Curried Kale + Brown Rice Bowl

**Another post I did for Sakara Life...enjoy!**

I'm always trying to recreate favorite dishes of mine - to make them more healthy, to save some money, or both. This particular bowl was inspired by one of my favorite Cambridge hotspots, Life Alive. It's one of the few restaurants I go to that I actually feel really good about eating anything on the menu. They're 100% vegetarian, have tons of vegan, gluten-free, macrobiotic, and raw options, and some really delicious fresh juices and smoothies. And although I make it a point to swing by whenever I'm in the area, I pretty much always order the same thing. I'm a creature of habit, what can I say? This curried kale and brown rice bowl is my take on their Swami Bowl. Packed with greens, seasoned with a sweet and spicy miso curry sauce, and topped with nutritional yeast, raisins, and almonds, this nutrient dense bowl screams flavor. And now that I've mastered it, I feel even better knowing exactly what I'm eating, and in what quantities. It also allows me to sneak in some more of the green stuff (insider info: I always order half the rice and double the kale - just as good. 

Curried Kale + Brown Rice Bowl 

1 serving cooked brown rice

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1-2 cups broccoli florets 

1/2 an onion, sliced

2-3 stalks kale, leaves removed

2 tablespoons tamari almonds, chopped

2 tablespoons raisins

Curry Miso Sauce

1/2 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon white miso paste

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tablespoon bragg's

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

Whisk all of the curry miso sauce ingredients together, and set aside.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add the carrots, broccoli, onion, and kale, season with salt, add about 1/4-1/2 cup water, and cover for a few minutes to steam the vegetables. When the onions are soft, and the broccoli is still bright green, uncover, and turn the heat to low. Add the brown rice and the curry miso sauce. Mix everything together on low heat until the flavors are evenly distributed. Top with the raisins and almonds, and an extra sprinkle of nutritional yeast. Serve with some sliced avocado for even more skin-loving superfoods.

Coconut Cream + Oatmeal Parfait with Raspberries + Papaya

Breakfast is my reason for waking up in the morning (to be clear, not my only reason, but an important one). Sometimes the only way I can make myself stop snacking the night before is to tell myself "You will eat again - in a mere 8-10 hours. And it will probably be something delicious, so stop before you're too guilty to consume anything but a green smoothie (also delicious)." I'll study Pinterest for creative inspiration, and then dream deeply about how I can somehow turn breakfast into a morning dessert. 

Like many of you, I'm big on presentation. And what's more beautiful than colorful layers of delicious ingredients? Here I layered fresh raspberries and papaya with chewy oats, silky coconut cream, and crunchy almonds and cacao nibs. I started mixing yogurt with my oatmeal awhile ago, and it's been a real game changer. I would dump the ingredients together and give it a good mix, often throwing some frozen fruit inside to keep everything on the same page temperature wise. But while it tasted amazing, it really never looked that beautiful. I don't know why it took me so long to do the layering thing, but isn't that usually the way? Parfaits have since become one of my favorite breakfast options. 

My favorite yogurt brand Whole Soy & Co., has been having some relocating issues (don't worry, they will be back!), so after a quick panic attack, I got to thinking. I tried the life changing coconut cream-from-a-can-of-coconut milk when it hit the blogosphere about a year ago, and knew I'd have great success using it as a yogurt substitute. I wasn't wrong. There's something truly magical about sticking a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, and waking up to a can of coconut whipped cream (click that link above for step-by-step instructions). It's right up there with the wonders of churning homemade ice-cream. I could seriously eat an entire bowl of this stuff. Which is exactly what I did over the next couple days. 

Coconut Cream + Oatmeal Parfait with Raspberries + Papaya

Feel free to substitute yogurt for the coconut cream

Serves 1

Coconut cream (I sweeten mine with maple syrup or honey)

1/4 cup oats

2 tablespoons raisins

1/2 cup raspberries, mashed up a bit

1/2 cup papaya, also mashed

1 tablespoon cacao nibs

1 tablespoon toasted, slivered almonds

1 tablespoon shredded coconut, unsweetened 

Cook your oats according to package instructions, stirring in the raisins during the last couple minutes of cooking. Set aside. Mix together the cacao nibs, slivered almonds, and shredded coconut in a small bowl. Set aside. 

Grab a mason jar, or whatever your favorite breakfast bowl may be, and start layering. 

Put 1/2 of the oatmeal raisin mixture in the bottom of the jar. Next add 1/2 of the mashed raspberries followed by 1/2 of the papaya. Top with a few tablespoons of coconut cream (the more the better), and sprinkle with 1/2 of the cacao, almond, coconut mix. Repeat the previous steps starting with the oatmeal and ending with the cacao, almond, coconut mix. Dig in.  

Irish Soda Bread

Did You Know? Legend has it that folks carved a cross on soda bread to "let the devil out" while it's baking for good luck, and others say that it made it easy to divide into 4 pieces. It was also a symbol for a cross during Christian holidays.

While not the traditional Irish soda bread, I've included raisins in mine, turning it into something called "Spotted Dog" or "Railway Cake." If you want to make a truly authentic soda bread, the recipe simply calls for flour, buttermilk, baking soda, and salt. The caraway seeds and plump raisins in this recipe drew me in, so this is what you see today.

St.Patrick's Day has never been a big holiday in my house, but being on Spring Break has left me with extra time to bake, so I thought I would start the tradition of soda bread eating this year. Turns out, it might make a more frequent appearance on my kitchen table. It's good, really good.

Taking on the taste of rye, but with a much crumblier texture, this traditional Irish staple was by far the easiest bread I've ever made. Sudded with sweet, plump raisins, the only thing difficult about this bread was slicing it. After the initial chop, the remainding slices pretty much all broke in half. Nothing a little butter couldn't piece back together. Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from the March 2009 Issue of Martha Stewart Living

1 1/3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup apple-cider vinegar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and dusting
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup unprocessed wheat bran
1/4 cup caraway seeds
1 cup (5 ounces) raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix milk and vinegar in a small bowl, and let stand until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Cut in unsalted butter with a pastry cutter or 2 knives (I used a fork) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add bran, caraway seeds, and raisins; stir to distribute.

Pour milk mixture into flour mixture; stir until dough just holds together but is still sticky. Turn dough onto a well-floured surface (I found the dough to be quite sticky, so I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour to the recipe above). Pat and press the dough gently into a round, dome-shaped loaf, about 7 inches in diameter. Transfer to prepared sheet.

Lightly dust top of loaf with flour. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top, 3/4 inch deep. Bake, rotating halfway through, until loaf is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Soda bread is best eaten the day it is made; serve with salted butter.