Kohlrabi Chickpea Salad

What is kohl-rabi? Kohl...rabi? Is that how you say it?

What does kohl-rabi taste like? Can you eat the leaves?

That's a funny looking vegetable! 

I've seen kohlrabi at the store, but I don't know what to do with it. How do you prepare it?


In my life away from this computer, I spend a lot of time talking to people about vegetables and encouraging kids and adults to eat outside of their comfort zones. Fall and winter brings us many vegetables that we are already familiar with and love, including: winter squashes, a variety of greens, and beautiful root vegetables. I've found that kohlrabi is one of the most unfamiliar veggies this season and most people have questions about how to prepare it and what to do with it.

Today I have a special treat for you... Check out the video below to learn how easy it is to prepare kohlrabi and see the cooking demo for this delicious recipe!

This recipe can be easily assembled in under ten minutes and is the perfect make-ahead dish for weekday lunches. The ingredients are very flexible so if you don't have broccoli stalks, you can sub more kohlrabi or cabbage.  And, if a sweeter version is desired, simply add some shredded carrots or apples to the mix!

Kohlrabi Chickpea Salad
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:
2 medium or 3 small kohlrabi
five medium broccoli stalks (one pound)
one small head (one pound) red cabbage
grated zest of 1 lemon
lemon juice from two lemons (6 tablespoons)
large bunch of dill, roughly chopped (about 6 heaping tablespoons)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 cups cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans
freshly-ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
Peel the kohlrabi and broccoli stalks and grate or process in food processor, until finely shredded. Slice the cabbage finely into 1/4-inch thick strips. Put kohlrabi, broccoli, and cabbage into a large mixing bowl.

Mix the lemon zest, lemon juice, dill, olive oil, and garlic clove together and pour over kohlrabi mixture. Add sea salt.  Use your hands to massage everything together for about a minute so the flavors will mix and the cabbage will soften.  Add the chickpeas and mix. Let sit for about ten minutes.

Top with freshly-ground black pepper and serve. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days.

Recipe shared at Wellness Weekend

"Here I Am" Peanut Slaw

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to operate in the present.  This week I was reading a yoga magazine and came across the phrase "here I am."  I instantly fell in love with it.

So, here I am.  Making to-do lists on the bus on the back of a receipt.  Here I am.  Brushing my teeth.  Here I am.  Worrying about if I worry too much.  Here I am.  Playing my favorite song by Ingrid Michaelson on repeat. Here I am.  Chopping cabbage, crying over onions, and loving every minute of being in my kitchen.  Here I am.

Serves 4

Ingredients: 
1 savoy cabbage, sliced into thin strips
3 carrots, grated
5 radishes, grated
1 onion, sliced into thin strips
small handful of cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

Dressing:
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 Tbsp peanut oil
2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Juice from half a lime
1 Tbsp sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the cabbage, carrots, radishes, onion, and cilanro together.  Next, mix the ingredients for the dressing.  Toss the dressing with the cabbage mixture and garnish with peanuts.

Carrot, Cabbage, and Beet Slaw

It's August. The sun is out and the weather is only going to get warmer this weekend. This can only mean one thing: it's picnic season. Get out there people.

Here's my little contribution to your picnic. I adapted this recipe from Cherie Calbom's class and added in some beets. The result is a beautiful rainbow-colored salad that tastes just like summer. Enjoy!


Salad:
3 medium carrots, grated
3 cups coarsely shredded green cabbage
3 cups coarsely shredded purple cabbage
1 beet, fined sliced into strips
1 cup minced purple onion
2 teaspoons dill weed

Dressing:
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 cups vegenaise (I was pretty stringy in my batch and only added about half this amount.)
1 tablespoon agave

Mix the carrots, cabbage, beet, onion, and dill. Next make the dressing: mix the lemon, vegenaise, and agave. Add the dressing to the salad and mix. Chill until ready to serve. Top with a sprinkle of extra dill, salt, and pepper.

Sweet & Sour Cabbage

I have been keeping a secret from you this past month. I bought a slow cooker and have secretly been trying slow cooker recipes. Now, before you feel like I have been holding on out you, I have to tell you that everything I have made in the slow cooker thus far has been, well, let's just say weird. I think I have a slow cooker curse actually.

Everything that goes in there seems to come out funky. I was super excited at first because I thought it would be a great way to make soup without me having to be home and standing over the pot. However, every soup I've made doesn't taste as good as it does on the stove. So then I tried to make beans because I figured beans couldn't go wrong. At the present moment I am still working on perfecting the art of slow cooker beans without much success. Not exactly appetizing, huh? And this is why the slow cooker has been a secret until now.

The fact that I am finally revealing this recipe to you means it must actually be decent, and hopefully, good! I found this in Liana Krissoff's Secrets of Slow Cooking: Creating Extraordinary Food with Your Slow Cooker. Her recipe called for 1/2 cup of brown sugar, but I couldn't justify this to myself so I went with a tablespoon of agave syrup. With the apples and agave, I thought it was perfectly sweet, but you can always add in the brown sugar or an extra drizzle of agave. This is tasty as a side dish, but my favorite use for it is in sandwiches & wraps.



Serves 4 to 6
6 quart slow cooker

1 c cider vinegar
1 Tbs agave syrup (add more to taste)
salt & pepper
1 large head red cabbage
2 red apples

In slow cooker, combine vinegar, agave, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 c water.

Peel off and discard the dried outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters, then cut out and discard the core. Slice the cabbage into 1/2-inch strips and add them to the cooker. Core the apples. Cut them into thin slices and add to the cooker. Toss to combine all the ingredients. Cook, covered, on the low setting for 5-6 hours, until the cabbage is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten-free, soy-free