Kale & Lentil Salad With Cranberries & Coconut Bacon

It is amazing how excited I can get about a kale salad. This Kale & Lentil Salad with Cranberries & Coconut Bacon is really delicious & reminds me of something you could order at an upscale vegetarian restaurant.

This kale salad is full of beautiful. It has gorgeous color from the cranberries & the kale itself. The texture is great with curly kale, chewy dried cranberries & crunchy coconut bacon. The cranberries are a nice sweet touch while the coconut bacon adds amazing smokey & salty flavor.

Kale Tip

Kale is different from other salad greens as it is not as delicate. I love this about kale because you can dress it and put it in the refrigerator to eat the next day, as the leaves will not get soggy like typical salad leaves.

I like kale chopped up small like in this salad, with the dressing “massaged” into the leaves to help soften them a bit. It is best to do this before adding the other toppings to your salad.

Kale Nutrition

This salad is full of protein & fiber, phytonutrients & antioxidants. You can read more about the amazing nutrition of kale here. It is filling and can be a meal in itself or makes a great side dish, too. It is a great recipe for potlucks, and can be enjoyed all year but is especially festive looking at Christmastime.

Coconut Bacon

Did you read the post I wrote about coconut bacon? It is SO DELICIOUS & very easy to make. Most regular bacon has nitrates in it that are cancer causing and harmful to your health. This coconut bacon has a nice smokey flavor from smoked paprika & has a great salty flavor like bacon, thanks to the addition of soy sauce. The oven crisps the coconut flakes up just right for the perfect crunchy texture to top salads and soups. Coconut bacon is great sprinkled on top of lentil soup or even just eaten straight from a jar!

Lentils

I use precooked lentils that you can get at Trader Joes in the refrigerator section. If you don’t have a Trader Joes near you, lentils are super easy to make, or you can get canned lentils. Want more ideas of what to make with lentils from New Nostalgia? Try Easy Taco Seasoned Lentils or Sloppy Joe Lentils. Both make great Meatless Monday/ Vegetarian meals.

This salad has a simple homemade dressing made with apple cider vinegar which gives it great flavor. It is the perfect dressing for an amazing salad!

Kale & Lentil Salad with Cranberries & Coconut Bacon

{Serves: 6 small or 4 large servings}

1 medium head curly kale, stems removed, washed, dried and chopped (about 7-8 ounces after preparation)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (or one can of cooked lentils, rinsed & drained)

1 cup coconut bacon

1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp salt

Black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons chopped shallots

Instructions:

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar,maple syrup, salt, pepper, and shallots. Set them aside.

Place the kale in a large mixing bowl. Toss the dressing over it and massage thoroughly with your hands, until all of the leaves are coated with the dressing. Add the cranberries, lentils, and coconut bacon, and toss everything to combine. Pile the salad into serving bowls & serve.

Note: Leftover salad will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days. I love storing it in smaller mason jars for a quick, grab & go lunch.

Brunch/ Featured/ GF, Vegan & Raw/ RECIPES

Coconut Bacon Recipe

Yep, you read that right. Coconut bacon. It’s a thing–a very good thing! I have continued to be amazed at the genius recipes I find in the vegan world. Although I am no longer vegan, I still try to eat a ton of plants and use meat as a type of garnish or side dish. As far as meat goes, we really only eat fish, organic chicken and organic grass-fed beef. I will also buy organic, nitrate-free sliced turkey for my girls lunches on occasion.

Bacon

It had been ages since I have bought bacon, but I recently bought some from Trader Joes that was nitrate-free & really enjoyed it on my salads. What I didn’t enjoy was the added cost to our grocery budget, and I really don’t want to get into the habit of buying bacon again.

I was recently scrolling through Bloglovin’ & came upon a recipe for Coconut bacon that stopped me dead in my tracks. I love coconut. I love bacon. I love anything salty-sweet, and I knew I would be making Coconut Bacon as soon as I possibly could.

Drinks/ Featured/ RECIPES

Creamy Banana Mango Smoothie

Come January I am usually trying to cut out processed sugar after the holidays, & this Creamy Banana Mango Smoothie has been just the thing to help me in that process!

