Cooking with Kale

I bet you never thought you would be reading about this topic on my blog, huh? Don't worry I'm not being held hostage by some organic-granola-hippies or anything, just trying something new. I enjoy eating healthy about as much as your average overweight twelve year old. However, since the day I turned 25 I realized that I can't live off of diet coke, wine and double cheeseburgers like I did in college. If you haven't turned 25 yet, trust me, the rumors are true. I literally woke up on my 25th birthday and no longer had a metabolism. In these past 4 years of marriage, Jared has been trying to train me to eat healthier. I guess the time has come for me to jump on the bandwagon, sort of. I really have been making an effort recently to eat healthier, nothing crazy, just eating less crap. Don't worry I still eat cheeseburgers and pizza, just a lot less often.

Which brings me to this whole kale thing. In case you have been living under a rock, kale is the new super-food. I haven't personally spent any time researching it, but apparently it is full of vitamins and all kinds of wonderful things for you. People are literally obsessed with this stuff. Apparently, kale is going to save the world one little green leaf at a time.

I figured if it's so wonderful, then I might as well try it. Anytime something gets a lot of hype, I just have to try it out for myself to see what the big deal is. Like last summer when we all just had to read 50 Shades of Grey. Gosh, I wish I could get those hours of my life back. Anywho, last Sunday during our weekly grocery shopping trip I decided to try out this kale stuff. I decided that if it tasted like crap, I would just chock it up as a loss of $4 and never eat it again. But if I liked it, then why not get some extra healthy goodness in my diet. Here goes nothing.

When it came to incorporating kale into my diet, I knew there was only one option. Cooking it. I love leafy greens, but only when they are cooked. I love cooked spinach, collard greens, turnip greens, etc. However, I hate leafy greens raw. Spinach salad? Yuck. I have to have crunchy lettuce in my salad. I knew that if I made myself a little raw kale salad that I would immediately throw it away and give up on kale. So of course, I went to my laptop and googled "cooking kale" to get some ideas. How did we ever survive before Google?

Since kale is only good for a few days, I had to use the entire container I bought before this week was over. Alas, kale for dinner every night! I got a little creative and came up with three different meals this week that incorporated kale. Honestly, I'm pretty impressed with myself. I have always been able to follow a recipe, but never just throw random stuff together in the kitchen and have it taste good. Yet, all three of my kale creations were delicious. Go me.

Of course I am going to share these three recipes with you in case you are itching to cook with kale too. The first and most important thing you need to know about cooking kale is lemon juice. You only need 5 things when you cook kale and lemon juice is the most important one. So when you go to buy your bag of kale in the produce section, go ahead and get one of those little lemon-shaped bottles while you are at it. The best way to incorporate kale into your meal is to sauté the kale in a pan before you do anything else with it. To do this, put olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Then chop some fresh garlic and throw it in the pan. Next, chop the kale into small pieces (warning: they will shrink up a lot when you cook them, so chop much more than you think you are going to need). Add the kale to the pan with some sea salt, ground pepper and lemon juice and sauté until the kale looks wilted. Finally, you can go ahead and add it to whatever you are cooking.

Here are some healthy, kale-inspired recipes that I created...

Meat and potatoes, y'all. Simple as that. I am a Southerner after all. For this recipe, you will need kale, sausage of any kind (Jared made me get chicken sausage because it's healthier supposedly), and those little yellow dutch potatoes. This is a one pan meal, which I love because I hate doing dishes. 

1. Chop kale, slice potatoes and put to the side.

2. Cook sausage in a pan thoroughly and then put on a plate to the side to slice. 

3. Sauté potatoes in olive oil with salt and pepper and chopped garlic. 

4. Add kale to the potatoes and continue to sauté. Add a little salt, pepper and lemon juice to the kale. 

5. Add the sliced sausage back to the pan and toss all the ingredients together.  

Next on the list is a recipe for all those red meat lovers (like me!) out there. Moo.   

I used a sirloin filet for this recipe because that was what was on sale at Publix this week. You can use any cut of meat, as long as it is thick enough to be cut in half. For this recipe, you will need kale, Philadelphia cooking creme (it's right next to the cream cheese in the dairy section), and a steak. 

1. Sauté kale as I explained above with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice. 

2. Butterfly the raw filet in half (yes, this means you have to touch the raw meat extensively). 

3. Spread the cooking creme inside both halves of the filet.

4. Spread some of the sautéed kale on one side and then fold the top half of the filet back over. 

5. Season both sides of the filet (on the outside) with salt and pepper. 

6. You can either bake it in the oven or cook it in a pan to your preferred meat temperature. I like to cook it in a pan because it is easier to monitor and not overcook your steak. Jared and I like our cows still mooing when we eat them :) 

7. Top the filet with the remaining sautéed kale. 

Jared and I always have a ton of chicken in our house. It's cheap and healthier for you than red meat (at least that's what he tells me) so we eat chicken a lot. I personally don't like chicken that much, it's so bland and boring. I would much rather have a steak. However, since I am stuck eating chicken a lot, I have to get creative with ways to make it not taste like I'm eating the same boring chicken everyday. 

You can make chicken this way even if you don't want to incorporate the kale. Just doing the marinade itself is so yummy. For this recipe, you will need, kale, chicken breast, balsamic vinegar (the actual vinegar, not the salad dressing), fresh garlic and fresh rosemary. 

1. In a sauce pan, heat balsamic vinegar with chopped garlic and rosemary until it simmers.

2. Place chicken breasts in a tupperware. Pour the balsamic marinade over the chicken and cover. Allow the chicken to marinate in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes. The longer, the better.  

3. Sauté chopped kale as I explained above with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice.

4. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place on a greased baking pan. 

5. Bake chicken breasts in the oven until they are cooked thoroughly (mine were pretty thin so I only did about 20 minutes in the oven). 

6. Top chicken with the sautéed kale. I also shredded some fresh grated parmesan cheese over mine.  

The final verdict. Kale is yummy. And it's good for you, so that's a plus. However, I will say I have been a little disappointed with all the hype. I was expecting to have some sort of Popeye experience when I ate the kale, like I instantly become superwoman or something. It's only been a week though, so I'll let you know if any super powers start to surface.