Kale Blog Publicity

I am already days (weeks?) behind in keeping up with my daily "kale alert". Tonight I looked at all those emails, just randomly chose one, and found that day's alert just happened to have an article from AnnArbor.com (our on-line daily newspaper) about our local farmers' market that contained a "shout-out" for this blog along with the great recipes from my friend Debra DeMille at the Joan Karnell Cancer Center in Philadelphia that are shared in my previous posting. What a fun and pleasant surprise!!

I feel so lucky to have our farmers' market continuing year-round now, especially throughout the winter months. I enjoy heading down there on Saturday mornings, even on the cold days. I thrive on the connection I have in this way with my community (which includes the mushroom grower who comes all the way from Alpena with his delicious!! mushrooms).

I have just enough frozen kale for one more meal. I have been emptying my last bag of frozen kale very sparingly, adding little bits to soups and stir-fry's, rather than having a huge pile of braised greens on my plate, being reluctant to empty that bag.

SO............I'll make sure I get down to my farmers' market on Saturday early enough (note to self - don't dilly-dally on Sat morning this week!) to get those fresh greens. I hope to see you Saturday morning.

Yum, yum - I'm looking forward to Saturday night's dinner!

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Soup and Salad

Here are two beautiful and delicious recipes using kale shared by my friend Debra DeMille, MS, RD, CSO, nutrition counselor at the Joan Karnell Cancer Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA. Debra uses both of these recipes in the cooking programs at her cancer center. They are so popular that she has given me permission to share them with the world! Debra also invites you to check out all the ultra-healthy recipes at the Karnell Cancer Center website.

THE WINTER WARM-UP CHOWDER

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper or mixed colors
½ cup chopped scallions or shallots
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1 tablespoon paprika
2 bay leaves
1½ cups water
1 14.5- ounce can seasoned, tomato juice or diced stewed tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth (make your own - see my recipe at this page, scroll down)
2 cups chopped kale or spinach (fresh or frozen)
1 cup cooked brown rice (or barley)
1 can drained canned garbanzo beans

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper, and scallions. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add the almonds, paprika, bay leaves, tomato juice or stewed tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil. Add the kale/spinach, rice, and garbanzo beans. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
*remove the bay leaves before serving

Serves 6 - Leftovers freeze well, if there is any left!

(Photo: WINTER WARM-UP CHOWDER, photo credit Joan Karnell Cancer Center)

CHOPPED KALE SALAD

Ingredients:
1 HEAD OF KALE, CHOPPED OR THINLY SLICED (if stems are especially thick, you may remove the leaves to chop and then save the stems for making future vegetable broth)
1 RED PEPPER, DICED
1 GREEN OR YELLOW PEPPER, DICED
1 RED ONION, CHOPPED
1 CAN OF CHICKPEAS*, RINSED
1 CAN OF BLACK OLIVES*, PITTED AND SLICED

Dressing:
1/4 C. LEMON JUICE
1/4 C. OLIVE OIL*
1/4 C. RED WINE VINEGAR
¼ tsp. dried mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste.

PREPARE ALL VEGETABLES AS STATED, WASHED AND DICED. COMBINE IN A LARGE SALAD BOWL.

MIX SALAD DRESSING INGREDIENTS. WHISK PRIOR TO POURING OVER SALAD MIXTURE. LET SIT AT LEAST OVERNIGHT.

THIS SALAD FEEDS 6-8 PEOPLE AS A SIDE DISH. IT ACTUALLY GETS BETTER THE LONGER IT SITS AND CAN BE USED FOR UP TO 3 DAYS.
*If weight management is an issue, these ingredients may be reduced by half.

(Photo: Chopped Kale Salad, photo credit Joan Karnell Cancer Center)

I have everything on my pantry or in my freezer to make this winter kale chowder for supper. Debra tells me she will head down to her Farmers' Market on Saturday to purchase some fresh kale. In addition to all the kale we froze late last fall, I think I'll head down to my local Farmers' Market for some fresh kale on Saturday, too!

Thanks, Debra - your patients and cancer center are soooo fortunate to have you!

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate and at the Karnell Cancer Center, too!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Kale Alert

For the past couple of weeks I have enjoyed having Google send me a "kale alert" with a list of what is being published on the web about kale. Well!! I don't know exactly how many pages published daily constitutes being a "hit" but I think kale may be approaching that point. In fact I don't think it would be possible to keep up with all the kale recipes being published (even with daily postings of a kale chips recipe!).

