kale -

by snebbu

Kale Overboard! Top 10 Things to Do with Kale

DAMNIT. I’ve finally succumbed to the Kale trend. I will eat the brittle green leaves in various dishes (never juice though – never). I particularly enjoy creamed Kale. But I can appreciate the nutritional value and even the flavor of Kale when it is done right. So there…I’m putting my white flag up halfway to the trendy, hipster, “eat green, eat clean” health food nuts. But again – no juice. Anyway, here are our top 10 Kale dishes to try out.

10. Red Quinoa Butternut Squash Stew

Now look at this fine kale specimen. It includes the tastes of kale, complemented by savory flavors. However, the rough green leaves are not poking your eye out. Bonus: it tastes delicious.

9. Smokey-Sweet Autumn Breakfast Hash

I am a breakfast lover. I believe anyone who is not is wrong. This keeps breakfast satisfying while also giving a nice boost of fiber.

8. Warm Fall Kale Salad

This salad is great on a fall or winter day and you’re running out of proteins in the freezer.

7. Jamaican Jerk Kale Chips

The ONLY way I will eat or attempt to make kale chips.

6. Kale and Carrot Salad

Why not add some sprouts and carrots to your kale and nuts? Huh?

5. Coconut Kale Quinoa

Think of this as a side to braised beef or short rib. Salivating? You should be.

Wonky Wonderful

4. Kale and Quinoa Bites

Now THIS is what I’m talking about. Put kale in a delicious muffin. Call it healthy. Win. Check it out at Wonky Wonderful.

Julie’s Eats & Treats

3. Cheesy Bacon Kale Stuffed Chicken

“What’s for dinner tonight” sometimes make me run for the salad bag and seeking out some chicken in the freezer. But this is a recipe that’s easy to implement. It may even impress. (Via Julie’s Eats & Treats)

The Roasted Root

2. Roasted Garlic Kale Hummus

Beet hummus, garlic hummus, pepper hummus, the list goes on. Why not try some garlic kale hummus this time? (Via The Roasted Root)

Just A Taste

1. Garlicky Kale and Bacon Pizza

We typically have some pizza dough, pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese in the fridge/freezer for those days we feel lazy. But sometimes a plain cheese pizza is not enough. How ’bout these kale leaves? (Via Just A Taste)

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by Emily

Warm Fall Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes & Pumpkin Seeds

Heyo! I’m finally feeling sorta fall-ish (even though it’s still in the 90s in Austin) so I decided to make a warm kale salad last week. I realize kale salad isn’t the epitome of fall cooking, but like I said, 90 degrees! So I’m easing into the whole seasonal eating thing right now. Once it dips below 80 here it will feel properly “cold” and I can start busting out the soups, etc.

But for now… delicious kale salad! This one can be served as a side but it easily stands alone for a fairly light lunch or dinner, as it’s chock full of filling roasted sweet potatoes and crunchy pumpkin seeds. Plus salty parmesan cheese. Of course, if you want to make it a bigger protein-packed meal and add meat, you totally can and should! We added some grilled bison to one iteration and it was perfect:

Warm Fall Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes & Pumpkin Seeds

by Emily

Back on the Health Train: Red Kale & Quinoa Salad

Red Kale Quinoa Salad

Well, it’s time… all of us who overate and overdrank during the holidays (probably everyone reading this, right?) now turns toward the new year with dreams of doing better. Eating better. Being better. And you know what that means… salad. Lots and lots of salad. Luckily, if anyone knows how to make salad not totally depressing, it’s me. And famed Texas chef David Bull, apparently.

This is a recipe I enjoyed in the finishers village after the Fit Foodie 5K in Austin in September 2014. I liked it so much I asked the event organizer if I could share the recipe with all of you. They graciously agreed, so now we can all make this kale salad together and try to wash away those blurry eggnog memories.

