sporting an intense holiday hangover. It was all fantastic and tons of fun. I have so many stories and recipes and little tidbits to share with you from my long weekend of celebration…but all I can muster for now is “Kale…someone get me some KALE!!”

Let’s all recover from that pie hangover together. I’ve made you a spinach salad with delicata squash, pomegranate seeds, a little bit of cheese and some crispy kale. It could serve four… but in my house it serves two.

Pie Recovery Salad:

1 bunch of curly leaf kale

Seeds from 1 small pomegranate

2 medium delicata squash

6 cups of baby spinach

1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Honey Dijon Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tbs Dijon mustard

1 tbs honey

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Wash and dry your kale. Cut out the spines and then cut into small pieces. Place it into a mixing bowl with the juice of half of a lemon and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Toss well and place on a baking sheet. Once the oven has heated, put in your pan and bake for 20 minutes of until your kale is crispy. Set aside.

If you have a double or stacked oven you can roast your delicata squash at the same time. Preheat your second oven to 400 degrees.

Wash your squash. Cut it open lengthwise and seed it. Rub some olive oil over the surface and place face down on a baking sheet. Bake it for 25-30 minutes or until it is soft and easily pierced by a fork.

Wash your spinach and place it in a mixing bowl.

Seed your pomegranate and layer the seeds on top of the spinach.

Cut up your squash and add it to the bowl. Add your cheese and your crispy lemon kale chips to the top.

Now for the dressing…

Wisk together all of your dressing ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Let the pie recovery begin.

Butternut Squash and Roasted Grape Salad

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Gina Marie

I let myself loose in the farmers market this past weekend. It’s a dangerous thing to do. I always want everything. There is just so much bounty there. You want squash? They have every kind. Fruit? Don’t even get me started. Three bunches of hearty greens for four dollars? YUP. SOLD. I strategically avoid the areas where they sell the meat and fancy cheeses, because that could be a problem for me. They are deliciously pricey. I want them. All of them. There is also an area where I only let myself go occasionally that sells goat milk ice cream and a booth that sells gluten free cinnamon coffee cake. Obviously, I want those things too. I am not shy. I love food.

This time, I gave myself a budget of twenty bucks and it was off to the races. We were done shopping when the money ran out. We got a bunch of grapes, pomegranates, persimmons,beets, delicata squash,kale, chard, collards, some pickling cucumbers and some dill. Oh, and I also treated myself to a gluten free crepe with bacon and tomatoes. ( I obviously did not strategically avoid that aisle hard enough.) The husband got some coffee. We sat in the sun on that unseasonably warm Sunday and chatted it up with a good friend and her beautiful baby girl. It was a lovely way to spend a morning.

I love that moment when you head home with all your loot! Oh, the possibilitlies.

I remembered seeing a pin on pinterest floating around. It was a baked sweet potato that had been stuffed to the gills with goat cheese, roasted grapes and honey! Yes. I will take three, please. It looked like heaven. If I could put goat cheese on everything, I would. Sweet potatoes? Delish. Roasted grapes sounded fancy and delicate and sweet! I had a bunch of grapes fresh from the farmers market! I needed to give it a go. I happened to have half of a leftover roasted butternut squash in the fridge begging to be eaten. I started to gather ingredients. Creativity ensued. Here is what I came up with.

Salad Ingredients:

1/4 of a roasted butternut squash (here’s how you do it.)

2 cups of red grapes, washed and ready for roasting

1 1/2 tbs grapeseed oil

6 cups of greens (I used a blend of spinach and baby lettuce)

1/4 cup of goat cheese

1/4 cup slivered honey almonds

pinch of salt for the grapes

Honey Dijon Dressing Ingredients:

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbs honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

First things first. Acquire a roasted butternut squash. If you don’t have one laying around in your fridge as I did, you can make your own. It’s easy. Just as long as you have the strength of Thor to crack that bad boy open. Seriously, it can be rough. If you need to call someone to help you, I get it. Or, maybe you lift weights. Good for you. I have t-rex arms. It looks something like this:

Sheesh. That is one smug butternut squash. Also, we have learned that the T-Rex has a terrible sense of interior design. Ugly little kitchenette.

Once your squash is done roasting, crank up the heat on your oven to 450 degrees.

Combine your grapes and grape-seed oil. Lay your grapes out onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Put your grapes into the oven for 20 minutes, or until your grapes get nice and wrinkly and start to burst open. Roasting the grapes brings out all of their natural sugars. So tasty.

