Some Questions About Kale

I hope that you know how much i love comments on this blog. I especially love it when people send me questions directly using the "Contact Me" option at the top of the page. I received a question yesterday about the various ways i prepare kale. Susy at Chiot's Run posted her difficulties with enjoying this wonderful green: many people (my mother included) are finicky about the texture of cooked greens. I am not among this lot. In fact, cooked kale is probably one of my all time favorite vegetables. I try to keep a nice stand of Lacinato Kale growing in my garden at ALL times with chard being a squeeky textured runner up: it grows so darned well, just not quite as tasty in my opinion.

I could have kale with dinner every single night, and here are some of my favorite preparations:

• Pesto kale
• Sauteed kale with olive oil, lemon juice and anything else that's growing
• Kale chips
• Kale frittatta/omelet
• Chicken and veggie soup
• Greens and beans
• Sauteed Greens with Tabouli Grains (Bulghar Wheat)

That last recipe is one of my go-to potluck dishes or quick dinners. The version in that post used brussels sprouts, but i've found that kale or chard work even better. Here's an even quicker and easier method to make that delicious and protein packed dish:

Heat some chicken or veggie stock in the microwave or on the stove until close to boiling. Pour over bulghar wheat with some dried herbs of your choice, salt and pepper. Stir briefly then cover. I like to mix in a large pyrex bowl and put its fitted lid on it. Let sit aside while you sautee the rest of the ingredients. Some favorites: chopped kale, garlic, onions, hot peppers, water chestnuts, whatever is in season at the time. Sautee in plenty of delicious tasting olive oil and a bit of lemon juice (lemon keeps the green in greens) until just soft. Mix into the bulghar wheat mixture (bulghar wheat has a ton of protein, but you could add a meat as well) and serve as a main dish or a side. Delish!

 For kale chips, timing is key. Toss ripped kale chips, that have had the largest stem removed, in a bowl with some olive or coconut oil and generous seasoning of your choice. Imagine you're making oven fries. Lay the kale evenly on a cookie sheet (or two) so that they do not overlap much. Put in an oven at 350 or 375 for a few minutes, flip and do the other side for a few more minutes. The timing depends how hot your oven really is and how large your 'chips' are. You want to pay very close attention the first few times you make them: they can burn very easily. You want them JUST blistering, but not black. I like them to be a bit chewy in places, vs totally chipped but that's a matter of preferance.

So there you go, some of my favorite ways to prepare kale. Feel free to comment with more questions, as i'd be happy to elaborate on any of these recipes or share more ideas for this calcium packed veggie!

Frosty Giveaway Reminder

My normal 'overreact to any cold and cover all plants with 57 blankets and heat lamps' self is quite surprised at how calm she's reacting to the apparently 'everyone is dead' state of the garden she didn't cover with anything but a scant layer of leaves. If only i'd had more leaves on hand. Sigh. I made some sauteed broccoli from frozen garden members last night, and i'm pretty sure the thaw will expose many limp, unspringing-back crops. Thankfully, the garden was really down to pretty much volunteer herbs, kale and onions. I'm hoping the kale springs back, as well as the onions and garlic. The rest may be a wash. Live and learn! I really wanted to see how cold these plants could really take it as a learning experience, after all. Thinking on the bright side: maybe the cucumber beetles will finally be eradicated.

The 'thaw' doesn't appear to be on the horizon any time soon, by the way. We even have a call for flurries tonight. Overnight. Of course. I want to see some snow, dangit! I grew up sledding all Winter and am desperately hankering for some snow to play in. I think i'll harvest more of the sad broccoli tonight, but i'll be leaving the kale and cabbage to see if they persevere. 

I'll post 'after' photos as soon as things thaw out. Here are the greens i harvested last night:

Inside the broccoli: ice particles!

Last but not least: REMINDER REMINDER, GIVEAWAY GIVEAWAY. I announced last Friday that i'd be choosing two winners this Friday for a prize worth over $75 bucks! I think that's worth entering. You have 4 chances to win a gift card for $45 at CSN Stores (they have books, gardening tools, bedding, dog toys, kitchenware: ANYTHING) and 2 coupons for original art by Miranda R. Mueller Illustration. I'll be choosing the winners at 4pm tomorrow: so enter now!

Pocket agrees it's been a bit chilly, and was all tuckered out after watching "Legend of the Guardians" with us last night. She enjoyed our walk outside, and i really hope she gets to see some snow!

