Suburban Vegan Stories of Survival in the Land of Meat & Dairy

On Tuesday, I had to go to court in Chicago, which meant that I would miss the Woodstock Farmers Market. I was pleasantly surprised to see a market right across the street from the courthouse. The Federal Plaza Farmers Market is every Tuesday from 7 a.m. -3 p.m. There was a lot of good stuff. I bought two bunches of basil and two bunches of kale, onions, green beans, zucchini, and berries.

Wednesday’s dinner revolved around kale, the poster vegetable of veganism.

(On a cart return at Whole Foods in Birmingham, AL)

Curry Lentils with Kale

Serves 4

• 1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 2 cups of lentils
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 box brown rice couscous

Steam kale for 3-5 minutes, remove from hot water and soak in an ice bath. Toast seeds in cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Stir constantly to avoid burning. Add a teaspoon of olive oil and sauté onion and garlic until onions are tender. Stir in lentils and remaining spices. Add kale. Cook until lentils are hot.

Serve over brown rice couscous.

I also made some Spicy Kale Chips for the first time. Kale chips are everywhere and for good reason. These are some tasty treats.

Tonight was all about the basil. I made a big batch of walnut-basil pesto and served it over brown rice noodles and green beans. Sometimes when I get an idea for dinner, but have second thoughts over whether the combination in my head will translate to the plate, I do a search of foodgawker. Happily, someone else had made pesto with green beans. She also used black olives. I had kalamata olives, so I threw those in. It was good except for the green beans, but that was just a bad box of green beans, not the recipe’s fault.