Farro Kale with Fruit and Walnuts

This side dish was delicious!  I hadn't used Farro before - one of those ancient grains. Looks like it can replace rice in dishes. I took the option to soak the farro overnight, drain. And then simmer in enough water to cover it for 10-15 minutes. Drain again and it's ready to be used. 1 cup makes about 2 cups.  I was using Farro from Bob's Red Mill.

Even though this was delicious ... it was a bit high on the calorie count. If I were to make it again, I'd do something to reduce the number!

Saute
1/3 cup onion
1-2 tsp olive oil

Add and continue saute
4 dried apricots, cut up
4 dried, pitted dates, cut up
1 tsp or so, raisins
5 green olives, pitted, halved
3 Tbsp walnuts, chopped up

Add and mix up with the fruit and onion
1/3 tsp Shiba's Hot Curry Chutney 
2 oz orange juice
1/2 cup cooked Farro
a bit of water

Add cover, and wilt kale
1+ cup kale, ripped up to bite size pieces

Serve and enjoy!

Rated a 4.69 on the Kale Scale

Hot Fruit Kale Salad

Looking around for how to complement the salmon fillet for dinner. I latched onto the idea of fruit and kale, but decided to make this as a hot salad. Was pretty good when I got done!

Saute
1 tsp olive oil
3/4 of the segments from 1 medium red grapefruit (I ate the other 1/4 of the segments while cooking)
1 cup, about, of red grapes, halved

Make a simmer sauce with
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp white wine

Add, cover, wilt
1.25 cups Kale, ripped to bite size pieces
Simmer sauce (above) - pour this over the kale

Serve and top with
2 Tbsp dry roasted, unsalted, chopped almond pieces
2 tsp shredded, unsweetened coconut

Rated a 4.45 on the Kale Scale.

Aged Havarti Sauce with Kale and Pomegranate

Wanted quick and easy, which this was. Tasty, and next time I think I'd add an apple or pear to balance out the flavors. But, this was workable as a side to a Salmon Dinner.

Steam, wilt as desired
1+ cup Kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Heat in microwave or on stove top til cheese is melted
1 oz aged havarti cheese, diced
1/4 cup soy milk
1 oz white wine
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Mix up Kale with cheese sauce and heat through.

Add and mix up
1.5 tsp coconut, shredded and unsweetened


Serve with
1/3 cup pomegranate arils on top


Rated a 4.54 on the Kale Scale

Savory Kale with Grapes and Persimmon

Spent the day mowing yard and other work to put the lawn to bed for the winter. Wasn't sure I wanted to bother with cooking, but this turned out so good, I'm glad I did! Very tasty! 

Saute
1.5 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup fennel bulb, chopped
1 tsp Shiba's Popping Seed
1 tsp Ras el hanout spice

Add and continue saute
18 grapes, halved
1 persimmon, cored, chopped (leave the peel on)

Reduce heat, add, cover, wilt and let the liquid sauce up a bit
1+ cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces
1 oz white wine
1/4 cup soy milk

Mix it all up, serve and enjoy!


Rated a 4.67 on the Kale Scale.

Sweet and Savory Kale

Getting to the end of the week and cleaning out the miscellaneous from fridge. Turned out to be very tasty - the pear and persmisson were a good match for the brussel sprouts.

Saute
2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup fennel bulb, chopped
1 fingerling potato, chopped
3 brussel sprouts, chopped

After a bit add and continue saute, lower heat and cover
1 red pear, cored and cut up
1 persimmon, cored and cut up (keep the peel on)
1 oz white wine
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tsp ras el hanout
1/4 tsp cardamon
1/4 tsp coriander
2 veggie patties (Morningstar), cut up

Steam in microwave
1+ cup of kale

Pile the sweet and savory mix on top of the steamed kale and enjoy!


Rated a 4.79 on the Kale Scale.

Mashed Squash with Shiba's Popping Seeds

Shiba's Popping Seeds formed the basis for my experiment to night. This new spice is something I picked up at the grocery store this week. The seeds are a mix of cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, bishop seeds, nigella seeds, fennel, dill seeds.  This was a great mashed side dish!

