Chicken Quinoa Pilaf with Steamed Kale



The end result

The 2+ cups of vegies

Used pressure cooker again - worked great!! The Chicken Quinoa Pilaf is variation of a recipe from Pressure Cooker Diaries. I used quinoa instead of rice; and the vegies that I had available were - onion, garlic, 8 brussel sprouts,1/2 cup red cabbage, a rutabaga, 2 golden beets, 1 orange pepper. This was cooked with vegie stock, some wine and spiced with curry, cinnamon, cardamon. The chicken breast tenders, I cut into bite size pieces. This recipe made 6 servings.

I put my serving on a bed of steamed kale, and topped it with 1 Tbsp of mozzarella. The nutrition count is for this serving.

Rated a 4.75 on the Kale Scale.

Beef Stew 'n' Kale

First time ever, made a beef stew with a pressure cooker (one of the modern ones). Using leftovers the next day, I took one serving and added a cup of kale to it - microwaved it all for a couple minutes.

Worked perfectly, and was deee-licious!

The stew had beef, carrot, celery, parsnip, turnip, spices, onion, balsamic vinegar, wine and tomoatoes, plus stock.

Rated a 4.7 on the Kale Scale.

First Kale Salad of 2012

Needed a quick, light meal tonight.

Toss together and serve:

1 cup Kale, ripped up
5 castleverano olives, halved
3 kalamata olives, halved
1.5 oz chicken breast tender, previously cooked with my Z'aatar recipe
8 grape tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp Safeway Select Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil Dressing


Rated a 4.67 on the Kale Scale.

Steamed Kale, Pecans and Olives

And still another steamed kale concoction using some kalamata olives and castleverano olives. This is a side dish to some Copper River Salmon that was a surprise find at grocery store. I'm beginning to like the steaming thing... Put the ingredients in the pampered chef steaming pot, 2 minutes in the microwave and done!

Steam together:
1 cup Kale, ripped to bite size pieces. I used rainbow kale.
6 castlevetrano olives, pitted, halved
3 kalamata olives, pitted, halved
20 pecan halves, chopped fine

Rated a 4.5 on the Kale Scale.

Steamed Kale Tomato Olive sans Egg

Tonight, another steamed kale concoction using some kalamata olives and castleverano olives I bought this weekend at Whole Foods/olive bar.

Steam for 2 minutes in microwave
1.25 Cups kale, ripped to bite size pieces
10 grape tomatoes, halved
3 kalamata olives, halved (pitted)
5 castleverano olives, halved (pitted)
1/4 tsp Mrs Dash
1/2 tsp black pepper
add 1-2 Tbsp of wine in the steamer for flavor, drain liquid before serving

Serve with
1 Tbsp walnuts, chopped fine
1.5 Tbsp mozzarella cheese shredded

Rated a 4.5 on the Kale Scale

Steamed Kale Scramble

Continuing with my plan to keep it simple, here is my last Friday night dinner. (Dessert was some air popped popcorn).

Scramble:
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg plus 1 egg white
1/4 tsp Mrs Dash

Steam for 2 minutes in microwave
1.25 Cups kale, ripped to bite size pieces
6 cherry tomatoes, halved

Mix:
Kale, tomatoes and scrambled egg together

Serve with
1 Tbsp walnuts, chopped fine
1.5 Tbsp mozzarella cheese shredded
1 tsp worcestershire sauce


Rated a 4.5 on the Kale Scale

Sweet, Sour and Spicy Tofu on Steamed Kale

I did a variation on a theme of a recipe from Natural Healing magazine 2002. Originally designed to serve with rice, couscous or quinoa, but I chose to serve it on a bed of steamed kale.  The recipe here serves 4. The nutrition analysis is for 1 serving on a 1.5 cups of kale.

Prep
Drain 14 oz brick of tofu.
Cut into cubes.

Saute until browned - about 10-15 minutes; stir occasionally. Put in a bowl and set aside when done.
1 Tbsp olive oil
Cubes of tofu.
1/2 tsp Mrs Dash

Saute
1 Onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ginger root, minced

Add and continue saute, stir this up and mix in the spices
Tofu
6 Olives, green castleverano, pitted and halved
3/4 Pear, peeled, cored and chopped. It would have been a whole pear, but I cut out bruises
1/3 to 1/2 cup  dried apricots, chopped small
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamon

Add and simmer until liquid is absorbed - about 15 minutes or so
1 1/2 cups  water
1/4 cup  white wine
2 Tbps  balsamic vinegar

Serve on bed of 1 and 1/2 cups steamed kale. Non-fat greek plain yogurt is optional.

Rated a 4.68 on Kale Scale.