Tag Archives | kale

Super Kale Bowl

By Rob Carroll on July 10, 2017 in

I love salads, really I do, but sometimes I get a little tired of baby salad greens. I’m old enough to remember when they were a brand new product to hit the grocery stores, and back then they were all the rage. In those days, all you really had to choose from in the store was iceberg, romaine, or spinach, so the little baby leaves were novel and considered extremely exotic. Nowadays, though, they are everywhere, even in the most basic of salad bars.

In my old catering days, when we’d prepare huge bowls of salad for guests’ first course, we’d always have to be watchful for the red leaf lettuce variety in every mix, because it wasn’t as durable as the other varieties and it would wilt the quickest. Several of us caterers would keep a watchful eye out for the little wilted red leaf on every plate, pulling it out before it was served. Darn you, little red leaf! I’m sure you’re delicious, but you shouldn’t be in a salad mix.

Which brings me to kale. My friend Michele and I met for lunch the other day, and we both ordered a kale salad as a first course. I love kale, Michele not as much, but we both adored our salads. It had a slightly sweet, acidic dressing that softened the kale up quite a bit, and was loaded with pepitas, powdery cotija cheese, and spicy jalapeño slices. The nice thing about kale in a salad is that it travels so well and really holds up, unlike the red leaf, even when dressed. The more acidic the dressing is the better, in order to soften the leaves. I was so inspired that I made my own version of the salad adding radishes and a tomato vinaigrette, all served together in a baked flatbread bowl you can eat. Dark leafy greens have never been so fun or delicious!

P.S. I bake the flatbreads over a washed out tin can in the oven to get that great salad bowl shape, like this:

-Amy at Flatout

Sweet Potato Chicken Pizza

By Rob Carroll on May 15, 2017 in

In college, I often filled in as a substitute baby-sitter for a friend of mine who ran a successful baby-sitting service. I came in very handy for her, usually at the last minute, and I got to meet a lot of fun little kids and families I might not have otherwise, so it was a pretty nice little side job in between classes, all in all.

I can still remember one of the families I worked for, though, because something about them was always so puzzling, and I never figured out the little mystery. It was harmless enough, but at the time of my visit, the only food they had in the house was….bananas. Bags and bags of them! I don’t recall anything in the refrigerator other than bananas, either. It was a long, long, time ago, and it’s not like I snooped through the whole kitchen, but I distinctly remember that the mom must have been wild about bananas. I only babysat for her little girl once, and she had already had dinner, so it was entirely possible that they were between trips to the grocery, but man, there were so many bananas.

And for good reason, I suppose. Bananas are considered a nutritious food, after all, but if there’s a food that trumps a banana, I’d have to say it could be sweet potatoes. High in vitamins A and C, a good source of fiber when eaten with the skins on, sweet potatoes of all kinds are a great tuber to eat any which way you can.

Sure, you could just wait to eat them once a year at Thanksgiving covered in marshmallows and pecans, but why not try them steamed, roasted, in spicy or savory applications? This flatbread recipe uses them as a saucy base for a chicken pizza loaded with kale and cilantro, with a squeeze of lime at the very end. Sweet potatoes love a little acid to bring their flavors out.

Try this pizza; I bet you’ll love it! In fact, I bet you’ll go ‘bananas’ for this flatbread recipe. I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you started buying bags and bags of sweet potatoes at the store, either. Just round it out with some flatbread, too, so you can make delicious food!

-Amy at Flatout

Bacon Black Bean Wrap

By Rob Carroll on May 15, 2017 in

Git along, little doggies, here’s a hearty breakfast that’ll stick to your ribs!

It’s been a few years since I’ve been camping, but boy howdy, do I love it. I collect camping gear and hoard it in our basement, a kind of funky mix between hi-tech and vintage (I need my state of the art inflatable sleeping bag mattress, but also my vintage foldable picnic table and Coleman camping stove!)

We have two dogs who have never been camping with us, although I took one on an overnight to see how he would do. After jumping out of the car, immediately running into the woods, he came back filthy and, little did we know until much later, covered in ticks. Then he kept me up all night barking at deer (hopefully) outside the tent. It wasn’t exactly a relaxing experience, but the optimist in me really wants to try again! Being outside in nature, especially when you live in a congested city, makes it all worthwhile. Except for the ticks!

When you sleep outside or in a tent, sleeping bag mattress or not, breakfast tastes even better. A camping staple, the humble can of black beans can do no wrong, in my opinion. Just open a can and cook them over the open flames. Want to add a dried chili for flavor? Go right ahead. If you are like me, you’ll pre-cook your bacon so you don’t have a mess to clean up, which makes this wrap the easiest, most delicious meal ever. No waste, no plates needed, just pure flatbread fabulousness.

Flatout flatbreads make excellent traveling companions when camping in the great wilderness. Even the bag they come in can be used to pack out litter or dirty utensils from a campsite, once you eat all the flatbread.

This summer, get outside for a camping trip or two. Grab a couple cans of black beans, some flatbread, and ~~leave your dogs at home~~ bring your dogs so everyone can enjoy themselves! Oh and p.s. don’t forget the tick repellent.

-Amy at Flatout

Butternut Squash and Kale Flatbread

By Rob Carroll on February 6, 2017 in

Back when vegetarians had it hard, I was a vegetarian for a couple years. My go to meal was red sauce on spaghetti and a side of steamed broccoli. I was in college, and just learning to cook, and the Moosewood Cookbook was my only reference on hand for plant based anything. This was before the internets, which has changed the world so drastically in terms of diet and how people eat and prepare meals.

Squash and kale make a great pair in this flatbread pizza, but like all hearty vegetables, they’re even better with a smooth, creamy goat cheese.

Butternut squash is so delicious, and easy to cut up and roast into caramelized cubes of sweet vegetable candy so you can add it to salads, flatbread wraps, grain bowls, and pizzas. One squash goes a long way, so plan your menus accordingly!

I promise you won’t even miss the meat in this recipe, and neither will the confirmed meat-eaters in your life. The kale adds some crunch and texture, (not to mention tons of fiber, vitamins, and minerals) the goat cheese is pure pleasure, and the lemon juice brightens everything up. And the pepitas? A little nutty protein never hurt anybody.

Plant based meals have come a long way since spaghetti sauce and steamed broccoli. I hope you love this flatbread as much as I do!

-Amy at Flatout

Tag Archives | kale

Super Kale Bowl

Sweet Potato Chicken Pizza

Bacon Black Bean Wrap

Butternut Squash and Kale Flatbread

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