Kale chips

In our CSA this week, we got 3 bags of fruit & veg. First thoughts? What are we going to do with all of this kale that we're not going to do with all this Swiss chard??

My sister once recommended making kale chips. So, I gave that a try. They were delicious & crunchy & a little salty! All things that I like. The only drawback is that the stalk is still a little chewy after drying.

Here's what I did:

Lay kale on a sheet pan & spray with olive oil/Pam. Sprinkle a little salt over the kale. Bake in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes.

& voila! You have kale chips. Yummy, nutritious, & good for hand-to-mouth repetitions while watching TV/baseball.

Edit: I was just advised to try Indian spices with these. My friend Jaime makes them all of the time!!

- Keri

Two Fruit Smoothies from Annette

Judging from the humidity in the air, summer is almost here.  And, I had a coupon for frozen fruit...so it's smoothie season.  To discuss smoothies, I must explain my love for my Cuisinart Immersion Blender.  It was one of the kitchen tools I didn't think I'd use often, yet ended up using all the time!  Puree soups....no problem, whip mash potatoes..done, make a smoothie... easy!

Blueberry & Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup frozen whole strawberries (thawed slightly)
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt (cows milk or soy milk)
1/8 cup (more or less...) milk (cows, rice, soy, almond, hemp, goat... :) )
1/2 Tablespoon ground flax seed


Directions: Toss all ingredients except milk in a tall glass (I used the plastic one that came with the blender).  Stick in the blender and blend away.  I add a little bit of milk at a time to help it blend and also to get the consistency I want.  Enjoy!

Or what about...

PB & J Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen whole strawberries (thawed slightly)
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt (cows milk or soy milk)
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
1/8 cup (more or less...) milk (cows, rice, soy, almond, hemp, goat... :) )
1/2 Tablespoon ground flax seed




Directions: Toss all ingredients except milk in a tall glass (I used the plastic one that came with the blender).  Stick in the blender and blend away.  I add a little bit of milk at a time to help it blend and also to get the consistency I want.  Enjoy!

Berry Crisp

Keri here with a recipe for a berry crisp. I hope you enjoy!

I read EatingWell's Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp, but I haven't seen any rhubarb at the Farmer's Market yet. Instead, I made a strawberry cherry crisp & modified the recipe a bit.

Keri's Strawberry Cherry Crisp

Filling:
1 lemon
1 pint of strawberries, cored & sliced
10 oz. bag frozen cherries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour or corn starch (I used Jules' Gluten-free flour)

Crisp:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I used Jules' Gluten-free flour)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon canola oil
1-3 tablespoon juice

Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss together fruit, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour/corn starch in a large bowl. Juice lemon over fruit mixture. Then, zest 1/2 of the lemon over fruit mixture. Transfer the mixture to a shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dish or deep-dish 9-inch pie plate, pressing down on the fruit to form an even layer.

To make crumble topping: Combine oats, 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, butter and oil in a bowl; work the ingredients together with a fork or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the juice until the mixture is evenly moistened.

Distribute the topping mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden, 35 to 40 minutes.

DELICIOUS! 5/5 stars!!

Watermelon Granita

Okay everyone! Annette here.  I'm guessing you're probably wondering what's going on and where I've been.  Sorry! The month of April was really busy for me so I've been cooking and taking pictures of it, just not writing it up on here. I have a lot of dinners to catch up on. Also, you might have noticed some other people writing.  I opened up the blog to some of my cooking friends so you'll get all kinds of interesting things on here know.  Read more about them in the Who's in the Kitchen link on the right.

We spent Saturday in a cute, historic town nearby I was able to snag this cute blue Ball jar.  Some day when my man and I buy a house I want to do an aqua/poppy kitchen so I was excited about my new vase.



What's this have to do with cooking? Nothing. I just thought you might like some flowers. Okay...on to the Granita.  I originally got the idea for this from Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.  It was awesome and I want to do it with all kinds of fruit now. So good!






Watermelon Granita
Adapted from Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
Ingredients: 
1 whole seedless watermelon
3 Tablespoons lime juice
 1/4 cup sugar (I used Coconut Palm Sugar)

Directions: 
Puree your watermelon in a blender/food processor until liquid.  Add in lime juice and sugar. Taste to make sure it tastes good to you and add more juice/sugar if needed. Pour into shallow pans and put in freezer.  Stir with a fork after a few hours. It might take up to a day to freeze depending on how thick your pan is. Once frozen, scrape with a fork and enjoy.  It makes a ton so you can certainly share with others or use less watermelon!

I made mine in a huge Rubbermaid container and then didn't want to spend hours scraping it.  I let it thaw for a bit and then was able to break it into chunks and put in the food processor to turn it into a sorbet texture.  Either way is fun. Next time I make it I plan to freeze it in smaller containers so I can just dump it in the food processor and grind up.  It was so good! My man said he wasn't a watermelon fan but really loved the texture.

It's a great hot, summer day healthy treat.  Enjoy! --Annette

Food & Wine Steak with Herb Nut Salsa

Keri here with a review of a recipe and wine pairing!

Tonight, the man & I had steak with an herb nut salsa. The recipe came with our Food & Wine Adventurer Club wine shipment.

Aside: Food & Wine introduced two wine clubs last Fall/Winter: a collector edition & an adventurer edition. They ship us 6 bottles with a recipe booklet that pairs each wine with a primary recipe (& 3 alternates). Some wineries also do the same, which is pretty awesome.

The wine was really good for a cheapy wine, & it paired really well with the recipe. Good job, Food & Wine!!

