Squash and kale: An easy, healthy, work-friendly fall lunch

Just started my lunch and snapped a photo to share. It’s a meal I’ve been enjoying all week and (with a bit of prep work) it’s super easy.

I got two acorn squash in my organics box last week so on Sunday, I cut them in half and roasted them in the oven until tender. I also washed, tore and spun dry a bunch of black kale to keep in the fridge all week. Kale keeps well without dressing – I will often just put the whole salad spinner in the fridge as I find greens keep well in it, but sometimes I’ll transfer to a reused plastic container that I’d bought greens in from the store. Also make sure you have on hand some goat cheese and some nuts or seeds to sprinkle – I used a blend of hemp and chia but I could see using squash/pumpkinseeds, pecans or walnuts as well.

The morning of (or the night before, which is less ideal), make your kale salad for that day. Put the leaves in a bowl and drizzle over it some oil (I used hemp), the juice of half a lemon and a bit of maple syrup or honey. Then massage the kale until the dressing coats it and it wilts a little bit. To measure, I stuff the kale leaves into the container I intend to use before I put them into the bowl. Then I know they’ll fit.

Bring to work your salad, half a squash (or more if you can store in a fridge at work during the week), the goat cheese and the seeds/nuts. Then, at lunchtime, just microwave or heat your squash for a minute or so, mash on some goat cheese and sprinkle with seeds, then serve with salad on the side.

This is a light lunch so I’ve been finishing with a dessert of yogurt. This week I’m eating maple sheep’s yogurt from Ewenity, but Greek yogurt is also a good choice as it’s high in protein so very filling.

Enjoy!

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Red lentils with cabbage and roasted rhubarb

Tonight for dinner I went back to one of my wintertime staples, Red Lentils with Cabbage from Smitten Kitchen. You see, such is life in Canada that even though it’s now May and we like to think it’s almost summer, we still have to survive off storage vegetables alongside our green leafy ones, and I got another cabbage in my box last week.

This is a great recipe and freezes well – I like to make a batch and freeze it in portion-sized containers with rice so I can pull one out for a lunch when I need it. This time I bought almost-local lentils, red lentils grown in Saskatchewan, and since they were whole lentils and not split the recipe turned out a bit different, although just as good. I had some leftover millet so had it with that for dinner although I’ll be pulling out the brown rice later this week. I always stir in some spinach if I have it and serve with a dollop of plain yogurt, usually Pinehenge Farms.

And for dessert… rhubarb! I made it to Karma this morning and found it as well as fiddleheads (probably for dinner tomorrow) and ramps/wild leeks, which I didn’t buy as I didn’t think I’d get to them in time. I roasted the rhubarb, it’s the easiest way I know of to prepare it: chop into pieces, sprinkle with some sugar and roast at 450F for 20-25 minutes. (Adapted from the cookbook Simply in Season.) Just be careful – I didn’t have a lot and it was thin and I got distracted and overcooked it a bit. Burnt sugar = not good! And I served the rhubarb with yogurt as well.

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