Kale Madness

Kale is a baddass vegetable! It is known as the Queen of Greens & the "healthiest vegetable on the planet". According to webmd: "One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus."

My Mother introduced me to Kale Smoothies

• several leaves of fresh kale
• 1 1/2 banana (frozen works really well because it's like banana ice)
• 1 1/2 cup apple juice or more
• cloves and allspice for an extra kick of flavor

They really just taste like banana and don't have a very strong kale taste. Banana covers up everything. You could even add an apple in there if you liked. This is a fabulous breakfast smoothie. Just what you need for that extra kick of energy in the AM.

Here's a guy that makes tshirts about kale - EatMoreKale.com. He prints his shirts one at a time so you know it's been individually made.

KALE CHIPS

tear/chop up your kale 

put it in a big bowl and toss with olive oil, paprika, garlic salt, 

add chili powder if you like it spicy

I like to also toss up some minced garlic as well

lay it out flat on a pan and toast it on 350 for 10 minutes

You can leave them in a little longer if you like them extra crispy.

Just take one out and test it.

I like to sprinkle mine with lemon or lime juice. It just adds an extra somethin'-somethin'.

You could even sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on there if you wanted. I'll bet that would be fabulous.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. It's been fun!

Remember...

EAT MORE KALE!

Noodly Soups

New Year Noodle Soup

I got this recipe from Heidi Swanson's blog 101 Cookbooks. I also just bought her book and it's a very beautiful book. I haven't tried anything yet and that's mostly because I'm not in charge of my own kitchen yet. But I did make this one because I wanted some soup that was a little spicy and robust. By the way, even with the serrano pepper and everything it is not that spicy. Once you end up boiling it for so long it cools down. So if you like really spicy stuff maybe add an extra half pepper or something. It's all up to you!

I'm not posing all the directions here, you can get that from her website. Her pictures are so much more beautiful anyways and it would be worth it for you just to look at them.

quick-soaking the beans 

Here are the ingredients. My changes and comments are in italics...

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced (make sure you get another onion for the toppings! I forgot and only had one onion and used it all directly in the soup and was kindof bummed that I didn't have nice onion topping.)

1 long red chili OR green serrano, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

8 1/2 cups / 2 liters good-tasting vegetable stock/broth (here again, I goofed. I didn't get enough stock, so I added some water and bouillon cubes. My Wal-Mart in hick-ville didn't have veggie stock on hand so I used chicken broth)

100g / 3.5 oz yellow split peas or brown lentils
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed if using canned
2 cups / 350g cooked borlotti beans (I couldn't find the borlotti beans so I used black-eyed peas. By the way, if you don't soak your beans overnight you can quick soak them, the bag explains how. If you use garbanzos/chickpeas make sure you boil them a little longer)

fine grain sea salt

Here's the fresh ingredients from left... copped green onion, I just added that cuz I wanted to use them, Cilantro, Garlic which I also added on my own, serrano pepper, dill, sweet onion... I used a lemon for the picture just because I thought it needed a different color. What I actually put in the soup was lime and it was Oh So Tasty with the lime!

Thin egg noodles, fresh or dried (again, Wal-Mart did not have thin egg noodles so I got rice noodles. you can also use reg-lar, haha, pasta if you so desire)

3 1/2 oz / 100g fresh spinach leaves, finely shredded
1/2 cup finely shredded cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
juice of one lime

I love it with the spinach! Don't forget how much spinach shrinks. I used a LOT.

The toppings I would say are optional. I didn't use any butter. I also didn't have sour cream so I used cottage cheese as a topping which turned out nicely.

Toppings:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
100 ml sour cream or creme fraiche
50g / scant 2 ounces of toasted, chopped walnuts

Here is the onion before and after adding the turmeric and cumin... What Color!

Here again is the link for the full recipe - - - 101cookbooks - - - - She has some other very great looking stuff on her website. I am so jealous of her pictures and I want to eat them. I like her approach, healthy foods without all that added crap that you find in so many foods nowadays. People sometimes complain that you can't find all the ingredients to her recipes... to that I say, POO!!! cooking is meant to be an exploration. If you can't find something, substitute it. It won't kill you, or the dish. Play with your food. Don't be so scared to try something because you can't find EVERY single thing that's in the recipe.

I am looking forward to following her guidelines and cutting out a lot of the crap that's pretend food. I want to fuel my engine! :) I look forward to posting more of my exertions into this new dimension of eating.