Once your grapes are done, assemble your salad.

Greens, squash, goat cheese, nuts, and grapes on top.

Whisk together your dressing ingredients to make your vinaigrette.

Dress that beautiful beast of a salad.

Serve it up.

Devour.

(Inspired by How Sweet It Is)

Balela | A Recipe For Friendship

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Gina Marie

I made a new friend! *clicking heels* (Note: I can’t actually click my heels in real life. I can, however, high five enthusiastically and dance spastically to anything with a beat. Salt N’ Pepa preferred.)

Making awesome new friends is a big deal.

When we were kids making friends was easy. We were all thrown into a small space to learn things together. We complimented each other’s slap bracelets or New Kids on The Block T-shirts and BAM, friendship. Easy. We go to middle school and we all bond over boys and baby doll T-shirts and an intense love for the band TLC (maybe this was uniquely my experience, I won’t put that on you. I WILL say that I subscribed to VIBE magazine for a suspiciously long amount of time.) We travel onto high school where it is more boys, tight pants, musical theater, Cliffs Notes, and the notion that parents simply just don’t understand. College comes around, and every one of us freshman is so freaked out that you have instant besties by day one. It’s almost like you grab onto the first person you see (usually your roommate) and figuratively (or literally) hold hands and walk the mean halls together. Of course, by the first week of college, you usually realize that you have made a rash decision by adhering yourself onto the first person you came in contact with. Maybe that person turns out to be selling drugs out of your dorm room closet. Maybe they decide to cook very suspect and fragrant ethnic foods in the room using nothing but your rented microwave and a rice cooker. But, no worries… everyone is on the hunt for new besties. Your people are out there. You find them.

Let’s be real, after you graduate from college and start this whole “grown-up” thing, it becomes more difficult to meet people. Our days are usually consumed by waking up, trying to remember to eat breakfast, paying bills, working, working, working, commuting, checking the mail, receiving more bills, answering emails, making dinner, eating dinner with your husband/partner/roommate/host of cats, treating yourself to a cocktail, passing out on the couch, waking up in a puddle of drool, putting in your adult mouth-guard, and then off to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat.

You have the things you do every day. Things get routine. You have your co-workers. Maybe some of them are cool. Maybe some of them are strange. You didn’t choose each other. You make it work. We have less opportunities these days to connect with people outside of our daily routines. We are busy.

Long story short, it’s hard to make instant besties anymore, so when you do, it’s kind of magic.

I met Carly (new friend) at an office where I go to get physical therapy. She had an ice pack on her eye. She had gotten something in it and it was red and inflamed. She smiled through it. We made jokes. Some might say it was friends at first sight. Pun intended.

You are probably looking at this post and going, wow.. I thought this was going to be about bean salad. How does friendship tie into bean salad? That is a legitimate question. I am so glad you asked…

Carly is a vegetarian. I am a gluten-free carnivore. We make it work. We find common ground in things like hummus, goat cheese, whipped cream and now this amazing bean salad. Carly is somewhat of a salad savant. It’s true. I have seen her spend a solid 30 minutes working on the perfect salad dressing. I love a friend who takes pride in their art. Balela was in the first delicious salad that we shared together. Maybe I have been living under a rock, but I had never had it before. As soon as she introduced me to it, I started to make it on the daily. I am going through a Balela phase. I hope you will join me there.

Ingredients:

1 can of Garbanzo Beans

1 can of Black Beans

The juice of 2 lemons

1 medium sized tomato

A handful of Italian Parsley

Garlic Powder

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Drain and rinse your beans. Put them in a medium-sized mixing bowl and set aside. Finely chop a tomato and add it into the bean mixture. Chop up your Italian parsley and add it into your bean and tomato mixture. Juice both of your lemons over the top of the salad. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Finish off with a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.

Here is how I usually like to enjoy mine! I mix it over a bed of baby spinach with some feta cheese and some marinated artichoke hearts. Don’t forget some avocado. Delish!

So…Let's Hang Out

Tag Archives: Salad

Broccoli & Apple Quick Slaw

Raw Kale Salad With Creamy Almond Dressing

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Disclaimer: The nice people at Copper Hill Olive Oil sent me some samples for recipe development and testing purposes. However, all opinions are my own.

Kale & Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad

So…Thanksgiving Happened | A Pie Recovery Salad

Butternut Squash and Roasted Grape Salad

Balela | A Recipe For Friendship