lunch Archives - dani california cooks

Marinated Chickpea and Kale Salad (vegan + gluten free)

August 27, 2015 by Dani 31 Comments

Chickpeas are marinated in a simple dressing prior to being tossed with tahini-rubbed kale. It’s gluten-free, meatless lunch perfection!

Chickpeas or garbanzos? Being from California, we always went with “garbanzos” but I think the chickpea is actually English, while garbanzo is Spanish. Does anyone else find the intricacies of language and regional spam to be super interesting as well? I loved when I moved to the Bay Area and everyone started saying “hella” this and that, and when I visited a friend in Boston everything was “wicked”. So anyways, when I moved to the East Coast for college - I had to get used to the chickpea!

I actually had to get used to a bunch of super random things when I moved to the East Coast. For example - temperatures below 50. My freshman year college roommate watched me put on like two layers of leggings, several sweaters, and a puffer jacket in October. She was like “whew, we’re in for a long winter”. The East Coast also introduced me to things like breakfast sandwiches! For some reason I had never had them in California before. They were like a Saturday morning staple in and after college for me. And calling people’s parents not by their first names but by Mr. and Mrs. That was one I could never get used to!

Even after spending six years in college in Baltimore and then two years in DC, I still thought that I retained all of my supposed California charm. I always got feedback at work that I was too “casual” or “friendly”, which I couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing, I just chalked it up to being from LA. But when I moved back to California last year, everyone at work thought I was a total East Coaster! They thought I was very “intense” and “professional” and certainly overdressed. But work aside, I like to think of the food that I create and share with you all on DCC to be very California inspired, with some of my new East Coast roots in it as well.

And what in the world do I mean by that? I mean the food is fresh, healthy, and certainly a bit trendy - California for sure. But it’s also easy and fast to make for working folks like us on the go - there’s the DC gal in me. This recipe embodies that for sure. It’s packed with health and all-the-rage ingredients, but it’s also quick and simple and is perfect for lunches at work.

I plan to make this salad for myself on repeat the next time I am not traveling for work. I even recreated it using store-bought ingredients this past week while I was traveling!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Marinated Chickpea and Kale Salad (vegan)

Chickpeas are marinated in a simple dressing prior to being tossed with tahini-rubbed kale. It's meatless lunch perfection!

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 2-3 servings

Ingredients

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
4-6 cups of curly kale leaves
1 tbsp tahini
Dash of red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
Optional: ¼ cup roasted pepitas

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk the red wine vinegar, olive oil, and lemon juice
In a medium sized tupperware, pour in the chickpeas
Pour the dressing over the chickpeas. Add in the parsley, and stir until everything is evenly distributed
Top with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to liking
Place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour, but will keep for about 5-6 days. The longer the marinating, the better!
When ready to serve, in a large bowl, place the curly kale
Using your hands, "massage" the tahini into the kale. This will help the kale wilt and get a better texture
Pour the chickpeas and it's marinade over the kale
Top with pepitas and serve!

Notes

I ate the chickpeas at intervals over several days. I would just do a new round of massaged kale, pour over some of the chickpeas and spoon out some of the marinade!

If you like this, you’ll love: Vegan Meze Platter

Kale Salmon Nicoise (paleo)

July 30, 2015 by Dani 34 Comments

As if the classic nicoise salad could really be improved upon, this superfood twist uses salmon and kale!

So apologies for not posting on Wednesday - although I’m sure most of you didn’t really notice and/or care! I really just didn’t have any blogging inspiration, so I just decided to forego it this week. Normally I would have shown a WIAW on Wednesday, but Monday’s and Tuesday’s eats was a lot of me just picking the M&M’s out of the gigantic trail mix box we had in our office. Not a photogenic situation worth capturing, I can promise you that!

But this salad sure is. When I studied abroad in Paris in college, I spent a lot more time eating pain au raisins and the hot chocolate from Angelina’s, but I really should have eaten more nicoise salads ~~because I gained 15 lbs~~ because they are so tasty! Except the strikethrough was actually very, very true. Add the pictures from my final months in Paris into the same category of the hands-in-the-trailmix-bucket of Monday/Tuesday. They’ve definitely been deleted.

Nicoise salads are composed French salads of a lot of little things - lots of different flavors, textures, and it’s actually an enjoyable salad eating experience. They are perfect for a long French-style lunch, because you can take a while to eat all of the bits and pieces that make up this salad!

This version maintains lots of the classic Nicoise flavors - blanched green beans and potatoes, olives, a hard boiled egg, a red wine vinaigrette. But instead of olive oil-packed tuna, it’s a flaked filet of cooked salmon. And instead of mixed greens, it’s kale! Too many delicious superfoods - you can’t go wrong.

Many of the ingredients you have in your kitchen already. I know when I was putting together this recipe in my mind, I realized that I only had to run to the grocery store for the shallot (which could be easily replaced with a finely chopped onion!) I hope you enjoy this kale and salmon twist on the classic Nicoise salad as much as we did.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Kale Salmon Nicoise

As if the classic nicoise salad could really be improved upon, this superfood twist uses salmon and kale! Based off of the Food Network's recipe.

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 2 servings

Ingredients

4 cups thinly sliced lacinato kale
2 hard boiled eggs, cut in half
4 tbsp whole olives (I used kalamata, but the classic nicoise olives could of course be used)
Dozen green beans
2 small filet of cooked salmon, flaked
½ cup cherry tomatoes
1 medium sized red potato, cut into pieces
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp dijon mustard
Quarter of a shallot, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Bring a medium pot of water to boil to blanch the green beans and potatoes. The green beans will take only two minutes or so, while the potatoes will be about five minutes. I boiled them all together to save water/pans. Remove and set aside
In a small bowl, whisk the chopped shallot, vinegar, mustard, and olive oil
In a medium bowl, place the kale and pour over the dressing. Toss until well combined, and "massage" the kale a bit to relax it
On two plates, distribute the kale evenly
Place half the green beans and half the potatoes on each plate
Place 2 halves of hard boiled egg on each plate
Place half of the flaked salmon on each plate
Divide olives across each plate
Finish off with a little salt and pepper, and serve with a lemon wedge!

If you like this, you’ll love: Roasted Corn, Feta, and Basil Salad

Mediterranean Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

June 25, 2015 by Dani 30 Comments

Healthy Mediterranean flavors and textures abound in this vegetable-filled salad. Crispy chickpeas take the place of croutons, and it’s all tossed with a super simple tahini lemon dressing. I could easily eat this everyday!

