Monday, October 13, 2014

Kale it what you want, but we pronounce it delicious


It's happened before and I'm sure it'll happen again. I roll up to our CSA (community supported agriculture) pickup location to get our weekly box of vegetables, and another member arrives about the same time. I've seen her before, so I try to say positive, but I know what's coming.

"We've got so many [fill in the blank with any vegetable] we don't know what to do with them."

Has that ever happened to you? You read the zines and books, you know that you are supposed to eat mostly plants, and so you plant a big garden or get zealous at the farmers market only to realize later you've got produce rotting in your fridge.

I feel your pain. My wife and I subscribe to a CSA, where we get 3/4 bushel of fresh vegetables 20 weeks out of the year. On top of that, we have our own garden. While some things are in precious scarcity, like our homegrown asparagus and raspberries, other things are in great abundance. Kale is one of those items.

But rather than fight it, we have learned to embrace this tough skinned veggy.

The beauty of kale is that it's ultra healthy and super easy to grow. We buy four plants at a local plant sale Mother's Day weekend, and since the stalks reproduce themselves, there is no time during the summer and fall that we don't have a few dozen fresh leaves waiting for us to be picked. Our CSA contributes to our horde of the stuff, so we've had to become creative. A couple standbys are good all the time. Kale chips are easy to make and surprisingly tasty for something so healthy. There are numerous recipes on the net, but really you just bake it with a little olive oil sprayed on. We recommend removing the stalk, as it's quite chewy, but that is a personal preference. Another standby is our weekly egg bake. Consisting of eggs, mushrooms, onion, cheese, and of course kale, it's an easy quick breakfast that my wife bakes Sunday nights and reheats portions each day.

Kale is easy to grow and nutritious. What you may not realize is that it's also quite versatile. It can adapt itself to a lot of different meals. For example, if you have a gluten intolerance or cannot eat wheat or just want to avoid the simple carbs found in pastas, kale is one thing you can use. I am not going to tell you it tastes like spaghetti. It simply doesn't. But for me the best part of Italian is the sauce, not the pasta, so the following quick meal is completely satisfying as well as low carb.



14 stalks kale
2 cups Monte Bene garlic marinara
2 Italian sausage links
1 onion
handful of mushrooms

The preparation is easy. Wash and de-stem the kale and throw into a 12" or larger frying pan. Add enough water to create steam, and then turn the burner on medium high. Add a sliced onion and throw in the sausage links. Assuming the links are raw, cook about 20 minutes (maintaing water for steam) and then throw in the mushrooms (diced) and the tomato sauce. Cook for five more minutes on low, and there you have it!


As described above, this meal serves two. And here are some numbers per serving:

604 Calories
12g Fiber
34g Protein
34g Carbs
14g Sugar
32g Fat
2387 Potassium
1665 Sodium
278% Vitamin A
202% Vitamin C
33%  Calcium
40%  Iron

* * *
For those who follow this blog locally, we recommend Common Harvest (CSA) and Mississippi Market (co-op) homemade sausage.

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