Chopped Kale Salad with Bacon, Dates & Pecans

Two co-workers were talking about the best kale salad ever at this fancy restaurant downtown — Oak. They both noted that it was most memorable part of their meal. The salad. Can you believe that?!

That conversation got my mind going, and somehow I invented a story in my head about that salad. In my mind, it had pecans, dates, and even bacon. It wasn’t just kale, there were other greens to lighten it up. And the dressing was tangy and sweet but not overpowering. I thought about that salad so much that I went ahead and made it (because why not?).

It wasn’t until I went to write this post that I remembered the original inspiration (Oak’s famous salad), and figured I should probably look up what their kale salad actually contains. Boy was I off the mark!

Shaved Apple & Kale Salad. Grana Padano, togarashi, candied almonds.

Say what??! Kale, apples, cheese, candied nuts, you have me on the edge of my seat! But then, Togarashi?!

I guess I have to just go try the original. Until then, I’m going to pretend my own kale salad is just as famous.

Chopped Kale Salad with Bacon, Dates & Pecans

Published October 4, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the Salad:

4 kale leaves, chopped into bite-sized pieces

Sprinkle of salt

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

1 cup romaine, shredded

1 cup radicchio, shredded

6 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped

4 slices cooked bacon, cooled and chopped in bite sized pieces

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place kale in a salad bowl. Drizzle lightly with oil and a sprinkle of salt. Using your hands, “massage” the kale, rubbing the leaves with your hands until they are bright green and tender. This will make them easier to eat.
2. Add shredded romaine and radicchio to the bowl, and toss to combine. Add bacon, dates, and pecans.
3. Combine first four ingredients for vinaigrette in a small jar and shake to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over salad to your tastes and toss. Serve.

Grain-Free Peanut Butter Blondies

These peanut butter blondies are my favorite thing today this month.

Do you like peanut butter cookies? Do you love peanut butter cups? These are for you. ❤️

How these sweet peanut butter blondie babies came to be: A looooong time ago, I went on a hunt for a grain-free peanut butter cookie recipe. I have a few of these recipes stashed away, and have tweaked them and toyed with them until I found my go-to combination of ingredients. The cookies themselves call for only 6 ingredients, which is good because it means late-night cookie cravings are easy to quench (you know, good but also bad 😆).

And those six ingredients? You probably have them in your pantry right now: peanut butter, salt, vanilla, almond flour, honey and (in your fridge) an egg.

✨ Do you know what makes you feel like Wonder Woman (or Superman)? When you hear the words "I could really go for a cookie right now," and then you magically pull a fresh batch of cookies from the oven in 30 minutes. ✨

It’s possible with these bars. Cheers to that!

When they are fresh from the oven, these blondies are super soft, but as they cool they firm up, becoming fudgy. They melt away in your mouth… all that peanut butter goodness — oh gosh, just writing this makes me want to make a fresh batch right away!

If you prefer cookies… You can plop the dough by the spoonful on the a cookie sheet, but I have found that they're even better as bars (AKA blondies), because it gives them the ultimate fudgy center. Also, it’s less work (hoorah for that!).

These peanut butter bars are the household favorite around here — everyone is excited when these come out of the oven.

AND if you’re thinking, I do love cookies — but I don’t need all that sugar right now. WELL GET READY, because these call for 1/3 cup honey! That's it. No refined sugar. Cut into 9 squares, each bar has less sugar than a LÄRABAR or even an RXBar. So bake away my friends! These cookie bars will change your life. They certainly have changed mine.

The finishing touch on these bars is a sprinkle of salt. While I was in Monterey last month, I came by some fancy salts that were 75% off. Normally I'd resist the urge to buy luxury salt, especially when flying Frontier Airlines with nothing but a "personal item" (uuugh). But 75% off was too much to pass up. 

These blondies are sprinkled with the coffee infused salt, but you can use any salt and get delicious results. You can even play around with sprinkling different salts on top, and decide which you like the most! I sprinkled my most recent batch of these cookies with vanilla salt (affiliate link!) and it was stellar. Try fluer de sel (affiliate link!) or even make your own coffee-infused salt.

