Recipes for (a green) dinner!

For dinner, I decided to make salsa verde to put on some beef, and a kale salad recipe I found in the NY Times that I've been dying to try.

In terms of timing my cooking, I decided to make the salsa verde first, then work on the kale salad, and then working on grilling my meat on the stove top while the kale salad soaked in its vinaigrette.
Note: I made enough salsa verde to last at least two meals -- we can probably get three out of it (for two adults).

Salsa Verde:

1 bunch of parsley, chopped (organic)
1 small box of mint, chopped (approximately 2 tablespoons; organic)
9 teaspoons capers, drained, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
4 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons (organic) EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
sea salt
pepper
steak (the recipe I based my creation off of recommends flank, but I only had skirt steak).  I also made about about 3/4 pound (maybe a tad more), but the salsa verde would easily work for at least 2 pounds, if not more.

Chop all your delicious foods, and mix the parsley, mint, capers, garlic, white wine vinegar, EVOO, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt in a bowl.  Let sit for at least 20 minutes.  While it's infusing flavors, get going on the salad!

The original recipe for the kale salad is here, but I modified it by not including the cheddar cheese and I used almonds (although I didn't toast them).

For the kale, I took about half the bunch, rinsed it, then soaked it in a bowl of water, rinsed it again, and then patted it dry with paper towels.

Kale salad:
1/2 bunch kale, bottom of stems removed
1 Gala apple, diced into small chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons slivered almonds

dressing:
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon (with lemon press)
5 tablespoons EVOO (organic)
2 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press (I was too lazy to puree it)
a dash of sea salt

and to top it off:
fresh grated parmesan (omit it if you're hard core Paleo)

After you've washed the kale, slice it in thin slivers:

Put in bowl and set aside.  Add almonds.

Dice apples and add to kale:

For the dressing, combine the fresh lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, and a dash of sea salt.  Whisk together, add to the kale, apples, and almonds, and toss dressing throughout the salad.  The dressing definitely helps soften the kale, so let it sit for at least 15 minutes.  Once you're ready to serve, grate on some parmesan to your liking (not too much!)

While the kale is sitting in its dressing, grill that steak on the stove top!

For the steak, lightly season with some sea salt and pepper.  Once you've cooked the steak to your liking, put that yummy salsa verde on top!

Final product:

Hence, my "green" dinner.  I try to vary up colors in my food, but I'll take green tonight (for breakfast, I made scrambled eggs with orange bell peppers and onions, and had blueberries as a side, so I definitely eat my colors).

Food was delicious, and incredibly filling.  I didn't make it through all of my salad or my steak.  (I ate about two-thirds of each).

Before I started Primal/clean eating, I remember lamenting to my doctor that I was fat.  (I was 144 pounds at the time).  She suggested that I not eat carbs with dinner or at night, and said that's how she lost weight.  No grains at dinner!  I was horrified.  How would I survive without cous cous, french bread, or tortillas?  Surely I would melt away and starve to a slow, painful death.

Goodness, she was onto something.  After getting over the initial phase of "how will I survive life without carbs/grains!  I want to eat everything in sight that I'm not supposed to!" I definitely don't feel deprived. (Note: it definitely takes about two weeks to get over the initial shock, and I'd say up to eight weeks to start to make it a steady habit).  But now, it's nice that veggies and some protein make me full.  It's the best way to go.

Let me know if you try either recipe!