Here’s the recipe for my new favorite salad and salad dressing. It’s quick, savory, and stars raw kale, one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Be sure to cut the kale finely, and remove any large stem pieces–the leaves are chewy enough.

Kale, Pear, & Spiced Pecan Salad

Serves 1 to 2 people

Several handfuls raw Tuscan kale, roughly chopped, then cut into slivers
1 d’Anjou pear, cored and diced
Trader Joe’s Sweet & Spicy Pecans, broken into small pieces*
Shallot Mustard Vinaigrette (recipe below).

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I’ve been looking to add more stew recipes to my arsenal, and recently had success with this modified Rachel Ray black bean soup recipe. It’s simple & hearty, and can easily be vegetarian.

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra- virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans (I like Goya brand)
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/2 tsps ancho chili powder (optional)
salt and pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce (I recommend Tapatío or Cholula)
3 1/2 cups less-sodium, low-fat chicken or vegetable broth
1 (15-ounce) can diced stewed tomatoes
1/2 lime, juiced
2 to 3 scallions, chopped

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add olive oil to the pot, then add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, and bay leaf. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, then add the red pepper. Drain 2 cans of black beans and the can of pinto beans, and add them. Mash the remaining, undrained can of black beans with a fork, and add to the pot along with the coriander, ancho chili powder, salt and pepper, hot sauce, broth, and tomatoes. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes over low heat. Add the lime juice, and remove and discard the bay leaf. Serve with scallions and sliced crusty bread.

The following beef stew recipe is a family favorite, and is perfect for colder months. It’s an altered version of this Cooking Light beef daube recipe. I’ll admit: I like this dish without loving it. Other people always seem to enjoy it more than me. It’s tasty, don’t get me wrong, and the meat comes out incredibly tender, but the flavor isn’t as rich or complex as I want. So I’ve also included potential improvements in the Notes section, and will try them and post an update.

Basic Beef Daube

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
12 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (2-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup red wine
2 cups chopped carrot
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup less-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Dash of ground cloves
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
salt & fresh ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon, and set aside.
2. Increase heat to medium-high. Season cut beef with salt and pepper. Add beef to pan; be sure to cook in batches to avoid overcrowding. Turn meat frequently to brown on all sides. Remove browned beef from pan & set aside.
3. Add wine to pan; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, and the remaining ingredients, plus salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a boil.
4. Place beef mixture in a slow cooker. Cover & cook on high for 5 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving; serve with French bread, mashed potatoes, or egg noodles.

Notes

By far the most time-consuming & difficult task is cutting and trimming the chuck roast. Here’s a video showing you how; I’d budget at least 35 minutes for it. That said, don’t buy precut stew meat! It’s inferior quality meat to begin with, costs more, and meat surfaces degrade quickly once exposed to oxygen.

Go very light on the cloves. A “dash” means just that; I’ve overdone the cloves before, and regretted it.

Use a decent red wine. Burgundy is traditional.

Consider adding any or all of the following: mushrooms, potatoes, and corn starch or flour at the end to thicken the sauce. Also consider substituting baby carrots for the chopped carrots, and dusting the beef lightly with flour before browning. Finally, you might lightly brown half a pack of bacon (cut into 1 inch strips), and use the resulting fat to then brown the beef (the browned bacon also goes in the stew). I do this for boeuf bourguignon, and it adds a lot of flavor.

If you haven’t watched the YouTube Japanese cooking show “Cooking With Dog,” you are missing out. The show features a lovely older woman cooking Japanese comfort food (melonpan, katsudon, omurice, yakibuta ramen) while her pet poodle Francis narrates in English. It’s bizarre and wonderful, and the best part is the recipes are actually delicious. Below, the video for gyudon (beef bowl):

Summer flew by, and while I’m sad to see it go, I’m so excited for fall. I can’t wait for holiday parties, winter clothes, and hearty, cold-weather foods. Over the weekend, I got my first cold of the season (boo, hiss), and ended making this spicy brunswick stew (based on this Cooking Light recipe). It was wonderfully soothing, the food equivalent of being snuggled beneath a blanket.

This soup can easily be vegetarian, too, since the best parts of it (the contrasting vegetable textures and spiciness) don’t require meat. Just omit the chicken and bacon, add extra veggies, use vegetable broth, and reduce the amount of tomato sauce used. I also recommend using smoked paprika if you can find it, since you won’t be using bacon.

Brunswick Stew with Paprika 

2 cups (¾ inch) cubed Yukon gold potatoes
2 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
2 14 oz. cans corn
1 ¼ cup frozen lima beans
¾ cup tomato sauce
1 ¼ (32 oz) boxes fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
4 bacon slices, cut into ½ inch strips
Meat off one rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground red pepper
salt as needed

Combine the first seven ingredients in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the chicken, paprika, and pepper, and simmer 15 minutes more. Serve.