Grain-Free Peanut Butter Blondies

Published January 25, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 16   |    Total Time: 35 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup peanut butter (smooth, natural & organic— stir it well)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the chocolate drizzle:
• 1 ounce chocolate (I used a chopped up 88% dark chocolate bar, but use whatever you like most)
• 1 sprinkle finishing salt, such as vanilla salt (affiliate link!), fleur de sel (affiliate link!), espresso salt (affiliate link!), or homemade coffee salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 9x9 inch glass baking dish with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, egg, honey, vanilla, and salt. Stir until completely combined and smooth. Dough should be quite sticky, but not runny: when you lift a spoonful from the bowl it should not drip.
3. Press dough into prepared baking dish in an even layer. Then, place baking dish in oven and bake for 20-23 minutes. The blondies should be puffed in the middle, and golden on the edges. They’ll still be quite soft at this point. Allow blondies to cool in pan for 10 minutes.
4. While to blondies are cooling, make the chocolate drizzle: place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and stir. Then, heat for 15 seconds, and stir, repeating (heat for 15 seconds, stir) until chocolate is completely melted and glossy. Use a spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the bars in a criss-cross pattern. Now, sprinkle with finishing salt of your choice. Allow to cool 5 more minutes.
5. Slice blondies into squares, and serve. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Grain-Free Butternut Squash Pie with Pecan-Crumble Crust

There are too many good recipes to share with you all this month! I usually only post two recipes a week, but this month I just couldn't get everything to fit into that schedule. My options were to ditch a recipe or publish an extra, and well, the answer was clear once we had a bite of this butternut squash pie with pecan crumble crust. 

My good friend had a butternut squash pie making craze last year, and while he seems to now be over that caramelly, cinnamon-y flavor, I'm still stuck on it. 

What I needed though, to really make the ultimate butternut squash pie, was an alternate crust. I've always been partial to graham cracker crusts (the kind you find on many cheesecakes) but wanted to keep this recipe from-scratch and grain-free.

Pondering this crust dilemma brought me to pecans. It wasn't sure pecans would work in place of graham crackers, but I had a hunch. I was nervous about it, putting the pie into the oven. A few friends stopped by and I explained to them it was just an experiment and could go terribly wrong. 

Out of the oven it came and I was, even then, a little nervous. I took pictures, serving everyone else, and then grabbed the last piece for myself, topping it with an oversized dollop of whipped cream.

It was my butternut-pie-making-friend who said it first: a crust made of pecans is like a butternut pie inside of a pecan pie. A custardy filling nestled inside a crunchy, sweet, nutty shell. 

He was right: it was a butternut squash pie inside of a pecan pie. The butter and sugar caramelized in the oven while the pecans toasted, making something so delicious it stole the show, even from the pie filling itself. 

In this pie, crust is no longer just a vehicle for transporting filling. It's a part of the experience, as must as every other ingredient. 

Grain-Free Butternut Squash Pie with Pecan-Crumble Crust

Published December 15, 2017 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 8   |    Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the crust:
• 2 cups pecans 
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

For the filling:
• 10 ounces frozen cubed butternut squash, thawed
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar or coconut sugar
• 1/4 cup wildflower honey
• 2/3 cup half-and-half 
• 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

To serve:
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and grease an 9-inch ceramic or glass pie pan .
2. Put pecans in a food processor and pulse to grind them into a fine crumb. Scrape sides frequently to ensure even chopping. Few larger chunks should remain (several are ok but for the most part you are looking for an even, fine crumb). Scrape pecan crumbs into a bowl, and add sugar and melted butter. Use a spatula to stir until everything is combined and crumb should stick together when squeezed between two fingers. Now, press crumb mixture into prepared pie pan, working it up the sides and into an even layer along the bottom to form a crust. Tip: use the flat bottom of a glass to make a smooth bottom. Make sure there are no gaps or cracks, and then set aside.
3. In a blender, combine: thawed butternut squash, sugar, honey, half-and-half, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. Puree until completely smooth, scraping sides down as needed. Then, allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes so any air bubbles have time to float to the top.
4. Pour butternut mixture into prepared pie shell, filling it until almost—but not quite- full (shoot for 90-95% full). Place in oven and bake for 45-55 minutes, until custard filling jiggles slightly in the middle but not at the edges. Turn heat off, and allow pie to cook in oven with the door open for 10-15 minutes. This super slow cooling method will prevent the custard filling from cracking.
5. While the pie cools, make the whipped cream. Add heavy cream to a bowl and whip with an electric mixture until it beings to hold peaks. Add vanilla, and beat 30 more seconds.
6. Serve pie with dollops of whipped cream (ice cream would be good as well!).