Saute til seeds' aroma is wafting
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Popping Seeds

Add and continue til almost done
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 brussel sprout, chopped
1 fingerling potato, sliced fine
1/4 cup fennel bulb, chopped

Add and mash
3/4 cup acorn squash, pre-cooked (using one I cooked up this weekend)
1/3 cup soy milk

Add, mix everything up and continue simmer, lower heat
1 oz white wine
1 Tbsp fig balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp turmeric ground

Steam in microwave
1+ cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Add kale to the Popping Seeds mix, and stir it all up.

Serve and enjoy!

Rated a 4.77 on the Kale Scale

Squash and Pear Hash on Kale

Looking around for what to do with acorn squash and a pear plus, or course, kale. Decided to create a fruit and veggie hash. It was delicious!

Microwave til done
1 acorn squash.  Cut in half, scoop out seeds. Only using 1/2 so set the rest aside.

Saute til onion is limp
1/3 cup onion, chopped up
1.5 tsp olive oil

Add and continue saute
1 pear, asian, cored, chopped fine (peel left on)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Simmer with

1 oz white wine
1 Tbsp fig balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sesame seeds

Add, mix up and heat through
2 fake sausage patties, cut up
1/2 cooked acorn squash - scoop out by spoonful and add to pan

Steam till wilted, about 2 minutes
1+ cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Assemble on dinner plate
Steamed kale topped with the squash and pear hash mixture
10 green olives, halved (castelvetrano olives)


 Rated a 4.78 on the Kale Scale

Date Crumbles Tame Brussel Sprouts with Kale

The weather turned autmun like - yeah!  I can get back to making Kale side dishes on the stove stop.  I found that pineapple works well to make brussel sprouts palatable, but no pineapple today. What to do? I looked around and found some date crumbles I have from Bob's Red Mill - they have no added sugar, and are dusted with oat flour.

Soak
1/4 cup date crumbles in couple Tbsp of water. Set aside.

Saute
1/3 cup onion, chopped up
 2 tsp olive oil

Add and continue saute
1 red pepper, cut up
2 brussel sprouts, cut up

Add and simmer a bit
Dated crumbles and the water they were soaked in.
1 Tbsp Fig Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp white wine

Add, cover and wilt
1-2 cups kale, ripped to bite size pieces (I ended up with about 2 cups today!)
Another 1 Tbsp of white wine and bit of water to keep the steam coming

Mix it all up an serve with a splash of Worcestershire sauce


Rated a 4.73 on the Kale Scale.

Kale Mashed - Variation

Using leftovers for the foundation of this dinner.  It was very tasty!

Layer and heat in microwave in a bowl and mix up after
1 serving of mashed blue (or purple) potatoes
1+ cup kale, ripped to bite size pieces

2 Tbsp white wine

Cook in microwave, and cut kernels off after
1 ear of corn

Cook in microwave, and cut up
1 veggie patty (Morningstar)

Mix all the ingredients together and top with
8 grape tomatoes, halved (from my garden!)

Deeelicious!!

Rated a 4.74 on the Kale Scale.

Jodhpur Lentils with Kale

How much faster can you make dinner than using TastyBites heat and serve lentils? Plus, it's really good food!

Microwave 90 seconds
1+ cup of Kale, ripped to bite size pieces

Microwave 2 minutes
1 package of Jodhpur Lentils
Mixed with the semi-cooked kale
1 oz of white wine.

Serve and enjoy!  



Rated a 4.75 on the Kale Scale.

Solar Pepper Quinoa with Steamed Kale

Hot weather continues - perfect for a solar cooked dinner!  A present some years ago, my solar cooker still does a fine job.

I put the quinoa, liquid and accompaniments into an orange pepper. I placed the pepper in a small pyrex dish to keep it stable. And this dish was placed in the black kettle that I use with the solar cooker. I also included in the cooker a salmon fillet.

Put the cooker in the sunshine at 1pm. Brought it in at 4:30 pm. 

