Puffed Rice Party Mix with Curry Powder and Lemon Zest

This is a fun, flavorful party mix that adds an unexpected element to a wine-and-cheese-style snack spread. It also happens to be both vegan and gluten free, making it a nice complement to the traditional offerings.

I’m a huge fan of curry powder, both for its taste and health benefits. Because curry powder is a mix of spices, it varies a little from brand to brand. If you’re unsure, try a few to find one that you really like. Curry powder has a variety of antioxidants that are beneficial for cardiovascular health, blood sugar regulation and cancer prevention. If you’d like to read more, see a couple of articles here and here.

This party mix is very quick and easy to make, and most of the making time is hands off.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 

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Puffed Rice Party Mix with Curry Powder and Lemon Zest
Adapted from the Puffed Rice Party Mix in Super Natural Simple by Heidi Swanson (pg 63). 

Notes: The original recipe calls for raw peanuts, which you roast in the oven with everything else. But because raw peanuts can be relatively hard to find, I’ve been using roasted, which I add after the rest of the mix has been in the oven for some time, and I wrote the recipe that way here. If you happen to have raw peanuts, go ahead and use them and add them to the initial mixture before putting it into the oven. Also, this is delicious with a bit of cayenne and can actually handle quite a bit of heat, but I made it optional because spice level preferences vary so much. For an audience that includes children, I use a fairly small pinch. For an all-adult crowd, I might use up to ¼ teaspoon.

2 cups puffed brown rice cereal (I love One Degree Sprouted Brown Rice Crisps)
½ cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
½ cup unsweetened large flake coconut
½ cup raw whole cashews
½ cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
Scant ¼ cup olive oil

Spice Mix:
Rounded ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Rounded ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
3/4 teaspoon curry powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional; depending on how spicy you’d like this)

Zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the cereal, pepitas, coconut flakes and cashews into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Drizzle over the olive oil and mix well. I usually do this with my hands to make sure that everything is coated with the oil. Place the mixture into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, stirring once or twice in between, until the coconut flakes, cashews and pepitas are nicely browned and toasty. If I remember, I toss in the roasted peanuts for the last 3-5 minutes of baking. If not, no harm, you can add them when the mix comes out of the oven.

While the mix is in the oven, stir together the sea salt, smoked paprika, curry powder and cayenne (if using).

After you pull the cereal mixture out of the oven, add the peanuts if you haven’t done so already, then sprinkle the spice mix over the whole thing and toss well. The last step is to finish it off with the lemon zest.

Taste, adjust any of the seasonings if you like, and enjoy!

Moroccan Chickpea Stew

If you’re looking for a nutritious, deeply flavorful stew that can be easily made in your Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker), this is one of the best I’ve made in a while. Adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe with a similar title, I put in a hefty amount of anti-inflammatory turmeric, flavor-forward garam masala and a whole can of diced tomatoes which are rich in the antioxidant lycopene. This stew is extremely flavorful and warming. Chickpeas and kale add a good amount of fiber too.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. It’s good the second day, as is the case with most soups and stews, and can be thinned with a little extra water as needed.

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Moroccan Chickpea Stew
Adapted from Moroccan Chickpeas + Kale in Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant (pg 103).

Notes: I make this stew in my Instant Pot and wrote the recipe that way, but you could easily sauté all the vegetables in a large stock pot and cook the chickpeas over the stove. If you’re cooking over the stove, add enough water to cover the chickpeas and keep an eye on them, adding a bit more water if necessary. Stove-top chickpeas (if soaked) will cook in 60-90 minutes. Chickpeas that are NOT soaked will pressure cook for 50 minutes and stove-top cook for approximately 90-120 minutes. Soaking improves digestion and saves energy. I recommend it!

Special equipment:
Instant Pot or other pressure cooker

1 lb dried chickpeas
Filtered water to cover by 2-3 inches

3-5 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrots, diced
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon (sweet / regular) paprika
1/2 tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Good grinding of black pepper
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (the whole can / do not drain)
5 1/2 cups filtered water
1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and chopped (I use Lacinato here)
Cilantro or parsley, to serve (optional)

About 24 hours before you plan to make your stew, put your chickpeas in a pot and cover with filtered water by about 3 inches. The chickpeas will expand quite a bit; you can add more water if they’re dry at the top.

When you’re ready to start cooking, drain the chickpeas and rinse well.

Turn on the sauté function on the pressure cooker and add a glug of olive oil. As it starts to heat up, add the onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Next add the garlic, stirring, until fragrant. Add in the carrot and ginger and stir this until fragrant as well. If things are looking a little dry, add another glug of olive oil. Next, add the sea salt, turmeric, paprika, garam masala, cumin and black pepper and stir well. When all the spices have been incorporated, pour in the entire can of diced tomatoes and stir again.

Add in the drained chickpeas and 5 1/2 cups of filtered water. Secure the lid onto the pressure cooker, turn the knob on top to the “sealing” position, and set it to cook on high pressure for 15 minutes; let the pressure release naturally when finished. (If the chickpeas aren’t quite done at this point, you can pressure cook for another 5 minutes or so, releasing the pressure manually afterwards.)

When the chickpeas are cooked, stir in the chopped kale. I find that the heat is enough to soften the kale without any additional cooking.

Carefully taste for salt level and add more as desired. You can serve this as is or garnished with chopped cilantro or parsley.

Serves 4-6

Kale, Cabbage, Carrot & Cilantro Salad

This is my favorite salad and, in my opinion, it’s the salad to beat. It’s a delicious, nutrient powerhouse of a salad. You’re getting loads of fiber and nutrients in each bite. Kale offers a large multitude of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients and is particularly high in vitamins K, A and C. Cabbage is high in vitamins C and K as well as folate, and is fantastic for your gut health. And with both cabbage and kale you get the impressive benefits of the cruciferous family including heart disease and cancer prevention. Carrots are high in vitamin A in the form of beta carotene which is great for your vision and immune system. And cilantro is very effective in lowering blood sugar. Eaten consistently, this salad can give your health a big boost.

There are two main tricks to making this salad great. (1) Use good kale. Overly mature kale will ruin any raw preparation. If you have overly mature kale on your hands, I highly recommend using it up (and cooking it down) in a recipe such as this Spanish Kale. And (2) SLICE THIN. This is important if you’re trying to win people over to eating more kale and cabbage salads. Thinly sliced vegetables, dressed with a good vinaigrette, make for a very enjoyable eating experience. If you slice the kale, cabbage and carrots very thinly (the cilantro can be roughly chopped), you’re golden! I promise :) I usually toss this salad with this mustard vinaigrette, but you could use a wide variety of dressings here. You can also dress it with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This salad is delicious served with all kinds of things. It goes very well with steak or roast chicken if you’re cooking meat, and it’s also great on top of some warmed quinoa, or as part of a grain / legume bowl.

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Kale, Cabbage, Carrot & Cilantro Salad

Note: I make about this much for a side salad for 4 or a main course salad for 2. Kale leaves can vary a lot in size so use this as a rough guide. After you make if a few times, you’ll learn the proportions you like of each vegetable and you’ll never look at the recipe again :)

3-6 Lacinato kale leaves,, destemmed and sliced thinly crosswise, then cut down the middle once lengthwise
About an equal volume of green cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
About 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Vinaigrette of your choice
Roasted pepitas or sunflower seeds to serve on top (optional)

Assemble the kale, cabbage, carrot and cilantro in a salad bowl, add your favorite vinaigrette, and toss gently. Serve with seeds sprinkled on top, if desired.

Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a side