Pizza Bean Salad

& the "trad wife" controversy

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, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more on Fridays — right now I’m doing a 30-minute budget meal series! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

I have refrained from having the “trad wife” discussion on here because I feel like it’s quite overplayed at the moment, but this recent Ballerina Farm article has set the internet on fire, and now I can’t help myself. Frankly, I’ve found the discourse a bit frustrating, because to me, it feels both obvious and, at the same time, wrong.

I think we can hold multiple truths at once: Hannah Neeleman can be both a victim and a perpetrator of the patriarchy. You can feel bad for her while also understanding that she chose her life. She might be happy. Or miserable. Or both. And despite how she feels personally about her own life, the fact that she promotes a specific lifestyle and has millions of followers means her choices have an impact beyond just her own wellbeing.

Influencing is called influencing after all — what we consume and create imprints onto our culture. I am glad we are having the conversations surrounding feminism, but I don’t feel like we are getting anywhere meaningful quite yet because everyone is just falling into a binary: ‘I feel bad for her” vs “She made her bed and now she needs to lay in it.”

I agree that the word trad wife gets thrown around often, sometimes in a detrimental way: I’ve seen people claim Emily Mariko is a trad wife, despite the fact that she’s never said anything explicit about serving her husband or conforming to traditional gender roles. She just happens to be a mother and someone who cooks. A woman can love cooking, cleaning, gardening, and baking from scratch without being a trad wife. She can enjoy these things without considering herself subservient to a man.

However, I also think it’s dishonest to say that people like Nara Smith don’t play into the allure of the trad wife lifestyle, even if her content is a business and she is “tongue-in-cheek” with her choices. I enjoy Nara’s content — I think it’s soothing and beautiful — but I can also recognize it for what it is — a curated business decision. However, I wonder if younger, more impressionable consumers are able to make this distinction or if they instead just aspire to have a life where their main purpose is to look attractive and serve others.

If we lived in a world where women were truly regarded as equal, maybe I wouldn’t be as concerned. But because we live in a society where women are degraded for being childless cat ladies, I can’t say I’m feeling super optimistic about how trad-wife-adjacent content is perceived.

I think, as true feminism supports, there is a place for a woman both in the workforce and at home — it is ultimately her choice, and both are valid if the woman feels free to choose. But we can’t ignore that some women don’t necessarily have this freedom, depending on what type of culture they were raised in. And are people like Ballerina Farm perpetuating this gender inequity? Perhaps. That is the big question.

THINGS I’M LOVING!

Ok hard pivot from feminism to makeup: I am typically afraid of blush, but this Goop Colorblur Glow Balm is unreal. It’s so creamy and natural looking — I apply it with my fingers, and every time I think I use too much, I almost can’t even notice it’s there. It enhances in a subtle but effective way. Plus, it has healthy ingredients to boot! I’ve been wearing the whiskey color, but there are a few other options!

Mustard lovers, you’re in for a treat. My good friend Houston created his own mustard based off a family recipe, and omg, it’s so good. It’s called Little Zing, which is so perfect because it has a little zing from the horseradish with a touch of sweetness. I love mixing it into dressings for instant flavor, but it’s also ideal for slinging on those summer bbq hot dogs and burgers. The texture is also perfect for drizzling, which I find to be unique! He also gave me a code for you all: DRIZZLE for 20% off!

I can’t tell you how many people have freaked out when I’ve told them that I am a new viewer of Summer House. I started at season 1 and am now on season 5, and I’m hooked. It’s what I put on when I cook and edit, and even though the men piss me off so much, it is good reality tv. Plus, I really enjoy psychoanalyzing cast members with my friends ;)

ACTIVE CODES!

Supplements

• KALEMEMAYBE25 gets you 25% off your first order with Ritual!

• Use my link to get up to 45% off Grüns gummy vitamins!

Food

• KALEMEMAYBE gets you 10% off Fishwife products!

• KMM10 gets you 10% off your first purchase with Ground Up Nut Butters

• DRIZZLE gets you 20% off Little Zing Mustard

Other Products

• CARINA10 gets you 10% off Starter Kits from Branch Basics!

• CW15 for 15% off Bon Charge Red Light Therapy

RECIPE!

I started developing a pizza pasta salad a few weeks ago, and then it occurred to me: why don’t we treat bean salads like pasta salads? I love pasta, but I also love beans, and I feel like I’ve done so many pasta salads at this point that I was more excited to work on a bean salad that tasted like pizza than another pasta salad.

So here we are: a bean salad that’s supposed to taste like pizza! It has tomatoes, green pepper, jalapeño, red onion, pepperoni, mozzarella, and basil, and a hot honey oregano dressing. I used Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans, but any white bean here would work as well!

Pizza Bean Salad

Ingredients (serves 2 as a meal)

Salad

• 2 ¼ cup cooked giant white beans, rinsed and drained

• 1 green bell pepper, chopped

• ⅓ cup chopped red onion

• ⅔ cup chopped pepperoni

• 1 jalapeño, finely chopped

• 1 ¼ cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes

• 1 cup mozzarella balls 

• ¼ cup packed sliced basil

Hot Honey Oregano Dressing

• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tsp hot honey (or honey + a pinch of crushed red pepper)

• 4 tbsp champagne vinegar

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Add all your salad ingredients to a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl or glass, whisk together dressing ingredients with a fork until smooth.

3. Add the dressing to the bowl and toss until evenly coated. Serve room temp or chilled! I sprinkled on a little bit of oregano and crushed red pepper at the end!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Last week, paid subscribers received a recipe for cold sweet and spicy peanut noodles! These were SO good and are made with pantry staples. I love a cold noodle especially when it’s so hot outside. And it’s a 30-minute budget meal, so it’s quick and cheap!

Just a reminder that anytime you become a paid subscriber, you get access to ALL of the recipes in the archive. You can always do a free 7-day trial as well!