I’ve made a pledge recently to eat one salad a day. I would say that I do this 90% of the time anyways, but on the days that the entire office orders the most delicious curries for lunch (ahem, Tuesday) or we all go out for sushi, I’ve been choosing salads for dinner. I was kind of inspired by Oh She Glows to do this, who has been having a smoothie and a salad every day. I feel like I’ve been meeting that vegetable servings requirement and I really prefer having lighter dinners in general. It’s actually been an awesome, super easy thing to “check mark” at the end of the day. Granted, if I didn’t get my salad in, you won’t find me eating handfuls of lettuce in front of the fridge circa 9pm (maybe chocolate chips).
This weekend we will be in Chincoteague, Maryland for Nate’s family reunion. I have no idea what the food situation is going to be like there in the hotel or the surrounding restaurants, and I’ve just told myself to go with the flow. I’ve blabbed before on the blog about how I often take on the planning/organizing role when it comes to food and events and outings. The trip to Big Sur where I had to put the food planning in someone else’s hands was a real trying moment for me. And everything turned out fine! (Surprise, surprise). I’m just hoping I can continue my salad pledge! Especially since I’ll be HOPEFULLY in a bikini 90% of the weekend, chasing lots of babies around the beach. Anyways, on to the salad! This beautiful, beautiful, oh-so-healthy, oh-so-many flavors salad. This salad made my day. I’m sorry I just said that a salad made my day, but it did. I’ve written more than one post in my tenure as a blogger as to how much I love Mediterranean/Turkish/Greek foods, but I honestly think if there is one cuisine I could live happily on, it would be that. It is so naturally vibrant, delicious, and nourishing (granted, when you skip the baklava and moussaka). This salad is truly inspired by that region - roasted eggplant is tossed with chicken, tangy feta cheese, bright red peppers, and mixed greens. It’s topped off with crispy chickpeas and a couple of olives, and then all tossed in a super simple tahini-lemon dressing.
It’s light, filling, and there are zero grains! I highly recommend roasting up a big batch of chicken, eggplant, and chickpeas on Sunday to have this to take to the office all week. The dressing will also hold up well in the fridge, and can be made ahead of time as well. Just toss together before eating and you have one transporting lunch! I ate this for lunch, and then the leftovers on the sailboat the following day, and it was delicious even with the chicken and eggplant being cold. It’s one of those recipes that I’m dreaming about eating when I back in San Francisco again. Oh - that won’t be for three weeks! I have a crazy amount of travel that started on Monday - up to Seattle/Olympia for work, then out to Chincoteague, back to Seattle/Olympia, then out to NYC for the fourth of July, then back to Spokane, and then home. Can’t wait to share this crazy ride with you!

5.0 from 2 reviews

Mediterranean Salad with Crispy Chickpeas

Mediterranean flavors and textures abound in this vegetable-filled salad. Crispy chickpeas take the place of croutons, and it's all tossed with a super simple tahini lemon dressing

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 1 serving

Ingredients

2 cups of mixed greens
1 small chicken breast, pre-cooked and cubed
½ cup cubed eggplant
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
5 olives
¼ cup canned chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp crumbled feta cheese
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp olive oil, plus extra for roasting
Juice of one lemon
Dash of paprika
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F
In a baking dish or cookie sheet, place the eggplant and chickpeas. Coat or spray with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft and the chickpeas are crispy!
In the meantime, prepare the dressing. Blend the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, and paprika in a blender, or whisk really, really well. Add salt and pepper as needed
Remove the eggplant and chickpeas from the oven
Toss all of the ingredients together, including the dressing
Serve and enjoy!

Notes

If you don't want to eat immediately, allow the chickpeas and eggplant to cool a bit before storing in a tupperware with the rest of the ingredients. Keep the dressing separate until ready to eat.

This is a single-serving recipe, but feel free to double, triple, and eat all week!

If you like this, you’ll love: Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad with Pinenuts

Tuna Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Raisins

April 5, 2015 by Dani 2 Comments

Time and time again, I always go back to my favorite tuna salad recipe which includes crunchy apples, sweet raisins and buttery walnuts. Served over greens, its my go-to gluten free and paleo-friendly lunch.

I started to throw this lunch together as my mom was making the charoset for Passover. Charoset is probably the most delicious part of Passover - it’s a chopped apple mixture with raisins, walnuts, and then all mixed together with a little sweet wine, cinnamon, and honey. It represents the “mortar” the Jews used to build the pyramids back in the day, but for me, it just means I play the fun game called “how many tablespoons of this can I steal throughout the seder without anyone seeing?”

Anyways, I promise this story has a point. Like I said, I was putting the pieces together for my go-to tuna salad next to my mom, including apples…walnuts…raisins. And I realized that I kind of eat charoset all of the time! Except a slightly more savory and healthy version. This is my favorite way to eat tuna, and as I’ve mentioned before, I can eat tuna every day for lunch happily. When I go out to lunch with people who eat lunch with me often (parents, boyfriend, colleagues) they already know what I’m going to order.

