All Hail King Kale!

 I have never been much of a veggie lover.  My mom tells me that she used to entice me into eating cabbage by telling me that I would turn into a princess.  And since my childhood dream was to be a princess with a tiara and a magic wand, mom was playing me.

Then I got married and had kids and realized that I needed to ditch the tiara and magic wand,  grow up and learn to eat my vegetables.  After all, how could I entice my kids into eating their leafy greens, tubers and roots if I did not set a good example and eat them myself. I found that some of the vegetables that I thought didn't like I actually did like once I gave them the old college try. 

Brocolli?  Quite nice when sauteed in some olive oil and tossed with sea salt.  Asparagus?  Oh yes, with hollandaise sauce please.  Carrots or squash? Sure, I can sprinkle some into my stir fry.  Onions?  Not on your life! Some vegetables are just off limits.

Recently, I discovered kale.  The king of the leafy greens.  This stuff is a super food.  It is packed full of some serious vitamins, antioxidants, and cancer fighting agents.  Nutrient rich, baby!

The best part about kale though is that it is a descendent of the wild cabbage.  So I guess I will get to keep my princess status after all.  Now if I could just find that tiara and the magic wand..there is some laundry to be done around here. 

Kale Chips-

The girls and I made kale chips this week. It was really easy.  Just take a nice bunch of kale, rinse it, cut it into chip size pieces, toss it into some grape seed oil or olive oil, grind some sea salt over it, toss it some more, place the coated kale onto a baking sheet, bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until they turn slightly brown around the edges, and

voila, you have kale chips.  The chips were so crisp and delicious that they disappeared almost instantly.  The only thing left was a greasy baking sheet which I had to wash, because I still can't find my dang magic wand. 

Love from the laboratory (A.K.A., my kitchen),
Melissa