A Natural, Healthy Sweet

Whenever I am craving something sweet, a fruit smoothie really helps satisfy the craving. I love a green smoothie, and I love berry smoothies, but this smoothie with banana and mango is a great break from my typical green smoothies. My youngest girl, Avery, loves this one because there are no seeds in it from berries, and because it is extra creamy!

Health Benefits of This Smoothie

Banana gives great potassium, mango is full of vitamin C, & the yogurt gives great probiotic’s that help keep the gut healthy and happy. Yogurt is also a great source of protein. I love when a smoothie recipe has natural protein in it, whether it is from yogurt or soaked nuts.

Storing Your Smoothie

We like storing smoothies in these fun little glass milk bottles, and I usually double my smoothie recipe just so I can have extra to store in the refrigerator, ready to grab and go. I ordered these glass milk bottles off of Amazon and you can too, using this link. They are a great size, especially for a snack or for kids. They look so sweet all lined up in my refrigerator! We always drink our smoothies with a straw. I’ve been drooling over these extra-large stainless steel straws for smoothies, and want to order some soon. I have the regular size stainless, but extra large would be great for thick smoothies!

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What are your favorite smoothie recipes?

Do you ever make extra and store it?

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Creamy Banana Mango Smoothie

3/4 cup organic yogurt

2 cups frozen cubed mango

1 frozen banana*

honey to taste (optional-usually not needed-depends on the sweetness of your fruit)

Blend yogurt, frozen mango & frozen banana on high until smooth. Add water if needed to thin enough to create a nice vortex, but not so much that you lose the creamyness! Taste. Add some honey if it is too tangy & blend some more until incorporated.

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Tip:

*to easily peel a frozen banana, I fill the blender up with warm water & place the frozen banana in it for a few minutes. I use the blender container because it is tall enough to submerge the entire banana & I will be using it anyway. Once it has soaked enough for the outside of the banana to feel soft, (you don’t want it completely thawed) slice off one end of peel, (I just use my fingers), empty the water, & help the banana slip & slide right out into the blender. If it does not slide easily, you need to let it thaw a bit more, but don’t soak so long that the banana thaws completely. It only takes a minute or two.

Brunch/ Featured/ Homemade Gifts/ RECIPES/ Sweets

Cranberry Chia Jam

I cannot get enough cranberries for some reason this season! I crave them. It all started around Thanksgiving with my Hall of Fame Cranberry Sauce, which was so good that I started putting it on my toast in the morning. Then the New Year hit and I wanted a healthier version, so I came up with this Cranberry Chia Jam recipe. This awesome recipe is sweetened naturally & packed with 2 superfoods; cranberries and chia seeds.

Cranberries

Cranberries are so very healthy. According to WebMD:

Cranberries have vitamin C and fiber, and are only 45 calories per cup. In disease-fighting antioxidants, cranberries outrank nearly every fruit and vegetable–including strawberries, spinach, broccoli, red grapes, apples, raspberries, and cherries.

One cup of whole cranberries has 8,983 total antioxidant capacity. Only blueberries can top that: Wild varieties have 13,427; cultivated blueberries have 9,019.

Cranberries are amazing, but being as tart as they are, it is tempting to use sugar to sweeten them up. There is a reason my Hall of Fame Cranberry Sauce is so good, and that is the 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar in it! I am really trying to detox from sugar so I had to find a way to keep my cranberry -jammed toast habit, but dump the sugar.

My solution was to sweeten the recipe up with honey or maple syrup instead of brown sugar, and cut the amount of sweetness way down. Another way I added some sweetness is by using the juice of the orange. The recipe calls for grated orange peel, so it made sense to use the juice from the orange as a natural sweetener.

Chia Seeds

Using juice and a liquid natural sweetener made the cranberry mixture a bit too runny after cooking, so my solution to this was chia seeds! I was giddy to think that not only would they thicken the jam and act as pectin would in regular jam recipes, (chia seeds swell and turn gelatinous) but they would add more health benefits on top of my toast!

