Labor Day Dinner

Jake enjoying his Iowa sweet corn smothered in butter, parmesan cheese, pepper, and salt.

Lean steak, sweet corn on the cob, and the best damn kale I've ever made.

A close-up of the sauteed kale I have perfected!

Sauteed Kale (perfected!)

2 Cups kale

olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

a handful or two of pine nuts, toasted

a few splashes of sherry or a wine of your choice

red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

Blanch kale and drain. Heat oil in sautee pan and add kale, garlic, sautee for 2 minutes; add kale, pine nuts, sherry, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper; sautee for 5 minutes.

Filling (and really darn good) Pasta

A few weeks ago I whipped up a lunch with some random things I had in the refrigerator and pantry and I came up with a tasty little pasta dish that had kale, chickpeas, olive oil, and garlic in it. Tonight, I recreated the dish but added a spicy/zesty red sauce to it. One word: AWESOME!

That bowl of goodness you see above contains:

Whole Wheat Penne

Chickpeas

Kale

Crushed Red Tomatoes w/ olive oil, crushed red pepper, crushed garlic, salt and pepper

Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

- Boil penne noodles.

-Sautee kale and chickpeas in olive oil with garlic and salt.

-Combine crushed tomatoes with olive oil, red pepper, crushed garlic, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat.

-Toss everything together with the pasta and grate fresh parmesan cheese on top.

Beware: This is a very filling meal!

Chicken and Chips

I'm not going to write much about tonight's dinner. It was good. It was basic. It was healthy. Here's the inspiration for it. I do want to add that I absolutely adore roasted red peppers. YUMMY.

I am going to go on and on and on and on and on and on...about kale chips! OMFG, these were just as good as everybody has raved about. They took a total of 2 minutes prep and 15 minutes baking. Jake, who is a big junk food fan, said these were just as good as potato chips and was sad when we had eaten them all up.

I got the recipe from Katheats.com. I was really generous with the paremsan because I love parmesan. Only thing about these delicious little snacks is that you have to eat them immediately after baking because they get soggy if stored overnight. If you have any ideas on how to keep them crispy, let me know.

Kale Chips:
1 bunch of of kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
Preheat oven to about 375 degrees
Tear the leaves off the thick stems into bite size pieces. Spread out on cookie sheets.
Sprinkle with Parmesan and salt and peper.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until edges are brown and kale is crispy when moved in pan.

White Bean, Kale, and Chorizo Soup

All I can say is OMG! This soup was soooo freaking good. The flavor, the texture, the smell, all of them wonderful. Just look at all the goods stewing togehter below. The starch from the potatoes thickened the soup just enough to make a hearty bowl of soup for a VERY COLD night in Des Moines, Iowa.

A simple recipe will assure this soup will be a keeper in your recipe box ( I know it's a keeper in mine). I adapted the soup from a Sara Moutlon recipe. The changes I made to the recipe are indicated in red.
White Bean, Kale, and Chorizo Soup:

1/2 pound dried white beans, such as Great Northern, rinsed and picked over - I used two cans of Northern White Beans so I didn't have to soak dried beans
8 1/2 cups chicken stock, (preferably homemade) -I used 5 cups
1 bay leaf, preferably Turkish
Kosher salt
Pinch saffron threads - didn't use
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 Spanish chorizo sausages, about 3/4 pound, cut into 1/2-inch dice -- I used organic chicken chorizo to reduce the fat in the recipe--really good!
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large red bell pepper, finely diced

2 medium potatoes, cut potato chip style
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 small bunch kale, about 3/4 pound, tough stems removed, washed well, and coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Sherry vinegar, to taste -didn't use
Cumin
Cayenne Peper

-Place the beans in a large pot or soup kettle. Pour in 8 cups of the stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the bay leaf and a pinch of salt. Cook, partially covered, stirring often and adjusting the heat to keep it at a slow steady simmer, until the beans are tender, about 2 hours. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
-Soak the saffron in the remaining 1/2 cup chicken stock.
-Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate. Add the onion; reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the red pepper and the paprika,cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cook for 2 minutes longer, then transfer the contents of the skillet to the bean pot. Stir in the saffron with the soaking liquid, the chorizo, potatoes, and the kale. Bring back to a simmer and cook just until the kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, stir in the vinegar, and serve hot in warmed soup bowls.

Dinner was enjoyed with a tasy bottle of Warsteiner Dunkel.

I <3 Kale

"The beautiful leaves of the kale plant provide an earthy flavor and more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around."

"Although there are over 100 different glucosinolates in plants, only 10-15 are present in kale and other Brassicas. Yet these 10-15 glucosinolates appear able to lessen the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers. "

SOURCE -- check out all of the benefits of Kale here.

I threw in a cup of kale leaves to my leftover spicy Thai noodles and tofu. The earthy taste of the kale blended well with the Thai spices.

FIND SOME DELICIOUS KALE RECIPES TO COOK UP IN YOUR KITCHEN:

Heidi at 101cookbooks.com has some amazing recipes for kale that can be found here.

This is also a great link to kale recipes.

Eat your kale, people! It does your body good!

Lentil Soup and Mushroom, Onion, and Muenster Cheese Sandwiches

This meal was packed full of SUPER foods and really, really, really good. The Lentil Soup recipe came from 101cookbooks.com. I made cery few changes to the recipe and I was quite satisfied by the final results; a steaming bowl of soup with lots of lentils, kale, fire roasted tomatoes, and mushrooms. I added a bit of red pepper powder and cuming to spice it up a little bit.

The sandwich idea came from CuisineNie. (thanks to LJ for introducing me to such a fabulous blog).

I'm attempting to provide nutritional information for all of the SUPER foods listed on my website. From this point on, each SUPER food will be a clickable link that will take you to a nutrition fact page. Here's to happy and healthy eating!

Lentil Soup:

2 cups lentils, rinsed

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

2 cups water

3 cups of a big leafy green (chard, kale, etc), rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

-Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.
-Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, and wait another minute. Serve with plain yogurt.

Mushroom, Onion, and Muenster Cheese Sandwiches:

1 onion, sliced

1 package baby bella mushrooms, sliced

4 slices muenster cheese

Spinach leaves

4 slices whole wheat bread

-Saute onions and mushrooms in olive oil. Toast bread. Place cheese, onion and mushroom mixture, and spinach on toasted bread.