In addition, I have just been astounded to see the number of people with the first or last name of Kale who make their way for one reason or another onto an article posted on the internet. Hmmm, a potential name for a future new dog??? :-) I even found someone who posted an article about how to feed kale to your dog (not raw but steam it, especially the stalks, until very soft or well done to reduce resulting serious sulfurous odors!)

All of our kale is now under a big snowy blanket, but here is a great pix of the kale in our community earlier in the winter. As soon as we can get some ground worked at our farm in the spring, kale seeds will be one of the first things in the ground! Yummmm, I can't wait. :-)


Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Kale for Hair?? This is GREAT - really!

Someone was much more clever than I am. The next time I build a snowman, I'll make sure to have a large bunch of kale in the refrigerator or ready to pick from our winter garden or hoop house!!

This photo came from KyPost.com. I just love it!

Where kale is clearly much more fun than decoration on a plate! :-)

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Something new under the sun: "Flower-Sprout"

London's Marks & Spencer will begin marketing a new vegetable this week called the Flower-sprout, a cross between the Brussels sprout and kale. Ten years in the making by plant breeders patiently crossing, growing, and testing the results of crossing those two vegetables, the "Flower-sprout" is certainly beautiful.

I don't know if this new vegetable and/or the seeds will be available to purchase here in the US, but if anyone reading this post is in the UK and has a chance to eat this new Brassica vegetable, please let us know how it tasted and how you used it!

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe: One-Pot Supper with Kale

(Photo: One-Pot Supper with Kale)

What is even better than "one-stop shopping?" time-wise? How about "one-pot suppers"? I see the last dish I posted was similar, so I guess cooking like this is both a habit and an enjoyment of mine.

I love cleaning out odds and ends from my refrigerator and freezer along with being creative by combining different foods and tastes. I also love the ease of this type of dish on those evenings when my husband and I have been busy all day and come home too tired and too hungry to cook anything, particularly something that takes pre-planning, effort, and is time-consuming. I'll just bet that sound very very familiar to all of my readers. :-)

Thus this dish is not a recipe per se but an invitation for you to do something similar with whatever you find in your refrigerator.

Here is what I combined (all amounts are approximate):
• 1 cup ratatouille (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, onions - we froze this last fall)
• 1 cup corn kernels (we froze this last fall)
• 1 cup garbanzo beans (I buy these dried, cook them in bulk, and freeze so it is easy to make hummus or dishes such as this)
• 1 cup tomato juice (we canned and froze juice last fall)
• 1 cup fish broth (left over from poaching fish a few days earlier)
• 1 cup rice (cooked, left-over from a previous meal - I also always cook rice in large quantity to freeze left-overs in 1 cup portions)
• 1 cup kale (frozen, I crunched this in the freezer bag to make even smaller pieces, i.e., chopped very small, and then added it at the very end)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (I used sweet curry and then added a couple of shakes of hot spicy curry, too)

Mix all ingredients in a large pan, heat until just boiling, add kale, then serve up to eat. This is good enough for a whole meal but it could also be served as a side dish. I did serve it with a small piece of left-over smoked salmon and a blueberry corn-bread muffin. I was stuffed and satisfied, very satisfied. :-)

(Photo: One-Pot Supper with Kale - close up)

What's in your refrigerator to make into your own "fast food" tonight?

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

Recipe - Risotto with Kale

(Photo: Risotto with Kale)

Here is a easy and delicious Friday night dinner (good for any night, too!). I don't usually buy mixes, but my mother is a fan of her local Costco and occasionally purchases something "fun" for us. Thus we have been the recipient of a large container of risotto containing dried tomato pieces and many additional herbs (bonus - no added salt or sodium!).

I made the risotto per directions, using vegetable broth already in my refrigerator (supplemented with additional water and a teaspoon or so of Better than Bouillon vegetable broth concentrate, also in my refrigerator), thawed and diced about 4 ounces of chicken meat (from a local farm Back Forty Acres) and also added several handfuls of frozen kale (crushed into small pieces while still frozen in the ziplock bag), and ~ 1-2 ounces of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

As a main dish, this amount made more than enough for 2 people and easily would have made a side dish of 4-6 servings.

Serve with a glass of iced tea or red wine, an additional vegetable serving, some fresh fruit or a fresh green salad and dressing.

(Easy, quick, delicious, beautiful, frugal, and healthy - win, win, win, win, win, and win!).

Where kale is more than decoration on my plate!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD