Kale and Red Pepper Tartine

Tartine is a just a fancy way of saying "open faced sandwich." I was so excited about this dish, and it really stood up to my expectations. I'm already thinking of a thousand ways to vary it: with roasted eggplant, or fresh tomato, or maybe artichoke hearts. Goat cheese gives it a tangy bite and the better the bread, the better the taste of this little sandwich.

These little sandwiches are served on toasted bread, best paired with the hearty, seedy type (of bread, not person).

Ingredients:

6 slices of toasted whole-grain baguette
herbed goat cheese
roasted red bell pepper, drained and sliced
3 cups kale
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt

Saute the kale, garlic and red pepper flakes in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil until wilted.

Top the toasts with a layer of goat cheese, followed by bell pepper and then finally top it all of with the kale mixture.

Apple Fauxsages, Roasted Veggies and Herbed Kale with Grilled Onion and Shrooms

As usually happens, I go through several ideas before settling on what to make for dinner every night. If I'm lucky I have an idea to start with. Today I was going  to make enchiladas, but lo and behold: no tortillas! But in the process of looking for a recipe for those doomed enchiladas, I stumbled across a recipe for apple faux-sausage and just so happened to have everything on hand! I've made wheat-meat before, but never sausages. It turns out this was fairly simple, quite yummy and cheaper than the store bought versions!

The recipe itself is pretty simple but do give yourself an hour or so, as they take some time to cook!

Apple Fauxsages

1/2 cup pinto beans
1 cup cold broth
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 small apple, diced finely
1.5 cups wheat gluten
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp steak seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce

Mash the beans in a large bowl and add all of the other ingredients. Mix well. Then divide the dough into 6 parts and place on a square of foil, molding into little sausage shapes. Wrap the log up in foil, twisting at the ends. Steam for 45 minutes, or until firm. Then unwrap and grill or brown the sausages in a pan.

The sides: Roasted Beets and Acorn Squash

My husband has never had cooked beets before, so I decided to roast up a few and see how the natives liked it. The results: 3 out of 5 thought it was "YUM!" The other 2 are decidedly not fans of this deep red root vegetable. Me? I'm definately a die hard beet lover!

3 beets
1 acorn squash
olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim the tops of of your beets and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes. Meanwhile:

 Slice the acorn squash in half and brush with olive oil. Salt and pepper the inside of the acorn squash. After the beets have cooked for 20 minutes, place the acorn squash face down on the cookie sheet and cook them all (beets and acorn squash) for about 35 minutes. (So about an hour for the beets total, while the acorn squash only cook for 1/2 that.)

Next: The Kale

My husand is slowly becoming a kale-aholic. Neither of us were raised eating cooked greens and maybe this has helped in some way, since we never developed an aversion to them as children.

1/2 onion, diced
about 6 mushrooms
1 clove of garlic, chopped
3 cups kale
1 handful of fresh herbs

Saute the onion and mushrooms until browned, then toss in the kale, garlic and herbs and continue to cook until desired done-ness (We like our greens slightly less-cooked than traditional, but preference is key here!)

And the plate: