Kale Wraps with Pineapple Salsa, Root Vegetables, Broiled Blackened Tofu

Root veggies, in all of their roasted glory.

Kale rolls- not much to look at but most delicious topped with the non-pictured pineapple salsa.

Kale roll filling- I added tumeric because I love curcuminoids.

 Date: 01/27/2011
Cook:  Jen G.
Menu: Kale Wraps Stuffed with Chickpeas and Rice, Topped with Pineapple Salsa; Balsamic Roasted Veggies; Broiled Blacked Tofu (and cake)

I read Vegetarian Times and always enjoy the inspiration that comes from a new issue (though not every recipe is vegan, many are...and others very easy to veganize).  I saw a recipe for these kale rolls and wanted to try them out-- it was the pineapple salsa that intrigued me.  I don't even usually care for pineapple but something about these spoke to me!  The salsa is an easy to throw together combo of pineapple, cilantro (the recipe said you could also use mint, which I thought would also be good), hot and bell peppers and lime juice.  This lent a really bright flavor to the plain kale and the straightforward chick pea/rice stuffing. 

The roasted veggies were based on a recipe from The Garden of Vegan, though I added some garlic and next time would throw more balsamic vinegar into the mix.

The Broiled Blackened Tofu was probably the biggest surprise -- fast and really good.  I am not a big broiler so this recipe found me stretching outside of my comfort zone a bit, and with happy results.  The recipe is (surprise) from Appetite for Reduction and I used in large part a pre-mixed, pre-bought Cajun spice mix and added some of the other ingredients for the coating.  Very easy and really tasty.

The night before our meal group night, I had been talking about cake cake cake big yellow cake.  My partner and I had gone to a party the previous weekend and noticed there a very big, very non-vegan multi-layed yellow cake with chocolate frosting...my favorite.  We decided we'd make a vegan version, but it didn't play out quite as moist and multi-layered as we'd intended.  In fact, he described it as "basically bread, only sweeter."  Undaunted, we frosted the hell out of it and I ate a lot of it, but also included sizeable hunks in the mealgroup bags.  The frosting is what saved the day - if you ever need a fabulous chocolate frosting, I do highly recommend the one found in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

The broiler, IN ACTION!!!!!

I heart a good spice mix for dredging!