Sauteed Winter Veggies

I make this dish often, and usually call it "pesto kale" but it works with pretty much any green, including broccoli crowns. I usually make it vegetarian since there's plenty of protein in the nuts and cheese used in making the pesto but sometimes add chicken sausage or in this case turkey bacon. I must admit, the added smokey meat makes an already delicious dish even more delicious. I cooked this up two nights ago with a ton of kale, chard and broccoli greens and had a broccoli crown flowering yesterday so cooked the same meal again, this time with Annie's mac and cheese underneath (yes, this does not sound like the diet meal i should be cooking for my 'i gained 3-5 pounds over the holidays' self, but the husband was hungry and i was willing to eat more delicious food than i needed to, hehe).

A very easy weeknight meal, yet super delicious and decadent tasting. All you need are some greens from the garden (you can pick off broccoli leaves while waiting for the crowns to get to the size you want) and some pesto out of the freezer from the Summer before. You can of course make this all fresh in the Summer with spinach or any other veggie you may like! I usually serve this totally solo for a low carb, healthy dinner - but you could also serve it over  noodles or rice. It was pretty darned rockin' along with the mac and cheese. Yummmmmmm.

Ingredients suggestions:

• Broccoli greens, broccoli crowns, kale, chard, spinach, etc
• Pesto - about 4 ice cubes per batch (serves 2 heartily)
• Onion
• Garlic
• Chicken stock, optional
• Jalapenos or serranos
• Tomatoes
• Optional meat - sausage, bacon, etc
• Spices: salt, pepper, smoked paprika

Saute the onions, garlic, and peppers with the spices and optional meat until the onions are caramelizing. I like to get a bit of char on the onions and bacon so i let it cook a little too much on higher heat, then add some water and chicken stock, stir, and cover to continue cooking and lift the flavors off the pan. Add the tomatoes and the thicker portions of your greens and cook for a few minutes, covered. Finally, add the rest of your greens and the pesto with perhaps a splash of water, cover and steam until finished to your liking. Mix it all together and you get a super delicious, healthy, nutrient packed mush of amazing!

Voila - serves two just fine and could go much further if mixed with rice or pasta or even a baked potato. Look at that steam! Give it to me! Again! I make as many batches of pesto i can each Summer JUST to make this meal, it's that good.

 Do you ever find yourself making something so tasty you just have to make it again the next night?

What I'm Planting/ Pulling

Some photos from around the gardens and an update on what's going in, on and out.
My backyard has previously been home to a raucous husky and thus no gardens. My husband had a gourd arbor back there, fenced from the chickens and doggie. The doggie has sense past, the chickens still try and get in, and there's really not a whole heck of a lot of sun back there for veggies that can't climb up 9 feet. But i'm reclaiming it for my own and hope to grow at least some spindly food plants.

Beet seedling - victim of cutworm or snail.

6 pack of Green Comet Broccolis surrounded by a row of Early Wonder Beets and side dressed with compost

In the front yard i've pulled out a ton of lemon basil spreading its seed all over the place and just generally tidied things up a bit. Some cucumbers i planted mid season are producing now and lots of volunteer seedlings are springing up. I've started putting in seeds and transplants of the veggies i want to grow for winter adn will continue to pull as things die and plant new winter veggies as the season progresses. I will do my best to stuff as much plant matter into this little space as i can - if the snails leave it alone.

I may just get kale to grow from seed this year! Spring's attempt was thwarted repeatedly by snails.

I tried cabbage last year with the same end. I eat a LOT of cabbage and was really hoping to grow some of my own. The snails have other plans.

The curse of the cayenne has been lifted!

Volunteer leafy lettuce and dill baby

Tuscan kale from a seed i saved

Baby calendulas - destined for craft and soap making

The Dallas Red Lantana is just so pretty. I plan on propagating cuttings soon in tandem with pruning time

So that's what's going on over here. My to do list includes more soil amending, weed pulling and spot watering along with harvesting what comes along and successively planting as many seeds and transplants as i can stuff into this little space. On the docket:

• Beets - Early Wonder and a baggie of mixed varieties
• Carrots - i chose little round ones this season
• Cauliflower and Broccoli via transplants - hoping to find Packman and Gypsy varieties
• Kale from seed and later from transplants if i can find them/ if my seeds fail again
• Lettuce and spinach - volunteer and planted all throughout the winter
• Garlic from saved bulbs in the next few weeks
• Separating and replanting multiplying onions to new bed in back that does not seem very happy at all
• Thinning cilantro and dill seedlings as they inevitably present themselves
• Prune shrubby perennials and start some cuttings
• Wildflower seeds now - Thanksgiving

I may also pot up some of my pepper plants to get them through the winter. I tried covering last year and just made a mess of things. This year frost victims will simply make way for new seasonal crops.

What's in your garden tote this season?

This post found at Simple Lives Thursdays.