Today was my Monday after a long weekend and it felt like it! Work dragged while being busy and hitting one frustrating snag after another making it not the most productive and more to look forward to tomorrow. I hate that. And our days continue to be cold, wet, windy and gray with more rain. I think that’s why I threw together such a colorful lunch that countered all the gray with a little cheer. I tore up some purple kale leaves, tossed in carrot shavings and some cherry tomatoes that were nearing the end of their prime and had to be used up quick.
For the dressing, I threw:
- 1 orange, peeled
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/2 ” chunk of fresh ginger
- 3/4 cup of water
Into the blender and blended on high until it was a rich, whipped cream.
It coated the salad nicely with a rich ginger flavor that was bright and cheery. And the colors reminded me of a tropical sunset. :-)
For dinner, I decided to try my luck with another socca variation inspired by the twins awesome creations. I followed their basic recipe for a baked socca flat bread with garbanzo bean flour, but tried my own seasonings.
I added dried basil and chopped sun dried tomatoes to the batter.
Greased what I thought was a nonstick 9 inch cake pan with olive oil and baked at 350 degrees on convect for 35 minutes.
Then topped with fresh minced garlic, more chopped sun dried tomatoes and fresh tomatoes before putting under the broiler for another 2 minutes.
The end result looked good, but then I tried slicing it out and found either olive oil sucks for non-stick and/or the pan sucked because it stuck. Bad.
I got two pieces out that look somewhat neat. :-) Obviously it’s been awhile since I’ve baked and I just didn’t want to break the Pam spray out. Oh well.
I served it with leftover salad from last night.
Even if being a little messy, the socca was tasty with a moist, filling texture. And I stress the filling part, garbanzo bean flour seems to expand once it hits the stomach. I was being cautious with the spices, so it was a little bland. Next time I’m opening the flood gates. :-) And I think I prefer the skillet method for socca more, it’s quicker and easier once flipping it is mastered. :-)
Now it’s actually not raining and not too cold outside for a change, I’d better take advantage of this and go for a run to blow off the stresses of the day. I hope everyone is having a great evening!
the dressing looks delish! you amaze me every.single.day with amazing dressings you whip up!
love the purple cabbage
just read the local paper which pulls stories off the A.P. and also on Cnn…this whole CA flooding thing looks awful, you w/out power…dear lord I hope we come home to a house is one piece! Glad you’re back on track and with power, despite work being….meh.
2 more days! or less, I hope, for you!
Thanks! :-) It’s so fun throwing fresh ingredients into the Vita-Mix for fresh dressings. And I adore the colors of purple cabbage and kale, so fun to add color with.
Weather in the entire state of CA has been nuts! Thankfully the rain may let up a bit for Christmas, but it hasn’t helped holiday traffic and it sounds like SoCal is taking it pretty hard too.
What a great flavour combination for the salad dressing and YUMMO to the purple kale. I am leaving for Saudi tomorrow and know I am totally going to miss kale. Thinking I’m going to have to learn how to grow it as apparently it grows well in sandy soils.
Kale does grow well here in our muddy clay soil and my summer crops are bouncing back as a winter crop, so I need to harvest it once the rains stops for a huge batch of kale chips.
I keep meaning to try their soca! Yours looks yummy, even if it stuck a little!
I’m having fun with socca because it’s a simple recipe base that’s very customizable to just about whatever flavor combo you’re craving. And it could be used as a gluten-free, high protein pizza crust.
Mmm I have a thing for purple kale. Any food that’s purple owns my heart. ;)
I tend to eat more salads/veggies in winter I think.. which is a bit weird.. but it’s probably our bodies telling us to eat good nutrient dense foods to fight those germs :)
Me too during the winter, gotta have lots of green monsters and I tend to crave more colorful veggies.
Purple kale salad looks amazing! I am craving it right now :)
And yay for socca! Looks good. We still get times when it sticks to pan and looks like mush not bread, haha, but oh well still taste wonderful!