Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes in your inbox every Tuesday!

REMINDER: PAID TIER IS CURRENTLY ON HIATUS UNTIL JANUARY 2023!

During this hiatus, your membership will remain paused and you will not be charged until the beginning of January when I resume. The free, Tuesday weekly edition of this newsletter will still continue!

Thank you for understanding, and I look forward to coming back next year better than ever!

CATCH UP!

I considered going on a rant today about the intersection of nutrition advice and social media and nutrition information, but I don’t really have the energy to decipher my thoughts right now, so I think it’s best I save that for next week.

To be quite honest, I haven’t been that inspired by social media recently, which means I end up cooking and filming less, which of course, doesn’t feel great. But if there is anything I’ve learned in my 10 years of creating recipes online, it’s that when inspiration isn’t there, don’t force it. Give it a rest, and in a week, your motivation will come roaring back.

So I did that. I was actually very much looking forward to going camping in Big Sur so I could do some nature-y, camping cooking videos, but Grant cut his leg and ended up getting stitches, so we had to postpone next week. I’m hoping that will reignite my inspiration, which is slowly but surely coming back, just not really at the level I want it to. I think the repetitive nature of social media makes everything seem monotonous and stale, and the people I’m inspired by are the ones that are really doing something different.

From a personal standpoint, when it comes to meals, I’ve definitely been feeling my body crave more soothing, cold-weather foods, which made sense when it was raining last week. However, here in Los Angeles, where rain is scarce, the weather is already back to 90. Cool cool cool!

Okay, I’m sure you can hear my burnt-out-ness in this lackluster opening intro, so I’m just going to bow out now before I bore you even further. Hopefully, I can get my thoughts together in an eloquent way by next week and present a convincing rant on why you shouldn’t be afraid of oat milk and how random wellness girlies really need to check themselves on the internet.

xo

THINGS I’M LOVING

I love the look of jeans, but I am also someone who has to be as comfortable as possible when I wear clothing. Cue the Zara Mom Fit jeans. I LOVE how these feel on my body — the fit is amazing AND they are comfortable and don’t cut off my circulation. I now have them in a faded black in and a lighter and darker denim, and they’re the only pair of jeans I’m wearing right now.

I have finally rounded out my skincare routine with a vitamin C serum! I, of course, picked one based on the recommendation of my one and only skincare guru Charlotte Palermino, and she had recommended a fairly affordable brand! Charlotte always discusses the importance of stable ingredients, and she always puts an emphasis on type of packaging and brand quality and testing so you know your product is actually working. I ended up with the VICHY LiftActiv Vitamin C Skin Brightening Corrector! So far, so good!

Currently, my breakfast hpyerfixation has been a SUPER simple egg salad on toast made with soft boiled eggs, kimchi, and mayo. It’s so good, and I felt extra healthy starting my day off with some probiotic-rich foods. I don’t have a picture but I should take one — better yet, I should film a recipe video! I’ve been using the Wildbrine Korean-Style Kimchi!

RECIPE!

This bowl is heavily inspired by Greek cuisine! It has a lot of components, but they’re all quick to prepare, and with the tzatziki, you’ll have enough to save for later!

I grilled the chicken on my Staub Grill Pan, and I love how it comes out. It’s so juicy on the inside but slightly crisp on the outside. I recently got this cast iron one, and I like it much better than the other ceramic grill pan that I had before.

If you want to make this recipe vegetarian, chickpeas would work great here! You can season them with the same combo of oregano and cayenne pepper.

Mediterranean Chicken & Quinoa Bowl with Tzatziki

Ingredients (serves 2)

Chicken

• 2 chicken breasts

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp honey

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

• Pinch of salt & pepper

Tzatziki (recipe adapted from The Wanderlust Kitchen)

• 2 small Persian cucumbers, grated

• 1 1/2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt

• 2 large garlic cloves, finely minced

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp white vinegar

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp chopped dill

Avocado Feta Salad

• 1 medium/large avocado, diced

• 1/4 cup feta

• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped dill

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• Salt

Rest of Bowl

• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (about 3/4 cup uncooked)

• 1 large red bell pepper

• 1/4 cup pickled red onions

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Add the chicken breasts to a large bowl. Add in the rest of the chicken marinade ingredients and mix together, making sure the chicken gets evenly coated. Let marinate while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

2. Cut your bell pepper into slices, and add to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until peppers just begin to char.

3. Make your avocado salad by mixing together your avocado chunks with crumbled feta, lemon, dill, and a pinch of salt.

4. To make tzatziki, grate your cucumbers, and add to a fine mesh sieve. Press down on the cucumbers and try to remove as much liquid as possible. In a small/medium bowl, mix together Greek yogurt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and salt until completely smooth. Then mix in the drained, grated cucumber and dill.

5. To make the chicken, heat up your grill pan on medium-high, and spray with a little bit of oil. Add the chicken, and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side. Remove chicken, and cut into cubes.

6. Add the quinoa to the plate along with chicken, avocado salad, roasted red pepper, pickled onions, and a big dollop of tzatziki.