Recipes From Yesterday’s Cooking Class

Yesterday I had the privilege of being the speaker for a Lunch ‘n Learn for Pearls of Empowerment in Davie County. We had 38 women and 2 men who attended my cooking demo – Fighting Cancer With Your Fork. I showed the participants how to prepare 3 cancer fighting recipes that incorporated cancer fighting foods.

Here I am before the class started. It was a really great facility! What you can’t see is the reverse mirror over my head, so that participants could see what I was doing on the cutting board while sitting at their tables. Pretty fun!

I knew you all would want the recipes, so here they are!

Massaged Kale Salad

Ingredients

• 2 bunches kale
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pistachios
• red pepper flakes, to taste.
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Strip
   kale leaves from the stems (discard stems). Wash and dry the leaves. Cut the leaves into small pieces and place in a large bowl.
2. Mix oil, lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce, pepper and salt in a jar, small bowl or salad dressing container. Pour over kale.
3. With clean hands, firmly massage and crush the greens to work in the flavoring.
4. Stop when the volume of greens is reduced by about half. The greens should look a little darker and somewhat shiny.
5. Taste and adjust seasoning with more lemon juice, garlic, soy sauce and/or pepper, if desired. Add red pepper flakes, to taste.
6. Top with pistachios for a crunch! Add freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Veggie Inspired Quinoa
I adapted this recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quinoa-with-veggies

NOTE:
If you don’t have Quinoa, this recipe could be used with rice, barley, pasta, etc. Instead of step one, simply cook the
grain as instructed on the package, then add it in step 3!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Bring
   the quinoa, water, and 1 pinch of salt to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce
   heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, about
   20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saucepan over
   medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook until the garlic softens and
   the aroma mellows, about 2 minutes. Add the red pepper, and corn;
   continue cooking until the pepper softens, about 5 minutes. Season with
   cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper, and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Stir in the cooked quinoa and green onions. Serve hot or cold.

For added flavor, I poured a bit of the dressing from the kale salad onto my quinoa!

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Yes, this is The Centered Chef’s recipe… AGAIN! I will not stop sharing it until each and every one of you has tried it. It is sooo good, and I cannot tell you how many people express their amazement and surprise that it tastes just like chocolate mousse. Yummmmm!! Someone in the class mentioned it could be used as frosting and on top of that, my daughter LICKED THE BOWL when it was all gone at home. Yes, it’s that good!

Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado, diced
¼ cup honey
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup water
¼ tsp sea salt

Instructions:

1. Place avocado into food processor and puree until only small bits of avocado remain.
2. Add honey, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt and process until well combined. scrape sides to ensure cocoa powder is incorporated.
3. Gradually add 1 T of water at a time to achieve a creamy consistency.(The last batch I made didn’t require any water).
4. Adjust seasoning with lemon juice to taste. (I didn’t use any!)
5. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
6. Garnish with raspberries.

Vegan, gluten free, dairy free, nut free!

Trust all of my recipe tasting friends and class participants. It is AMAZING!

Here’s all 3 recipes together in one meal, which I finally was able to sit down and enjoy at 3pm yesterday. They tasted even better than expected after a hard day’s work.

– Julie