Quinoa Carrot, and White Bean Salad with Marinated Onions & Feta

& trying to break out of limbo

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 Saturdays! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

I just finished baking a brown butter miso caramel upside-down pear cake that I think might be my favorite cake recipe I’ve developed yet, and I’m sitting here with a full belly thinking about what to chit-chat about on here this week.

I feel like I’m in a perpetual state of limbo, but I feel like I talk about that every week, and there’s a fine line between being honest about your life and complaining. I think people like honesty and vulnerability on the internet, but they also don’t love it when someone beats a dead horse with their negativity. So I’ll try to refrain from musing too much about how I can’t seem to overcome a few hurdles.

On the positive side of things, I’ve signed up to take a pointe class, Grant and I recorded a little podcast episode together discussing our fertility journey, and I started working on a little side project that involves art and food. So there are silver linings, and I am trying so, so hard!

This actually brings me back to the fact that I reallyyyyy need to revisit my novel that I’m working on. I finished the first draft, and I’ve been working on the second draft, which mostly consists of editing and some rewriting. But to be quite honest, I just haven’t had the mental capacity to work on it lately. Between dealing with infertility, trying to adapt to work changes, and even trying to overcome our dog Willow’s separation anxiety, I’ve felt like my plate has just been way too full. However, I know working on it will bring me joy and bring me closer to my dream. So this is me publicly holding myself accountable to work on it!

THINGS I’M LOVING

This is soooo exciting! I collaborated with the Feed App to create a custom “Good Mood Food” box! I handpicked some of my favorite products that I use in my everyday cooking and that also contain nutrients to help boost your mood! I love ordering groceries from Feed, and if you use code “carina20,” you can get $20 off your first order!

I hesitate to say I “love” the HBO documentary series Quiet on Set, because it is so devastating to watch, but I do think it’s important to hear childhood television stars come forward about the abuse they suffered while in the industry, this case, at Nickelodeon. I can’t help but to also think about children who are currently famous via social media and the repercussions that will one day have on them. I know it’s not the same situation, but it just reiterates how essential it is we look out for children.

I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the workout clothes I find on Amazon, and this white ribbed workout top is one of them. I love that it looks like a tank top but still has good support! It comes in lots of different colors and is less than $20!

RECIPE!

Ever since The Plant Based RD posted a recipe with marinated onions and carrots, I couldn’t stop thinking about marinated onions and carrots.

It’s no secret that I’ve been in a work slump for quite a while now, and it’s the worst feeling when you’re creativity feels zapped. In these moments, I try to think back to the beginning, when I first became interested in cooking. What I always found the most exhilarating was playing around with vegetables.

This quinoa salad is made with roasted carrots, white beans, marinated red onions, feta, and dill, and it’s dressed simply with olive oil and lemon, along with the red wine vinegar marinade from the onions. When I shot the video for this recipe, I realized afterward that I needed more carrots, so I doubled it, which I included here!

Quinoa Carrot, and White Bean Salad with Marinated Onions & Feta

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

Salad

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa

• 2 bunches carrots (about 12-14 medium carrots), peeled

• 1 (14.5 oz) can white beans, rinsed and drained

• 4 oz feta

• 1/4 cup chopped dill

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Salt & pepper

Marinated Red Onions

• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Red wine vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Start by preparing the marinated onions. Add sliced onions, chopped parsley, and lemon zest to a bowl. Add enough red wine vinegar to almost cover the red onions, and mix to coat. Set aside to let the onions marinate while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

2. Slice your carrots into 2-inch pieces at the bias. Add to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, add a pinch of salt, and toss together. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until soft.

3. Prepare quinoa according to package, and set aside to let cool.

4. When everything is ready, add the quinoa to a large bowl along with white beans, marinated red onions (with their marinade), and carrots. Crumble the feta with your hands and add it to the bowl along with dill, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss and serve!