Raw Kale Salad: A Green Time of Year

Today at the farmer's market a guy that I don't think that I know directly asked me if I'd seen any bok choy at the market. I said, "No" because, I hadn't.

Then he asked me if I'd seen chard, and since I was right at the Triple T Ranch and Farm booth, I pointed to the basket of Swiss chard. He went over to it, and I remarked, "Why don't you use kale, there's lots of it here today?" He walked away and I have no idea what he did.

But I know what I did, I bought collards and 2 different kinds of kale: dinosaur and Red Russian and made a raw kale salad. This is certainly one of my favorite winter salads when the greens are sweetest. There are many variations on this but this is my current favorite. I think that this will change when the vegetables change with the seasons.

The Veggie Queen’s Raw Kale Salad
Serves 2-4
This is easy to make and you’ll get a great dose of greens. Use your favorites types, put in extras to suit your taste. The only limit to what goes into this salad is your imagination. When you massage the greens, be sure to add the love.

2 bunches kale, collards or other greens, washed and spun dry
2-3 teaspoons raw tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 teaspoons miso (my favorite is South River Miso – brown rice or or mellow white works well) or Bragg’s liquid amino acids
1 teaspoon agave, or more to taste
1 apple, sliced thin, julienned or grated

Remove leaves from large ribs and slice thinly. Put into a large bowl. Add the tahini, lemon juice and miso. Put your hands into the bowl and massage the greens until they are wilted, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the agave syrup and apple. Stir well to combine. This tastes best when eaten immediately.

Note: you can also add sunflower seeds or dried fruit to this salad, or go more savory by adding crushed garlic and sliced onion and omitting the apple.

Notice how the greens shrink by about half when they are massaged with the tahini, miso and lemon juice. If you are eating this by yourself, make half a batch at once.

Let me know how you like this salad by leaving a comment here on this blog, below, or sending me an email at jill at theveggiequeen.com.

Spring Farmer's Markets in Sonoma County

This weekend I went to 2 farmer's markets: one in Santa Rosa on Saturday, the other in Sebastopol on Sunday. I don't often do this but on Saturday I led a group of 4 through the market to buy ingredients for their private cooking class. I was happy to do this, which turned to thrilled when J. one of the tour group said that he's lived in the area for 40 years but had never been to the market. That's a symphony to my ears.

It was luckily a slow market day due to overcast weather, which made it easier to peruse the stalls and traverse the aisles. We have reached spring abundance and I was able to get everything on my list and more. (I did this by showing up about a half hour before our 9 am meeting just to be on the safe side and snagging some locally grown organic strawberries and asparagus.) I didn't have garlic scapes (the curly part of green garlic that will eventually form a flower), baby artichokes or squash blossoms on the list but we had those. And in addition to a bunch of spring kale (a different variety than the regular curly-type), we were also able to get broccoli rabe for our greens sauteed with garlic. The Spring Surprise Saute had a great mix of spring onions, leeks, asparagus, sugar snap peas and a variety of summer squash, which just appeared in the past week. I would have added cilantro to the mix but didn't want to get into who loves and who hates cilantro.

The menu for the day included Creamy Asparagus Soup (which in my book is Creamy Spinach Soup but I say that you can use the formula for almost any vegetable and asparagus is a favorite), Salad with Balsamic Strawberry Dressing (this is a take off of my Sweet Summer Super Salad), Marinated and Baked Tempeh, Quinoa Pilaf with Mushrooms, and the previously mentioned Greens with Garlic and Spring Surprise Saute. I had so much fun leading the group through the cooking. Miraculously, as we were finishing up the dishes and plating, the sun came out and the group headed outside for an amazing lunch. J. loved the tempeh which was a big surprise and S. loved the quinoa, as she'd never had it before.

Taking a group to the market meant that I couldn't really shop for myself so yesterday I went to Sebastopol ready for my weekly vegetable foray. When I saw the Laguna Vegetable stand with their amazingly sweet carrots, I knew that it was going to be an amazing day there. They also had sugar snap peas and young white Tokyo turnips, with great looking tops which I had the young man remove immediately and put into the bag. BIG TIP HERE: You want to remove the tops of all root vegetables right away as they breathe through the tops. Both roots and leaves will stay fresher this way. Everything else looked great, too, but I was moving on.

I stopped to speak to Paul of Paul's Smoked Salmon for a bit. He's a great guy and we have some good laughs together even about serious subjects such as his mother's recent passing. I love people who have a sense of humor, and he's one of them.

As I walked through the market, I got to say hello to people I know and chat with people that I've never met. It's a warm and friendly place. I guess that it's because everyone is happy to be outside, even if it's not sunny, buying produce, flowers and local goods. This is a huge departure from what it must feel like to buy vegetables at the local supermarket, which I try to avoid.

