garlic (e)scapes

White Russian Kale, Redleaf Lettuce and Garlic Scapes

yesterday i went to the farmer's market to pick up some green things for the next few days. when i went to pay for my green leaf lettuce and russian kale this adorable farmer started asking me about how i was planning on preparing my kale. i told him i was planning on using part of it for a raw salad and would probably sate the rest. he got really excited and asked me if i had ever tried garlic scapes i said that although i had read some some pretty dope things about them, i had not yet tried them myself. after taking the time to walk me through the whole technique and ripping off the stem of some plant whose name i forgot and shoving the lemony deliciousness into my mouth, he told me i could take three garlic scapes (which pretty much look like scallions on crack) on my way out because he liked me. i love being a girl :)

when i got home i busied myself making THE PERFECT VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES to bring to father's day dinner with my fam. obvi had to taste test the cookies at all stages of the process and ended up eating about a million so that was my lunch. eww. dinner was at a new stake house on the upper west side where i enjoyed a salad made with white cabbage and shaved brussels sprouts with an avocado-y dressing, some veggie soup and grilled asparagus and kale. everyone seemed to really like the cookies. you could still taste the banana, but it was way subtle. my seven year-old sister took one bite and put her cookie down. i guess she is the real cookie expert.

"Freedom Cookies"- making vegan cookies more appealing to predominantly carnivorous family. bleh marketing

i couldn't stop thinking about the garlic scapes though. i woke up today craving kale sated with garlic scapes. so i made them.

i first ripped the kale leaves off the stems just like my farmer friend instructed me to.

Stems N' Leaves

next i diced up the stems of the kale and the garlic scapes and sated them in some olive oil for about five minutes. i then sliced up the kale leaves and washed them but did not dry them so that they retained some water to help them steam up a bit when i added them to the pan. after about two minutes or so i dumped the whole thing into a big bowl and dug in!

nommnommnommmm

not so long after i decided to whip up one of my favorite go-to meals:

what is that plate?

BROWN RICE VEGGIE SUSHI using the leftover kale in one of the rolls along with some sliced carrots, daikon radish, cucumber and avocado(so key!) the other roll had the same raw veggies but featured my HIJIKI SALAD:

2 handfuls of dried hijiki seaweed

hot water to cover

~1 tbsn tamari soy sauce (you could use shoyu but this i what i had in the house)

~1 tsp agave

juice from 1 inch piece of grated ginger

1 splash ume vinegar (i think you could sub apple cider vinegar or another type or probably omit this as im not sure if it actually does anything)

1/2 cup boiled edamame (optional)

finished off this drawn-out, dream-of-a-meal with a perfect vegan chocolate chip cookie and some green tea. mmmhmm lazy monday :)