The best thing about this tuna is that it makes ahead beautifully. When I worked on a project that was local to my home and wasn’t traveling, I made a big batch of this at the beginning of the week to last through Wednesday. My only recommendation for those who want to make ahead would be to keep the walnuts seperate until you’re ready to eat, just so they keep their super-crunchy texture. The ingredients are basic, and you can easily store 90% of them and just restock on the apples/red onions/greens every week. Raisins, walnuts, red onion, a little mustard and mayo of choice, red wine vinegar, and TUNA of course! I usually top my off with a couple of squeezes of lemon and shakes of S&P, but up to you. I have found that the way to get the best texture when making tuna salad is to mix the drained tuna with the wet ingredients first (vinegar, mayo, mustard). That way you can really whip up the tuna. I’ve noticed that restaurant tuna salads leave very few large “chunks” (hate that word) of tuna in their salad - they really mix it up finely before adding in the rest of the ingredients. I’ve found that that’s the best way to get the tuna to a great texture, and then folding in the rest of the ingredients. Other options for serving? Nate is a fan of this tuna salad on a multigrain bagel topped with some cheese and popped into the toaster oven for a couple minutes. I usually opt for a bed of greens, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and some type of cracker situation - recently been going for some of those flavorless gluten free crackers. If anyone has some good recommendations for gluten free crackers that are also multigrain, pass along!

So, I’ve been enjoying the best of Passover flavors year round!

Tuna Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Raisins

Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

This tuna salad incorporates crunchy apples and walnuts and sweet raisins for great textures and flavors. Served over greens its a great gluten free and paleo friendly lunch!

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 1 serving

Ingredients

1 can tuna packed in water
½ small apple, diced
1 tbsp raisins
5-6 walnut halves, chopped
1 tbsp mayo (I love Earth Balance vegan organic mayo, but use Sir Kensington's if strict paleo)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of red wine vinegar
Handful of mixed greens
Optional: Balsamic vinegar for dressing, salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Drain the tuna can of its water
In a small bowl, mix the tuna with the mayo, lemon, vinegar until thoroughly combined
Fold in the apples, raisins and walnuts
On a fresh bed of greens, place your tuna mixture
Optional drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to pack this for work (which I often have) I would recommend keeping the tuna, greens, and walnuts separate from each other until you're ready to eat. That way all of the ingredients stay at their best texture!

Question for you all: What is your go-to lunch? And should I be worried about how much tuna I eat? 🙂

Avocado Slaw

March 22, 2015 by Dani 2 Comments

Put a twist on your classic coleslaw and use a tangy, no-mayo avocado dressing! It’s naturally paleo, gluten-free, vegan, and with no sacrifice of flavor!

After a couple of weeks away from my kitchen and my typical blogging schedule, it feels really nice to be back and setting into my bed after a wonderful day of cooking to review photos and write! I returned home on Thursday evening and got to spend a quick 24 hours with my little brother who was in town from spring break. We went to Sugarfish for sushi with the family. Whenever I go there it just validates that it’s the best sushi that I’ve ever had. On Saturday morning, I went for a long beach bike ride with the parents and after a kale salad at Thyme, I spent the rest of the afternoon putting together a meal for ourselves and our neighbors!

One of the pieces of the menu was this Avocado Slaw. I know I’ve mentioned here before how much I love coleslaw - so many good crunchy textures and usually paired with an awesome dressing. Most coleslaws are either mayo-based or vinegar-based, but what about making one that is avocado based?! I used to think that using avocado in dressing was a “waste” of avocado, because I would want the avocado to stand alone. But I had been wanting to prove myself wrong, and I had been wanting to make a creative salad. Since my sailing trip, I have just been craving fresh vegetables like CRAZY.

I prefer cooking over baking because you can experiment and taste test throughout the process. With baking, you stick something in the oven and fingers crossed it puffs up like you want or crisps up like the photos. But with cooking - and making this dressing - it was a fun experimentation! I knew that with the avocado, I needed some tang - so into the food processor went white wine vinegar and lime. And a little dijon for complexity. And salt and pepper, of course! When I mixed up the salad together, it needed some sweetness so the addition of raisins was great.

Avocado Slaw | danicaliforniacooks.com I actually recommend letting this salad sit for a bit before serving, just so everything can “marinate” and the flavors can infuse the cabbage and the raisins. And the avocado dressing doesn’t turn brown (like guacamole!) because there is a lot of lime in the dressing. We were huge fans of this, and I can’t wait to recreate for BBQs this summer and hold up in to-go lunches. On another note - I’m putting the “Sunday Set Ups” weekly post on hold for the time being. I’ve been traveling every week for work, and I feel like a fraud talking about food that will last throughout the week when I really only cook for myself Friday-Sunday and I currently don’t cook for leftovers. Just keeping you in the loop where my head is at!

Avocado Slaw | danicaliforniacooks.com

Avocado Slaw

Prep time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

Put a twist on your classic coleslaw and use a tangy, no-mayo avocado dressing!

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

For the slaw:
½ head of purple cabbage, shredded
½ head of green cabbage, shredded
2 cups julienned carrots
½ cup raisins
For the dressing:
2 ripe avocados
Juice of two limes
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Put the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor, and pulse until very smooth. The consistency should be very creamy, but not liquid-y
Toss the cabbages, carrots, and raisins together in a large mixing bowl
Pour the avocado dressing over the vegetables, and mix well
Serve immediately, or store in the fridge until ready. The avocado dressing won't turn brown, because of the lime juice!

Sunday Set Ups: Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables, Feta, and Almonds (+ meal planning!)

February 1, 2015 by Dani 2 Comments

On it’s own, this Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables, Feta, and Almonds is the perfect lunch or dinner - hot or cold - and holds up for the entire week. On top of it all, I will show you how you could use these four ingredients to supply any meal throughout your week!

Let me start out this post by saying that I’m very excited that I had this light and healthy meal for dinner tonight because I’m hoping to indulge a bit (AKA veg out) during the Superbowl! We are going to our family friend’s Eric’s place for the game (he has an 80 inch TV!) and he is an AMAZING cook. I also am planning on bringing a flatbread (recipe to come!). I heard on the Today show that the strategy for healthy game day snacking is eat raw vegetables up until halftime. After halftime, go crazy! Not sure if i’ll make it til the halftime game. Not sure if I want to even try and do that. If you’re still looking for some healthy Superbowl snack ideas, my Baked Sweet Potato Chips, Garlic White Bean Spread, and Goat Cheese Deviled Eggs would be my recommendations :).

I’ll be honest with y’all (after spending a year working in New Orleans, I can truly say that y’all is an incredibly useful word) I had been thinking about a recipe like this for a while. When I do grocery shopping on a weekend, I like to think about how I can maximize the use of the things I buy outside of one recipe. If you’re feeding a family or just yourself, it’s no fun for anything to go to waste. It also feels silly to buy a million different groceries that are all supposed to make up different recipes throughout the week. So how about if you buy simple, few ingredients that can be utilized across meals, across cuisines, and that you will definitely use all up? Let me do the thinking and planning for you, and introduce you to this dish!