I ended up buying beautiful long beets (about which they didn't know the variety) but didn't want the greens and asked them to give them to pass them along to someone who wants them. I hadn't even left the stand when a woman walked up and asked how much for beet greens. She was handed the bag of my greens. FREE. Now, that is sheer joy, in my book.

I had more than one conversation with a farmer about stores that carry local produce and the small degree to which it really happens. I said that we need to rethink the system and figure out something that works better for all. (I still love my idea of teaching gardening and cooking to all, for FREE. If you know of any companies who might want to throw money at this, just let me know.) Regional food supplies are a good way to start changing things. Maybe each neighborhood has a community garden or group of growers or who knows what?

Dan Kahane (of Graton Greens, or at least that's what I think that his farm is called) and I were about talking about the motto, "reduce, reuse and recycle", and how we might want to add rethink. I told him that means that we have to get more people thinking in the first place. I know you are, and hope that you will work on continuing the conversation with those that you know. Each one of us has the ability to influence change.

I am now going to cook something for a block party this afternoon. Still wondering which of these vegetables I want to use: beets, asparagus, turnips, English peas, sugar snap peas, torpedo onions, garlic scapes, green garlic, summer squash, red romaine lettuce, salad mix and cilantro. I also have organic strawberries, cherries, peaches and nectarines. It may just turn out to be Spring Surprise Salad today. Only time will tell.

More on Flax Your Baking Muscles Recipe Contest

In an attempt to avoid restating everything about the contest, here are more details.

You may enter more than one baked recipe that contains flax but you can only win one prize. Recipes must be original and will become property of The Veggie Queen and Flax USA.

Grand prize is a 12 month supply of flax (ground or whole seed; you choose). Three runners up will win three 12 ounce shakers of Ground Flax Sprinkles and three packages of Roasted Golden Flax Seed Snacks.

Your recipe must contain at least 3 tablespoons of flax, in any form. You may use any type of flour in the recipe, and gluten-free recipes are welcome and appreciated.

Bake something vegan, lowfat, fat-free or any other alternative baking, if you like. You can use sugar, stevia, agave, or other natural sweeteners. The critical decision for the winning recipe is that it has to taste great.

Savory recipes are appreciated just as much as the sweet ones.

Standard recipe format works well and we encourage it:
List of ingredients in order of use, instructions, how many it serves or makes, the usual stuff in a recipe. A note about how you came up with it or why you really like it is good, too.

You must be 18 to enter. You do not need to be a blogger. Please post the name of the recipe on this blog in the comments section and send the entire recipe with your name, email and phone number to flax@crierpr.com.

The winners will be chosen on March 10th and notified by March 16th.

Happy baking.

Flax Your Baking Muscles Contest Starts Today

Time to "Flax" Your Baking Muscles!

If you bake with flax and have a great recipe, put it to the test to win a year's supply of flax from

FlaxUSA, the country's leading producer of ground, roasted and whole seed flax from America's flax heartland, North Dakota.

Never tried baking with flax? Well it's time you did! Flax is a great substitute for eggs and butter, not to mention the most potent plant based source of heart-healthy Omega 3s. Click here to learn more on how to bake with flax.

If you don't want to click above, let me give you a brief heads up on baking with flax from my experience:

5 tablespoons of already ground flax, or grind 3 tablespoons in a blender or spice grinder, mixed with 1/2 cup water substitutes for 2 eggs in baking. It works best as a binder, and not as well as a leavener. So no Angel Food Flax cakes -- yet.

Do not mix the flax long before mixing with other ingredients or you could end up with a very stiff, yet sticky mess.

Use golden, not brown, flax in lighter colored baked goods. Flax works well in cookies, cakes, muffins, quick breads, yeast breads, and more. Let's see what you come up with.

Your recipe must be original, or so highly adapted that you are not accidentally "stealing" some else's recipe. The recipes will be judged on use of flax, and most of all taste. Since this is a vegetarian blog, I prefer recipes without meat, especially in cupcakes. Your recipe can be for sweet or savory baking. So thinking out of the box (but not too far) is encouraged.

Entering is easy. Just post the title of your recipe here on this blog in the comment section (so that this blog doesn't get clogged with recipe text) and send a copy of the actual recipe with your email address, blog URL, if you have one, a photo (optional) to flax@crierpr.com. All recipe submissions become property of The Veggie Queen and FlaxUSA.

I will test the recipes with Stephanie Stober, the "Flax Queen" of North Dakota (and co-founder of flaxUSA). Grand prize is a 12 month supply of flax (ground or whole seed; you choose). Three runners up will win three 12 ounce shakers of Ground Flax Sprinkles and three packages of Roasted Golden Flax Seed Snacks.

The contest starts today, February 24th and ends March 11th, so get cracking - or baking as it were.

Winners will be notified on March 16th. If you have any questions, please email me or post a comment.

Looking forward to reading about your wonderful creations. Good luck.