Dinosaur Kale Quinoa Orange Salad

Today I had another full day at Aveda.  I [again] did not wake up in time to make myself anything more than a cold press coffee but luckily they had a wonderful breakfast for me.  Unfortunately we missed lunch due to having our actual event off site from the institute.  By the time I got home around 5pm I was [again] starving.  I immediately made plans to research a quinoa recipe that used dinosaur kale from Junko's Garden as that is the bulk and most time sensitive ingredients in my refrigerator.  I found a recipe and was about to head out when a friend of mine posted on facebook that they were in need of borrowing a computer.  He lives close by so I offered mine.  After some mild miscommunication as to where exactly we were to meet he came over and utilized my internet and software programs.  After some resume guidance and my grumbling stomach we eventually ventured off to the co-op for my two ingredients I needed for this wonderful mouth watering simple recipe.

As it turns out there was a parade happening down the street.  Unfortunately I do not have any saved footage of this event due to extreme snap chatting that was taking place, we roamed the strip and quite enjoyed ourselves I must say. (no candy though)

I spent about $8 total at the co-op [i did splurge on a cliff bar and an energy drink kind of sorry this time].  All in all I got a handful of roasted almonds, a lil ginger and a cucumber.  The recipe I had found had called for tangerines but they were no where to be found at the co-op.  Since I had one orange left in my fridge at home I figured that would suffice.

The original recipe can be found here.  I improvised with the below recipe.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of dinosaur kale
1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa
1/4 cup feta [left over in my fridge]
1/2 a lil thing of fresh grated ginger [WARNING: DO NOT GET THIS IN YOUR EYE AS IT IS EXTREMELY PAINFUL, PROBABLY WORSE THAN LEMON JUICE I THINK MAYBE]
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp agave stuff? [idk i found some in my cupboard but I was planning on just adding sugar to taste]
1 orange
olive oil
roasted almonds


Directions:

Add olive oil to quinoa to moisten.
Cut stems off kale and massage with olive oil and sea salt to taste, add to quinoa.
Peal orange and section - saving a few pieces for juice for the sauce. Half and add to quinoa mixture.

Sauce:
Combine soy sauce, ginger, garlic, agave or sugar, and juice from remaining pieces of the orange.

Drizzle over quinoa mixture. Add feta and top with roasted almonds.

I actually just realized I forgot to add the almonds to mine.  This made about two "Kyndra servings", so I've saved the rest for lunch tomorrow with a side of sliced cucumbers and ranch dressing. YUM.  Also prepped some cucumber water and cold press coffee for the morning.

I don't work until 2pm tomorrow so I'm gonna ska-daddle and try and have some fun I guess.

Dinosaur Kale Scramble with Tomtato

I took a nap last night around 8pm, and didn't wake up until 8am this morning. Ooops. It was a much needed rest and I'm ready to take on today.  I poured myself a glass of cold press and sat outside in the morning sun conversing and catching with my homegirl Marta over text.  It was absolutely lovely.  When my stomach started to grumble I went inside and fixed myself a scramble with the Dinosaur Kale I acquired yesterday and two of my mothers farm fresh eggs and topped it with some tomato (I only used one for the med salad).  Enjoyed it outside again with the birds. Again, 100% organic!

It's almost noon, so I'm going to probably eat the rest of my quinoa med salad outside with some lemon water.  Then maybe I'll figure out what to do with this Kale and go for a walk. I'm planning on going to yoga around 430, since I haven't been able to go in a week! Eek! 

An Introduction

I grew up on a beef farm in rural Wisconsin. I was raised on hamburger helper and frozen fish sticks (bless my mother's heart). This was a time before eating healthy and "green" was trendy and a meal without meat was not a meal at all. When my sister became a vegetarian in 7th grade, we prayed to God that she would come back to us. After high school I was living in Madison, WI, and I took my dad to a persian restaurant(RIP CASPIAN CAFE FOREVER.) They had several vegan and vegetarian options on their menu, because of this my dad ordered twice as much food convinced that there was no way he was going to get enough food. (He was unable to finish his double entree for the record.) He asked me if kabob was the next step after vegan and to this day I'm not sure if that was a joke or not.

Needless to say I was raised with a very interesting mindset about eating healthy. My mother has always scoffed at her coworkers who drink their "fair trade coffee" and "shop at the co-op" for their organic produce. Meanwhile my mother had her own garden and most the produce we had we grew ourselves. I think it's some weird superiority complex that my mother felt social pressure and had to rebel, I'm not really sure. What I do know is doing all your shopping at whole foods and the co-op is expensive as fuck, so yeah fuck those people I guess.

During Fair Trade Coffee week in Madison they had a viewing of the documentary Black Gold, which I found to be very inspiring and it opened my eyes to the importance of shopping fair trade, coffee specifically. Since this experience (which you should totally watch) I cannot support companies like Starbucks, Illy or Nestle with a clear conscience. I must buy my coffee fair trade (sorry mom). I also understand there are so many things other than coffee to buy fair trade and it's overwhelming. I simply cannot afford to buy EVERYTHING fair trade and others have judged me for this. Do what you can is my motto, don't not support one thing because you cannot support everything.

Last summer I reconnected with an old acquaintance from "the scene" in Milwaukee circa 2005. After several interactions on the internet we finally met up and it's one of the best things that has happened to me since moving to Minneapolis. Aside from being a fantastic friend, she has awoken me from my slumber of depressing boring meals like ramen and mac and cheese with a protein bar on the side to savory sweet potato burritos and korean barbecue bulgogi stir fry. She introduced me to the "Clean 15" and the "Dirty Dozen" which has helped me make much better decisions when grocery shopping and meal planning. When her and I are together we obsess over food blogs and new recipes we've tried. She also introduced me to yoga for the first time and I think my life is finally starting to come together. Rachel, if you're reading this, THANK YOU.

I'm 26 years old, 5'10", 125 lbs. PT Model FT Retail. I don't have a juicer or a blender. I haven't been to a whole foods in years. I can't afford those new wave trendy drinks in the beverage isle or vitamins from the co-op. I rarely eat out and if I do it's the dollar menu at Mickey D's or Taco Bell with the occasional splurge on pepperoni pizza taquito's from the gas station. I have literally survived on cliff bars for months. I am in a constant struggle to eat healthy and save money, which is kind of an oxymoron these days. Even if I knew how to garden, I don't have time. My metabolism is that of a 12 year old boy and I am self diagnosed with hypoglycemia (I passed out in a parking lot after eating a muffin for breakfast.) I've never been "well off". My life is in a constant state of which bills to pay late and direct deposit advance. I have a knack for worsening my financial situation whether by accident or unintentional self sabotage. When food I purchase goes bad it breaks my heart because like, I could have eaten that. I find it near impossible to utilize all of my groceries to make different meals that give my body energy as well as the nutrients I need while on a budget.

I am about to begin a documentation of what I buy, where I buy it from and why. In addition to what I use it for and whether or not it totally sucked. I'll include recipes and if I can get this scanner working, some actual hand written and physical documentation. Maybe you can follow me in this adventure and learn from my mistakes and at the same time save money, eat healthy and sustainably, not be wasteful and be happy.