Here are a few reasons why chia seeds are my favorite seed:

~they are jammed packed with protein and minerals and healthy fats and fiber

~they provide more plant-based Omega 3’s than any other food, even FLAX
~5 times the calcium of milk, plus boron which is a trace mineral that helps transfer calcium to bones
~8 times the omega 3’s found in salmon
~3 times more iron than spinach
~2 times the amount of potassium than bananas
~more antioxidants than found in blueberries

~they have 5 GRAMS of fiber PER TABLESPOON!
~the are a complete source of protein, providing all the essential amino acids
~can be stored for years without deterioration of flavor or color

~they are flavorless and dissolve in juice, soups, stews, shakes etc..

~they are low-calorie way to get super FULL!

My Morning Toast Habit

I am in a major morning toast habit. I have found my favorite bread from Sam’s called Dave’s Killer Bread, and it is full of seeds and nuts and all kinds of organic goodness. It has 6 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber & 670mg of Omega 3’s due to all of the great flax and pumpkin seeds in it. I make 2 slices so all of that goodness doubled. I like to use a softer bread for sandwiches, unless they are grilled or Panini pressed, but this bread is delicious with just a touch of sweet & makes wonderful toast. I buy it in bulk and freeze it. I take it straight from the freezer to the toaster. You can buy it here on Amazon or at Sam’s.

I use either Earth Balance spread or organic butter…whatever we have on hand. We do not drink milk around here but I have added some organic animal products back into our diet. We just do better health- wise with some good organic animal fats & protein, and it especially seems to be a positive thing for our family when it comes to brain health– but that is another post!

Cranberry Chia Jam As A Gift

Here is where I have to make a confession. I had a jar of my Hall of Fame Cranberry Sauce all packaged up and ready to give to my sweet neighbors during the Christmas season. They always give us great home-baked goods and I wanted to send a little something their way, too. I even shared a picture of it on my New Nostalgia Facebook page. I made a jar for them and a jar for us. Confession: I ate the jar for us… and the jar for them. I know! I know! I just couldn’t imagine my toast without cranberry sauce on top and mine ran out so I just had to open their jar and help myself.

Because of my selfishness, our poor neighbors didn’t get a gift until New Year’s…ok…I confess, I delivered it just yesterday. But, I feel like it all worked out well. They are very health conscience, so it felt great to give them my Cranberry Chia Jam instead of the sugar-filled Hall of Fame Cranberry Sauce, and last night I got a text from my neighbor letting me know he was looking forward to toast in the morning. I did have to dump the original Christmas packaging idea, and instead added a fun polka dot tag and a little hint of sparkle, as New Year’s day really was not THAT long ago, right?

Cranberry Chia Jam Recipe

makes 1 pint

2 cups fresh or frozen organic cranberries, sorted and rinsed

1/3 cup of organic 100% maple syrup or honey (more if you want sweeter)

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel of one orange, grated (or 2 clementines) I use the fine side of this grater.

Juice of one orange (or 2 clementines)

1 Tablespoon chia seeds

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Add all but chia seeds to a medium saucepan.

On medium heat, let the cranberries pop and cook, 7-9 minutes, mashing and stirring as they cook.

Let cool, then stir in the chia seeds.

Store in a jar. Jam will thicken upon standing.

This will keep for about a month in the refrigerator.

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Enjoy!

Do you love the taste of cranberries?

Do you use chia seeds? How?

Did you make any homemade gifts this holiday season?

Christmas/ Drinks/ RECIPES/ Sweets

Peppernuts Recipe Tradition & Almond Nog

Every year around this time, I find myself crunching on Peppernuts made by my Grandma Thelma’s sweet hands, and thinking about how I MUST share this great recipe and meaningful family tradition with you! Well, this year I’m doing it, and you are going to love it!

I took the photos for this post, then sat down with my tiny tree dish full of peppernuts & my mug of almond nog. I’m a happy camper as I type away at this post with my delicious little snack.

Have you seen that Silk now makes Silk Almond Nog? They have original and pumpkin spice and they are SO good. They are both so creamy that you won’t believe they are dairy-free, and there are no eggs in either of these nogs! I’m drinking the original Almond Nog & it is full of nutmeg and cinnamon, & has the smooth velvety flavor of classic eggnog.