Mix in a bowl

1/2 cup Quinoa
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 Tbsp, ginger, raw and minced
1 clementine orange, peeled and sectioned
1 Cup water
1.5 Tbsp white wine (finishing off the little bottle)
1 Tbsp lime juice

Assemble

Cut the top and inside seeds from an orange pepper.
Place about 1/2 of the mixture in the prepared pepper.
Place in the solar cooker.
Cook for 2.5 hours.

Serve

Steam 1+ cup of kale for 2 minutes or less.
Place on plate
Put the stuffed pepper on the kale.
Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Eat some kale with every bite!

Rated a 4.71 on the Kale Scale.

Spiced Apricot Kale Saute

The apricots I picked out at the store were too tart to eat out of hand. So what to do? Put in a kale sauté.

Saute
2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onion, cut up
1/8 tsp brown mustard seed

Add and continue sauté
1/2 cup pineapple, raw, cut up
1 apricot, cut up
7 green olives, halved (castelvetrano)
1 tsp ras el hanout
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Add, cover, wilt
1 cup Kale, ripped to bitesize pieces
2.5 Tbsp white wine

Serve with just a few sesame seeds.

Rated a 4.57 on the Kale Scale.

Squash It

I bought a squash - looked like an acorn, but it was all yellow. The label said Swan Winter Acorn and as I google, I find it is also called White Swan Acorn Squash. The link goes to a web page with a picture of what my squash looked like.

So thinking I'd go simple tonight.

Cook the squash in microwave, scoop out the seeds and then scoop out the flesh.


Steam 1+ cup of kale (ripped up).

Put the squash on top of the kale and served with a little sauce.

Mix to your desire and pour over the squash/kale:
- Hoisin sauce
- wine
- balsamic vinegar
- soy sauce lite

When all was done, I used about 2 tbsp. of this sauce mix.

Top it all with 1 Tbsp of Parmesan cheese.

Rated a 4.5 on the Kale Scale.

Tipsy Kale

After sauteing the veggies and fruit, I decided to simmer in wine for a bit. And when I was ready to steam the kale, I spritzed it with 2 tsp of wine.  It all worked well!  The one thing I'd do differently is to leave out the tomatoes, and up the number of apricots. The apricot was actually an after thought when it looked like I needed more veggies for the amount of kale I ripped up. All in all, a fine side for a Sunday salmon dinner.

Saute

This is a fully packed cup o' kale and then some.

2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onion, cut up (sweet Walla Walla onion)
2 tsp raw ginger, cut up fine

Add and continue saute
9 grape tomatoes, halved
1 apricot, cut up

Simmer, uncovered about 2 minutes, with
2 oz white wine

Cover with steam lid, and steam in microwave, about 2 minutes

1+ cup Kale, ripped up
2 tsp white wine, sprinkled around on the kale

Serve with cut up cilantro garnish and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

Rated a 4.58 on the Kale Scale.

Fried Egg Vegie Mix Kale

This is a variation from another meal from last week. Vegies saute, with a couple thin pork slices, fry and egg in the middle.

Saute
1+ tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 little itty bitty fingerling potatoes, sliced thin
2 brussel sprouts, chopped up
7 grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup pineapple, cut up
2 little cooked breakfast lean pork chops (tiny, 2 oz total), sliced up

Add and wilt, and then mix it all up
1+ cup Kale, ripped to bite size pieces
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp Mrs Dash
2 Tbsp wine
1+ tsp balsamic vinegar

Fry egg
Move the kale around so a clear spot in the middle of saute pan.
1 egg - fry to your desired level of doneness.

Serve with a dash of worcestershire sauce.


Rated a 4.7 on the Kale Scale.

Cabbage, Pineapple and Kale Sauted with Wine

Pulling together several things in the refrigerator for this one.  This turned out to be very tasty!

Saute
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup cabbage, chopped
1/3 cup pineapple, chopped
7 olives, castelvetrano, halved
2 fingerling potatos, sliced fine
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ras el hanout

Let that cook for a bit.

Add, cover and wilt as desired
2 Tbsp wine
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup kale, ripped to bitesize pieces

Serve with
1 Tbsp dukkah (Egyption nut and spice mix)

Rated a 4.66 on the Kale Scale.