Strawberry Kale Quinoa Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

One of my suggestions when making a kale salad is to tear the kale into small pieces but rub it together and through your hands while you are ripping it apart. It breaks the kale down and makes it much less rough & bitter, it will make the kale brighter green too. I promise the coconut bacon on this just makes it THAT much better. You want to put it on there. Make some & have left overs! I don't put lots of dressing on the salad when it's in the large bowl, I kind of wait until I'm about to eat it and put it over the top then add the coconut bacon.

Salad
1/2 cup quinoa, cooked in 1 cup water
1 bunch kale, torn into small pieces
6-8 strawberries, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
2 green onions including white part, sliced
1/2 avocado, diced
coconut bacon to taste (for topping)
1/2 red bell pepper, small dice (optional)

Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
1 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh)
1/4 cup coconut vinegar (not coconut flavored vinegar) can sub white wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup coconut sugar

Salad: In a large bowl, put the torn kale. After the quinoa is cooked and has cooled for at least 5 minutes, add it over the top of the kale and toss with 1/2 cup of the strawberry vinaigrette. Now add the rest of the salad ingredients over the top, except the coconut bacon (save that for when it is plated). Drizzle with a bit of the dressing.

Dressing: Throw it all in the blender and blend for 1 minute.

Vegan Smokey BBQ Soul Bowl (GF, Vegan, Soy free, Nut free)

I posted this recipe over on the other blog that I have going on LimitlessLifeGirls but thought that I would share it on here too. "I'll Take Some of That" could use some love. ENJOY!!

This has a few different components to the meal. None of them are real complicated, and really none of them are a MUST for the meal. Its very flexible and I've made it a bunch of times, each slightly different. But I've had requests for the recipes, so, here we go!

BBQ Pulled jackfruit! I make it into a bowl, but like i said, the different components of this can be used to make whatever you like. Sandwich, taco, burrito, bowl, salad...
I am posting pictures from a few different times that I've made it, each different. I keep consistent on the jackfruit, butternut squash, coconut bacon & kale, but that's about it. Sometimes I have a dressing on it, sometimes not. (See below pics)

Little FYI on the jackfruit, you can find it at Asian markets/grocery stores in the canned fruit section. Get the kind IN WATER, not in syrup. It doesn't have much of a flavor, so it lends itself to being marinated very easily!

This is the pre-marinade. You can see the hard parts of the jackfruit in the upper right.

butternut squash mid way though

individual parts of the meal

One way I've had it, more a salad type and drizzle a lemon tahini dressing over the top with pickled onions & avocado.

Little fyi on the jackfruit, you can find it at asian markets/grocery stores in the canned fruit section. Get the kind IN WATER, not in syrup. It doesn't have much of a flavor, so it lends itself to being marinated very easily!

▶▶BBQ Jackfruit
2 cans jackfruit in water
1/2 bottle of favorite vegan BBQ sauce. (I used Annie's)

Open the cans, drain & rinse the jackfruit. Pull the jackfruit apart and put into a medium discarding hard end pieces. Then pour in 1/2 the bottle of BBQ sauce and mix. I suggest letting it sit for at least an hour to marinate. However you can do it all crockpot style & just dump it in & leave it to slow cook for a while.
After marinating, put in pot & cook, covered, on medium stirring every few minutes. Cook for 20 minutes.

▶▶Roasted Butternut Squash
1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled then cubed.
3 TBS nutritional yeast
1 TBS coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice, I like coconut sugar for this because I don't like the extra liquid from liquid sweeteners)
1 TBS oil (i use coconut or grapeseed generally)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
Black pepper to taste
Few shakes of dried oregano
Few shakes of dried rosemary

Heat oven to 375° F. I peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, like peeling a potato. You have to make several passes on one section, its peel is thicker & harder than a potato's skin is.  Cube the squash into 1 inch cubes, or smaller & put in an ungreased casserole dish (i line mine with foil) with garlic & onions, then sprinkle ingredients over the squash as evenly as you can, no need to be perfect. Drizzle oil over squash and cover with foil.
Bake for 15 min, pull out and mix it then put back in the oven for another 15 min uncovered.

▶▶Quinoa
Bring 2 cups water to boil and add 1 cup quinoa. Turn down heat to low & cover. Let cook covered for about 17 min, until all the liquid has been absorbed. For additional flavor, cook in vegetable broth.

▶▶Kale
I use either lacinato kale or regular curly green kale. Pull the cleaned kale from the stem and rip into medium pieces and put in a large bowl. If i am making the bowl immediately after the quinoa and vegetables are cooked, so they are really hot, i just put the kale down & the quinoa & vegetables over the top. It wilts the kale slightly making it softer, less bitter & easier to eat.

▶▶Coconut Bacon (put over the top)
If you haven't had coconut bacon, you should invest in the time to make it. So good! Recipe here

▶▶Options to have it with:
●Roasted Brussels Sprouts (i roast them with garlic & onions)
●Steamed cauliflower & broccoli
●Roasted sweet potatoes (sometimes combined with the vegetables below)
●Sauteed vegetables (I've done shallot, onion, bell peppers & zucchini w/garlic)

Vegan Coconut Bacon (Soy-free, GF, Vegan)

So here is my take on the oh so wonderful coconut bacon. There are a decent amount of recipes out there. I used coconut aminos so as to avoid the mass amount of sodium in soy sauce, and to avoid unfermented soy that is Braggs liquid aminos. Personal preference really. But coconut aminos don't have as deep of a salty profile as soy sauce does, so salt gets added to the recipe.
I used 2 different flavors of liquid smoke to give it a bit more depth. I used Colgin brand of liquid smoke, they have both hickory flavor and mesquite flavor, and are vegan. I hear that there are some liquid smokes on the market that aren't vegan.

2 1/2 cups flaked coconut, unsweetened
2 TBS liquid smoke (I used 1 TBS Hickory flavor & 1 TBS Mesquite flavor)
1 1/2 TBS coconut aminos (or braggs or soy sauce)
1 TBS maple syrup
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp smoked paprkia
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp salt of choice  <--- omit if using soy sauce

In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients, except for coconut.
Combine coconut flakes with wet mixture. Stir the coconut around to get it entirely coated. Let sit and soak in for 30 minutes or more, I did it for about an hour.
Heat the oven to 325 F.
Grease a foil lined baking sheet and pour everything from the bowl onto it. Spread the coconut out in a thin layer. Bake for about 18-20 min, pull out every 5-6 min and mix the coconut then slide together in a pile, then spread back out into a thin layer.  This will prevent burning as well as make sure all of the coconut bacon is equally cooked.
You will see the coconut start to darken considerably on the 3rd time you pull it out, make sure the darker coconut is closer to the center than the edge. Coconut bacon is done when they've all browned a medium amount.
When you take it out of the oven, the coconut will still be somewhat soft/pliable but will quickly harden up as it cools down. Shouldn't take but a few minutes until you can enjoy the crunchy goodness!