This recipe (or more of an assembly of items) is great for lunch or dinner. It applies to any time of year, where you can roast up whatever is available and in season. It tastes great warm, room temp, or even chilled as a salad. It’s light and healthy, and is great on it’s own or as a side dish. It’s the perfect Sunday set up! However, the best thing about this recipe is that if you store the ingredients separately , the versatility becomes endless. Oh yes - I’m talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner from these items. That’s why it’s the perfect Sunday set up - you can make large batches of the quinoa, vegetables, keep the pre-sliced almonds and the feta on-hand and you honestly subsist on this (plus a few additions, of course!) throughout the week. So what do I even mean by that? Well, have you ever tried quinoa for breakfast? Think of it like a complete protein version of oatmeal. Take your pre-cooked quinoa, sprinkle on some almonds, and then pour on some milk and eat it with fruit. Voila, breakfast accomplished! My mom didn’t know that quinoa is a complete protein (like a meat) so it’s a great way to start the day, just not something that is in the repertoire of most. And how about these using these items differently for lunch or dinner? I am a huge fan of roasted vegetable sandwiches, either with cheese or hummus. How about turn on that toaster oven and stuff a whole wheat pita with roasted veg and feta? Let it toast until melted and crispy. Or make it quesadilla-style with a tortilla on the stove and add some salsa. Lunch is served! And then there is the ultimate combination of everything all mixed together, plus some added EVOO and lemon juice. We gobbled this down for dinner and am looking forward to eating it as a side dish to meats/fishes all week, or having it stand on it’s own as lunch. Another idea is to layer a bowl with the quinoa, then the roasted veg, then your protein of choice and then use some of the almonds to make my homemade spicy almond butter sauce (easy to just grind up the sliced almonds in a blender/food processor if you don’t have almond butter on hand!) - and you’ve got yourself a little Asian-influenced rice bowl.

The opportunities are endless, and I hope this inspires you a bit to do a little meal planning on Sunday so you have plenty of options throughout the week for whatever meal you need.

Happy Superbowl Sunday! I’m rooting for the Seahawks, as my current work has me up working in Washington. I’m flying out there on Tuesday, and I’m sure everyone will be in great spirits if Seattle wins!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Sunday Set Ups: Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables, Feta, and Almonds (+5 meal ideas!)

Mix roasted vegetables, quinoa, feta, and almonds for a perfectly proportioned salad to have all week.

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

6-8 cups chopped seasonal vegetables of choice (I used beets, broccoli, and brussels sprouts)
⅓ cup quinoa
¼ cup feta (or more, depending on your cheese preference!)
¼ cup slivered almonds
Olive oil
Sprinkling of Herbs de Provence
Salt and Pepper
Juice of one lemon

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 F
Toss your chopped vegetables in olive oil, sprinkle on a little herbs de provence, salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet
Pop in the oven for 45 minutes, or until carmelized and golden. Will depend on the size/type of your vegetables. I roasted my beets and brussels sprouts first, and then twenty minutes in added in my broccoli to the oven
While the vegetables are roasting, cook your quinoa on the stovetop. For ⅓ cup quinoa, use 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and then let simmer. Quinoa cooks pretty quickly, so check to see that the little curly-q's are sprouting from the seed!
Remove quinoa from stove and let cool
Once vegetables are done, toss with quinoa, feta, and slivered almonds
When ready to serve, drizzle on some good extra virgin olive oil, more salt and pepper, and a squeeze of a lemon

Notes

My recommendation is to store the vegetables and quinoa separately, and mix together in this salad for when you are ready to eat it. That way, you can use the vegetables in other ways (like recommended above!) and the pre-made quinoa for other meals as well!

This salad will hold up for a week in your fridge.

Tuna Salad Swiss Chard Wraps

December 9, 2014 by Dani 4 Comments

Swap a tortilla for swiss chard to wrap this fresh tuna salad for your new favorite portable lunch!
It’s no news to the blog world that I love tuna salad. There came a point on my last consulting project that the deli downstairs from our client site would say “the same, miss?” and wouldn’t even need to take my order for a whole-wheat-wrap-tuna-salad-little-mustard-little-red-onion-lots-of-lettuce usual. When I went to NYC to visit one of my best friends, Lauren, she took me to an awesome vegan juice spot where I munched on raw falafel wrapped in collard greens and I knew I had to recreate it at home. Probably not the raw falafel part, but definitely the swapping of the carb for a veggie part!

