Easy Chickpea Kale Bowl

We take a break from our regularly scheduled Thanksgiving updates to give you this yummy bowl. 


Vegans seem to eat things in bowls- just lots of stuff piled together in a bowl and it makes a meal. When we were staying with my family for a couple of months, my mom commented that it was a bit weird, but I've been vegan for 3 years and I mostly eat at home, where other people aren't looking, so I hadn't really noticed. But it is a little weird. I'll have to remember to share my favorite bowl with you guys sometime. I keep forgetting and I don't have any pictures. This one's really good though, and super healthy.

I also want to start sharing more of what I actually eat every day. Sure, I make a few recipes a week and generally live off the leftovers of big batches of soup or whatever, but I also make other, super simple meals. I'm sure other bloggers can relate to me on this-- there are just some meals that don't seem photo- or recipe-ready, or you don't want to bother with clearing off the table just to take a picture of your super-simple-but-super-yummy oatmeal. But I'm beginning to think it's worth it, and I remember particularly that daily food sharing forums from Veggie Boards and What I Ate Wednesdays really helped give me some good ideas when I was starting out-- they still do! So here is one of those quick posts-- it's super simple, not really a recipe, but yummy and I remembered to take a picture! You could really change up the ingredients endlessly, but this is what I had for lunch (and dinner, rolled up in a tortilla) yesterday. It was delish.

Chickpea Kale Bowl

Also, you can go check out my Pinterest page for ideas-- I pin stuff from here but mostly a ton of other things including a massive Vegan Recipes the Inspire Me board full of ideas and recipes!

Here goes!

2 Servings
Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp or small drizzle olive oil
• 5ish baby portabella or cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 celery rib, sliced or diced, your preference
• small bunch fresh parsley
• 2-3 big sage leaves or other fresh (or dried!) herbs
• 3ish cups of ready-to-go kale, or other green, or chop and wash your own
• 1 can of chickpeas (my favorite, but your could use any bean
• balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

•  Drizzle tiny amount of oil into a relatively large pan-- I used my stockpot but I think the big skillet would have worked.
• Drain your chickpeas in a colander and run water over them until they are fresh-looking and don't have that bubbly, gooey can juice on them anymore.
• Slice or dice your veg and add to the pot, turning it on medium.
• I love parsley and the amount I use is a small handful, about 1/4 cup once chopped. Take the tops off of your parsley by pinching or cutting. Slice your herbs thin. Then chop it all up together, alternating directions and re-scooping your pile until it's all finely chopped. Or you don't have to and just leave it chunky.
• Add to the pot, then immediately add your greens.
• Let them cook a couple of minutes, add some salt, pepper, and olive oil.
• Add your chickpeas and cook a couple or more minutes 'til they're warm.
• Finish off with a drizzle of balsamic--  taste as you go because it can get real crazy real quick-- and more salt and pepper, and voilà! Yum.

Note: If you use spinach as your green, add it last so it doesn't cook too long.

Also, I haven't been putting nutrition info on here because I wasn't counting calories for a while, and then I changed the program I used and the info format is different, but I know some of you liked that and I'm tallying again so here you go! 

cals (using 1.5 tsp oil) per 1/2 recipe: 286kcal | fat: 7.80g | carbs: 43.78g | prot: 15.26g

Tomato Tart and Kittens

Wow this is good. I've been craving a tart like this for months and I was just waiting for my local farmer's market to open up with some delicious tomatoes and herbs. The filling is based on Maple Spice's almond feta. It's topped with thinly sliced tomatoes and fresh herbs and the crust is made light and crispy with the addition of rice flour.

Crust

- 1/2 cup flour

- 2 T brown rice flour 

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 T chopped fresh herbs

- 2 T Bestlife or other buttery baking sticks

- 1 T vegetable shortening

- 2 T cold water

Mix first 3 ingredients together and then use a fork to break up the margarine and shortening into the flour mixture. Add the water until the dough comes together and press into a pie pan. Set aside to chill.

Almond Feta Filling (makes double than what's needed for the tart, so 1/2 or keep the rest to use in pasta or something else)

- 1.5 cups almonds, skinned (directions below)

- 1/3 cup lemon juice

- 1.5 tsps salt

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2 T olive oil

- water to blend, about 1 cup

Bring some water to a boil,then  boil the almonds for 1 minute, rinse in cold water and use your fingers to pop the naked almonds out of their skins. Cover them in hot water and let soak for 1 hour to overnight. Drain the almonds and add all to a blender. Blend until it becomes smooth and creamy, stopping the blender and pushing the ingredients around if blending stops. Pour 1/2 into chilled crust (about a cup) and keep the rest in the fridge for about a week (if it lasts that long).

Preheat oven to 350F.

Tomato-Herb Topping

- 3 medium to large tomatoes

- 1/4 cup fresh herbs, chopped

Slice the tomatoes very thinly-- save the ends for a salad later. Arrange the tomato slices on top of the almond filling, sprinkling the herbs between layers. Bake for 40 minutes or longer, until the crust and almond filling is lightly browned.

Enjoy warm or cold!

Nutrition for 1/8 of tart: cals: 177kcal | fat: 12.52g | carbs: 13.44g | prot: 4.45g

And now a few pictures of some kittens in a bag!

We heard these little guys meowing for weeks under our house. One morning one of them was attacked by a dog (he wasn't hurt but he was scared) and we realized him and the other 2 had been abandoned so we just couldn't help but bring them in and love them. They are the best 3 kittens in the world (excluding any kittens that you guys might have, of course).