Tradition

The peppernut cookies are a family tradition that I just love. My Grandma makes them every year for everyone in the family, and has for as long as I can remember. I have such fond memories of helping her roll and slice the long, thin rolls of dough when I was a young teen. It means the world to me to receive them as a gift from her each year, & it is so fun to see my girls grow up and enjoy peppernut cookies, too.

Peppernut cookies are a tiny spiced holiday cookie that are popular in Germany, Denmark, & the Netherlands. The cookies are roughly the size of a nut, and can be eaten by the handful, hence the name. They have anise oil in them, but it is not overpowering & adds just the right unique spice. These little crunchy cookies are so addicting! I love that they can keep indefinitely & are great for snacking and for sitting around in covered dishes for your guests to enjoy.

We celebrated Christmas early with my Mom’s side of the family, which meant getting these little peppernut cookies early, too. The cookies pictured are made by my Grandma, but one of these days I’m going to make them myself.

I’m feeling quite sophisticated eating my peppernuts and drinking my almond nog. It is like having cookies and milk, but way more special because it is peppernuts and nog! I can drink a mug or two of Silk Almond Nog without feeling naughty because it is made without eggs, dairy or saturated fats & there are only 80 calories or less per serving! I especially appreciate that there are no artificial colors or preservatives in Silk products. Grandma’s cookies, on the other hand, are a bit naughty, but I can’t bring myself to mess with a recipe that has been handed down & that is so, so good. I will keep it as it is written, and enjoy every little cookie as we only have them once a year.

Recipe:

Peppernuts

1 16 oz bottle dark corn syrup

1 1/8 cup sugar

1 cup of oleo (margarine or butter) (melt in hot syrup)

1/2 tsp. anise oil

~Boil this mixture until the sugar is dissolved.

2 eggs (well-beaten)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup sour cream

~Mix together, then add to hot mixture.

10 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

a handful or two of walnuts, cut up fine

~Pour above mixture into flour & mix. You will end up using your hands–just like Grandma!

~Form into long rolls, about the diameter of a quarter. Wrap in plastic wrap & let it get good and cold, or you could freeze at this point until you are ready to bake. Cut into fairly thin slices, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Each cookie should be about the size of a quarter.

~Bake 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

~These get better with age, so don’t be afraid to bake a bunch!

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I love sharing such simple joys of the season with you! I hope you can find a quiet moment or two to cozy up, slow down, sip on some nog, & savor recipes that have been passed down. It is amazing how something as simple as the cinnamon flavor of a creamy nog or the spicy hint of anise in a crunchy cookie can cause one to pause and find comfort in meaningful memories of seasons past.

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Visit Silk Holiday to learn more about Silk Almond Nog & find more simple joys of the season, like recipes, a free digital holiday recipe book, a coupon & more!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk . The opinions and text are all mine.

Holidays/Parties/ RECIPES/ Sponsored

Warming Spiced Almond Milk

We had our first few flurries of the season last week here in the midwest, and it made me giddy! I immediately wanted to slow life way down, grab a warm drink, a fuzzy blanket & hunker down & savor the moments. The holidays are upon us, and I’ve learned that this is the time to be intentional about creating slow moments so that I can focus in on what matters most. Slowing down allows me to make the Christmas season my own.

A recent slow moment that I enjoyed was with a cup of Warming Spiced Almond Milk. The recipe has been in the back of my brain for a while now, and with the cold weather and holidays upon us, a trip to Target was what was needed to make my warm, slow moment come true!

Brunch/ Holidays/Parties/ RECIPES/ Sweets

Cinnamon Roll Wreath Christmas Tradition

The holidays are upon us and I am determined to enjoy every moment of them! One of the ways our family makes the holidays special is by using traditions to make memories from year to year. We have found some of those traditions changing. As the age of our 3 girls (12, 14 & 16 years) change, so do their interests. We used to put them to bed early, then grab them from their beds, pajamas blankies and all, and throw them into our heated car to go look at Christmas lights. They LOVED it. I remember the giggles, their ringlets & curls bouncing as Daddy carried them out to the car, & the sound of Christmas music streaming out from the car every time he would open the car door to throw another girl in! Oh what fun memories! Now we can’t imagine lifting our grown girls, or that they would enjoy being in public in their jammies. Yes, traditions sometimes have to change.

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