Red Kale & Quinoa Salad

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by Emily

Roasted Fall Vegetable Superfood Pesto Pasta

When I cook pasta at home, I want to make it count. Only high quality noodles, toppings and sauce full of delicious flavors and textures, and obviously we’re going to need plenty of cheese.

I don’t normally like to buy ready-made stuff (cheating!), but pasta is an exception – I’m not trying to make from-scratch noodles at home on a regular basis, ain’t got time for that life. Three Bridges recently sent us a package of fresh pasta to sample, and I was intrigued because they’re a convenience brand BUT also focused on health, quality, freshness AND eco-friendly food products, right up my alley. I couldn’t resist whipping up a spectacular carb-filled celebration of my favorite seasonal vegetables.

Roasted Fall Vegetable Superfood Pesto Pasta

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by Emily

Smoky-Sweet Autumn Breakfast Hash

Rise and shine! It’s November and it’s time to start eating some hearty, wholesome meals.

This weekend I was bored of my typical post-Saturday-morning-gym egg-and-vegetable scrambles so I decided to change it up a bit and really embrace some fall produce. If you don’t have butternut squash readily available, you could definitely use sweet potatoes instead, for a more traditional hash. I really want you to use good sausage in this – none of that frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast patty stuff. I used an all-natural chicken-apple-gouda sausage from the local grocer.

Smoky-Sweet Autumn Breakfast Hash

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by Emily

Brusselkale: This is a Thing

What are the two trendiest vegetables in the food world? Probably Brussels sprouts and kale. So I guess it was only a matter of time before the BRUSSELKALE was invented. Don’t get me wrong, I do love both of these vegetables, but is it really necessary? It kind of feels like they’re just capitalizing on the crazy popularity of these veg. Kind of like when pomegranate became the new antioxidant superfood then there was pomegranate-flavored everything.

I guess I’m not the first person to realize this is now a thing. Today did a story on Brusselkale, too. It even called it the “Brangelina of veggies” (ugh, barf, just… no, Today. No.) Here’s the gist:

Kale sprouts, aka BrusselKale, are yes, a hybrid of Brussels sprouts and Russian Red kale, and starting to pop up in U.S. grocery stores.

Developed in the U.K. using old-fashioned breeding techniques, kale sprouts (or flower sprouts, as they are known there) look like flowering buds, with green-and-purple leaves. Brussels sprouts are big in the U.K., especially around the holidays, so British seed house Tozer Seeds set out to create a more subtle-tasting sprout, Lisa Friedrich, U.S. spokesperson for Tozer, told TODAY.com.

While new hybrid veggies come out all the time—think purple haze carrots—the kale sprout “is the most distinctive one we’ve seen since broccolini launched in 1999,” Bob Whitaker, chief science officer for the Produce Marketing Association, told TODAY.com.

Are they trying to sell me something I don’t need? After all, I can cook myself Brussels sprouts and/or kale on their own. I guess I can try it on my own and decide for sure, but when I saw these in the store I didn’t really feel like paying $10/lb for them, when kale and Brussels on their own are so much cheaper. Have any of you tried this Brangelina veg? What do you think?

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by Emily

Tamari-Marinated Spring Power Bowls

I realize I talk a lot about my CSA box these days (side note: this is completely on my own volition, they do n-o-t sponsor my recipes or anything) but I will say that our most recent CSA delivery was especially good. We had… spring green beans! Big carrots! Beautiful red onions! Plus some of my favorite usual suspects: kale, cabbage, etc. After a long weekend of not-so-stellar eating, I was ready to devour these vegetables and get my life back on the right track… with a power bowl!

“Power bowl” is just my way of describing any giant bowl packed full of good-for-you components. Mostly vegetables, some protein, a small amount of good fats, and possibly a healthy grain (although not in this particular version), and some sort of flavorful homemade dressing/marinade. Basically as balanced and natural as you can get – meaning you can eat a huge amount of it and get tons of nutritional benefits without worrying about your portion size. I really like eating huge amounts of things, so this works out great for me.

Tamari-Roasted Spring Power Bowls

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