Wine: Domaine de Baumard - Logis de la Giraudière - 2005. Fancy name for a red table wine... but it is really nice. Don't pay over $20 for it. Rating: 3.5/5

Recipe: Hanger Steak with Herb Nut Salsa Rating: 3.5/5

The salsa was salty herby goodness - So, I made very simple sides: roasted potatoes & onions with very little salt & some pepper and halved grape tomatoes with leftover herbs, basil, & shallot. Both cleansed the palate nicely after bites of the steak/salsa & sips of the wine. We made a few minor modifications: no tarragon, no chervil, anchovy paste in lieu of anchovies, less oil.

Also, ignore the recipe's note about 12 minutes for toasting the hazelnuts. Toast until fragrant, & don't wander away. Otherwise, it's a mad dash to open the door, turn on the fan, & cover the smoke detector.

Overall, the dish was very good together. We will probably make this again when the vegetable & herb garden is in full force. I recommend the wine & recipe together as a semi-fancy meal.

(This item was cross-posted to Twice If It's Nice.)

Fagioli

About a year ago I downloaded a pdf of The Vegan Culinary Experience--Dairy Free Italian but never really cooked from it.  The other day I opened it up and picked out this recipe to make for dinner.  An hour before dinner I read the recipe more carefully and because of time and my desire to eat carrots & celery... made some major modifications...and came up with this:

Here's the original recipe:

The Vegan Culinary Experience – Education, Inspiration, Quality * www.veganculinaryexperience.com   February 2009
Recipe by Chef Jason Wyrick
Fagioli

Type:  Main Dish, Italian (Tuscan)   Serves: 4
Time to Prepare: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 bay leaves
4 cups of water (should reduce to 2 cups)
1⁄2 cup of tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. of chopped sage leaves
2 tbsp. of olive oil 
1⁄2 tsp. of salt
1⁄2 tsp. of freshly ground pepper
3 cups of cannellini beans, rinsed 
1 bunch of spinach, chopped
4 slices of Tuscan (or other Italian) bread, toasted

Instructions
Chop the onion, celery, and carrots and smash the garlic.
Simmer the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaves in the water for about 40 minutes.
Drain and reserve the liquid, discarding the veggies.
Mince the 2 cloves of garlic.
Chop the sage.
Mix the liquid with the tomato paste, garlic, sage, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Mix the tomato sauce you just made with the beans.
Place this in a baking dish and cover it.
Bake it on 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
While the beans bake, wilt the spinach leaves in a dry pan over a medium heat.
Once the beans are done, mix the spinach in with them.
This should be served with a side of Tuscan toast.

Here's what I did:


Quick Fagioli

Ingredients: 

1 yellow onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14oz can of plain tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. of olive oil 
1⁄2 tsp. of salt
1⁄2 tsp. of freshly ground pepper
3 cups of cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained & rinsed 
1 bunch of spinach, chopped

Directions: 

 Chop the onion, celery and carrots (or use the food processor to do it for you like I did).   Adding olive oil, sautee the veggies and the garlic over medium heat in a pan until soft.  Pour into a casserole dish.  Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper, water, drained beans, and Italian Seasoning.  Cover and cook in the oven on 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  Wilt the spinach leaves in a pan over medium heat and add to the bean mixture when it comes out of the oven.  Serve with some GF bread sticks.  

 Easy Gluten Free Bread Sticks

Follow the directions on the back of the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust.  However, instead of rolling it into a pizza crust, flour your hands and roll them into bread sticks.  I put them on a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil and dump tons of garlic powder and Italian Seasonings on top.  Bake in the oven at 425*F for 15-18 minutes.  YUM!  (Just looked at the top picture closer and realized I ran out of time to make bread sticks. Instead we had this baguette.  Don't want to confuse you if you're bread sticks don't look like the picture!)


We also ate this meal with a quick Strawberry Salad--Red leaf lettuce, sliced strawberries, pecans, olive oil, balsamic vinegar*, and a quick grind of pepper.

*If you're a balsamic vinegar fan like I am you might find this very disappointing.... 

Spring Starts with a Salad

My tulips have decided it's spring.  Well, they actually decided that awhile ago and then the snowpocalypse hit.  The snow has melted and the tulips are continuing their growth towards the sun.  To celebrate our week of 60*F afternoons I made a quick fried chicken salad last night.  This salad is always a quick and easy spring or summer meal for us.  Hopefully you'll enjoy it too.

Fried Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• Red Leaf Lettuce
• cherry or grape tomatoes
• cucumbers
• shredded carrots (I didn't have these on hand last night but they really add some fun!)
• enough pieces of fried chicken breasts for each person (whatever that is to you) 
• Gluten free fans: Bell and Evens
• Gluten Eaters: Trader Joes Breaded Chicken Tenderloin Breasts
• some kind of creamy dressing--normally I love Drew's Smoked Tomato  on this, but I ran out so I made the honey mustard dressing below.

Directions:

• Wash and tear the lettuce.  Chop the cucumbers any size you like.  Cut tomatoes in half or keep them whole.  Put everything in a communal bowl or divide up for individual bowls (single serving is my preference for this salad) and top with shredded carrots and chicken. Drizzle on some dressing and you're good to go!  
• I served it with a baked sweet potato topped with butter.  Both together make a filling, healthy, quick meal! 

Honey Mustard Sauce
Adapted from: All Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 3 Tablespoons Mustard (I used a combo of Spicy Brown and Dijon.  I wouldn't recommend using regular yellow mustard.) 
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Honey

Directions:
     Mix all ingredients together in a container with a lid so you can easily store any leftover.  Because it's really a dipping sauce, more than a dressing, a little of this goes a long way.  I just took the mixing spoon and used it to drizzle some of the sauce over the top of our salads. Enjoy!