We all know we should eat more veggies. And it is fun to find new ways to incorporate them into your diet, and I highly recommend any version of a lettuce wrap. The great thing about swiss chard or collard greens is that these huge leaves roll up really well and are easy to pack for lunch. The hearty greens have a much more mild flavor than kale or a mustard greens, and they have a great chewy, crunchy texture that makes an excellent substitute for a wrap. You might not even miss that basic tortilla. I have a go-to tuna salad that I couldn’t wait to share with you all. Mix tuna with chopped red onion, red wine vinegar, a little lemon juice and your mayo of choice - I love Earth Balance Organic Mindful Mayo, made with apple cider vinegar and is vegan. Has a great tang to it. I drove to Whole Foods just to buy this mayo and somehow returned with $70 of groceries - whoops! (My mom read this and was like “yeah, that’s why they call it Whole Paycheck”). I love this tuna salad over mixed greens with walnuts and balsamic dressing on top, or turned into a tuna melt over sprouted grain with some cheddar. You can make the tuna salad on Sunday night and have it on-hand all week. One important part in using collards or swiss chard to roll up into a wrap is to trim down the stem so they are more “bendy” and don’t break. I took a knife and trimmed down the ribs of these leaves, but still left them in-tact. Spread a little mustard on your greens, and lay out your tuna. Put on your toppings of choice - pickles, more red onion, tomato, etc - and roll up. Enjoy right away or save in tupperware for later!
For those who follow a paleo or gluten-free diet, this is an easy way to enjoy sandwiches with the best of them. Enjoy!

Tuna Salad Swiss Chard Wraps

Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

Wrap up classic tuna salad in swiss chard for a portable paleo sandwich! Double the recipe to make for the entire week.

Author: Dani California Cooks

Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 cans tuna packed in water
½ red onion, chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp mayo (I used Earth Balance Organic)
Squeeze of lemon (optional)
Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper
2 large swiss chard leaves, ribs trimmed

Instructions

Drain your tuna
Mix your tuna with the red onion
Mash in the mayo and red wine vinegar
Sprinkle on salt and pepper
Squeeze on some lemon (optional)
Wash your swiss chard leaf
Lightly cut off the ribs of the leaf to make it more bendy and easy to roll, but keep the leaf in-tact
Lay our your swiss chard wrap
Spread on a little mustard to your liking
Spoon out half the tuna mixture
Roll up like a burrito and serve!

Paleo Tuna Salad Swiss Chard Wraps | danicaliforniacooks.com

Even my mom approved!

Lunch @ Huckleberry Bakery + Cafe

October 27, 2014 by Dani Leave a Comment

Let’s talk about what I had for lunch on Sunday. Huckleberry Bakery and Cafe is a mecca for the Los Angeles cafe lunch scene. It has a fanatic following, and lines usually stretch out the door. And for good reason! The prepared salads and and sandwiches are fantastic, the bread is to die for, and their pastries oh-so-tempting. Huckleberry’s sunny, modern rustic interior is great for Westside LA people watching, and despite the popularity it certainly doesn’t feel past its prime at all. The restaurant recently released a cookbook which you can purchase online or in-store. Can you believe that bread on the cover?!

When you walk into Huckleberry, you will (usually) directed to the line in the back where you will wait in line to order. While in line, they offer you a bonus recipe! I think I’ll certainly make the Vanilla Apple Butter, which will go amazing with the Whole Wheat Apple Harvest Cinnamon Quickbread that I’ll be posting later this week. Stay tuned!

While in line, you get plenty of time to peruse the menu. Popular options include three of the pre-made salads (I went with that choice), but equally as enticing are the brunch options and made-to-order sandwiches. Since there is usually a wait, you have plenty of time to go back and forth between their raw kale salad and just going all in for their reuben or insane grilled cheese. Raw kale salad…grilled cheese…

Thankfully right before you make your order you are presented with their trays of fresh pre-made salads to help sway you. Popular favorites include their quinoa salad (on the right), the lentils (second from the left) and the cumin-roasted carrots (zomg) which I ordered on my plate, in the first picture. This aromatic roasted carrot and avocado dish has garnered such a following that the LA times finally recreated the recipe for all of us to make at home. Add that to the list!

You place your order, feel virtuous for avoiding the grilled cheese (maybe next time…) and take a seat. Despite the long lines, there is generally seating available when you are finished ordering as you aren’t allowed to take a seat until your order is placed. And then, you enjoy the scene and the food. Below is a picture of me, smiling at my food (#awkwardfoodbloggerproblems). Despite Huckleberry’s relatively expensive tag for lunch ($15 in total for 3 pre-made salads), this was certainly enough for two meals and I packed away half of it for lunch during the week.

If you are looking for an tasty lunch spot that has excellent, fresh and healthy options, Huckleberry is the spot for you (and for me). If you are looking for a place to indulge in some pastries and coffee, Huckleberry is also the spot for you (and for me). And you can always do a little bit of both, because we all need balance in our lives! So, see you here next weekend? And we’ll split the grilled cheese and raw kale salad?!

Overall Dani California Ratings on Huckleberry:

Food: 4/5 stars
Price: a little on the expensive side for lunch (~$13/person)
Ambiance: 5/5 stars
Parking: meh, standard Wilshire Blvd situation
But most importantly…celeb spotting opportunity: VERY high

Lunch @ Thyme Cafe + Market

October 20, 2014 by Dani Leave a Comment

We have a couple of lunch spots in Santa Monica that we rotate around on Saturdays, and Thyme Cafe + Market is always at the top of our list. This cafe opened up a couple of years ago, and even in the thyme (heehee) that I was living on the East Coast, whenever I came home for a weekend or a week we always had to make thyme for Thyme. Well, lucky me since I’ve moved back to California and we can enjoy this wonderful neighborhood spot whenever I want! And now I’ll stop with the cringe-worthy pun overuse that I just ran with.

You order up at the counter next to their incredible dessert display, and we often “threaten” that one day we’ll just order a slice of the marzipan-almond cake for lunch. This pastry arrangement before choosing a kale salad is just. not. fair. Thankfully all of the savory foods are Thyme are really what have us coming back.

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They have a fantastic spread of pre-made salads, and that’s often what my mom ends up ordering. On Saturday she chose the charred lemon broccoli as well as the cold shrimp salad, which comes in a non-mayo yogurt dressing. You can mix and match two or three, and these dishes change depending on what’s in season. One thyme (sorry, I slipped) I tried recreating their black bean and lime quinoa salad and it just wasn’t the same. When I get the recipe right, I will share with you all!

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There are also large salads and sandwiches to choose from the large chalkboard menu. Me? I always do the tuna salad. No question. This time, Mount Olives came along with it. Thyme has created a very light tuna salad with currants, celery and red onion, and the mixed greens along with it are tossed in a tangy mustard dressing. Perfect.

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We also sampled a new brand of kombucha - one that I had never seen before! Health-ade is based out of Los Angeles, and you can find them at a variety of shops and restaurants on the westside. I love the medicinal-style bottle, and the kombucha itself is extra bubbly. It even got a thumbs up from both my parents, who most certainly think that I just jump on every trendy food bandwagon. One day, I’ll do a post on all of the benefits I’ve found through upping my intake of probiotics.

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Thyme isn’t just a cafe, it is also a marketplace. There is a huge refrigerator stocked with quarts of pre-made soups, different entrees you can heat up at home, grab and go salads, and little seasonal home trinkets to purchase as well. Shave off a little thyme in your kitchen and pick up some food to-go. Okay, that really was my last one.

There’s a reason why we keep coming back here - there really is something for everyone. My brother’s go-to order? The Gruyere grilled cheese on sourdough, add bacon and avocado. My mom and I lament - oh, to be young and have the metabolism of a twenty-year-old-boy! If you come into Thyme on a Saturday and see a 5’1” brunette taking pictures of her food, please embarrass me and come up to say hello!