Two for One

Hello! Sorry I have been missing in action lately.. I am in the process of moving to Austin with my boyfriend.  We FINALLY got an apartment.  No small feat let me tell you.  Since Chris (my boyfriend) is still in Maine, it was my responsibility to choose where we live… so  I hope he likes it.  I'm pretty sure he will though. The neighborhood it is in is too cute.  I am excited to walk and explore our new surroundings.  I've already spotted some places including coffee, bakeries, and a juice bar with a record store either next to it or a part of it? Not sure, but the explorer in me is intrigued.  And our apartment is pretty big too.  Well bigger than my studio apartment last year was (yay for a living room!), so friends and family come visit pretty please.

Even though I haven't been posting much, I definitely have still be cooking. Today to share I have a citrus kale salad (not really surprising) and Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea tacos. I'm a taco gal but I usually make black bean, corn, and red pepper veggie tacos so I was intrigued by this recipe.  In my opinion, these recipes scream Summer.  Speaking of summer it is going by soooo fast. On one hand it's going to feel like summer foreverrrrrr here ha, but still.  When the school year starts it is the end of summer even if you still have pool days and iced coffee.

For the tacos, the only real work required is chopping up the cauliflower into bite sized florets and preparing the chili powder mixture.  Once that's all taken care of, toss the cauliflower and chickpeas in the mixture and roast for about 30 minutes.

While that was roasting, I made the salad as shown in the pictures below. The oil in the dressing rises to the top fairly quickly so if you're letting it sit for a few minutes, just remember to give it a good stir/shake before using.  In this recipe, I used a tangelo which is a citrus hybrid of a mandarin orange and a grapefruit.  Dying.  So darn tasty.  Anything will work though including clementines, oranges, tangerines, etc. I did not keep my orange slices in pretty segments rather I cut them into chunks just because they are easier to eat that way. But if you're fancy, by all means.. 

A word on the tacos: Don't skip the lime crema! It's fresh and it gives the dish three dimensional flavor. You have the smokey, chili roasted chickpeas and cauliflower layered with the tangy, creamy sauce which is all balanced out by the corn tortilla. Know what I mean? Did that make sense? Just say yes. 

Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Tacos
Adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com

 Tacos:

2 tsp. Chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. water

1 (15 ox.) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small head cauliflower, washed and cut into bite size florets

Corn tortillas

1 large avocado

Chopped cilantro 

Lime crema:

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/8 cup lime juice

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Salt and pepper

Hot sauce! Personally I like valentina 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place the chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, onion powder, lime juice, olive oil, and water in a large bowl. Stir in the chickpeas and cauliflower.  Spread the mixture out onto a greased baking sheet.  Roast for 30-35 minutes. 

2.  To make the lime crema place all ingredients into a bowl and stir. 

3.  Take a warmed corn tortilla and place a spoonful of the cauliflower/chickpea mixture, followed by the lime crema, hot sauce, and avocado.  

Kale Citrus Salad

Adapted from thepioneerwoman.com

Salad:

1 bunch of kale, leaves separated from the stem

1-2 medium oranges, tangerines, tangelos (or 3 clementines)

Crumbled goat cheese ( 4 oz)

Dressing:

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 clove garlic, grated

1 tsp. sugar ( I did a little less than that)

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp. greek yogurt

Directions:

1.  Once kale leaves are separated from the stems, thinly slice leaves.  Place in a large bowl.

2.  For the dressing, combine all the ingredients above.  This dressing makes just enough to coat the salad.  I ended up making another batch, but only used 1/4 of it as I thought that was plenty.  Plus it kind of just sinks to the bottom of the bowl, so really you don't need much! 

3.  Pour dressing and toss the salad.  Add oranges and toss again.  

4.  Serve with goat cheese on top*

* Do not add the goat cheese to the whole salad.  If you have leftovers, the goat cheese will break down and it's not very desirable (I've done it before).. so keep it fresh!