Kale! Quite a Few Varieties...

 A couple of months ago I was in a store where seeds were sold.  I saw a packet that had multiple kale varieties.  I hoped I would have some curly kale and some dinosaur kale.

This was our kale meal for tonight...the first time I have harvested from the GreenStalk.  Last year the bugs got the kale.  Miserable things!  There are at least five different kale varieties in this dish...one of which is the looked-for dinosaur kale but NOT the curly kale.  I might plant a few more seeds later in the season and see if I get curly kale.  Either way, this was a delightful mess of cooked kale for supper!  At least I for one enjoyed it!

The second harvest of wax beans was on the table for supper, as well.  I cooked both the kale and the beans in the 3-quart Instant Pot.  It appears as if that piece of equipment is on its way out.  Last week, for no reason I could ascertain, the top black knob "blew" twice.  I washed everything and put in a new gasket.  Today the IP did not come up to pressure.  I may do some online investigation to see if I can figure it out.  If I cannot, I will say goodbye to this one.  And probably not replace since we have an 8-quart plus a 6-quart Max that zi use for pressure canning leftovers.  That works so good for us since we can can in pint jars, four at a time.  Works great.

So: solicitation for help:  has anyone had Instant Pot problems they were able to fix? I would love to know what you did.  Many thanks.

Growing Things On A Rainy Day!

 It has been more than a week since I have taken the time to write.  It has been a very busy time.  

Today is a lovely rainy day.  I just took this photo of the GreenStalk vertical garden on the back deck.  I love the lilac colored planter.  I suggested to Dear One that it might be a great spring gift but then I thought about the fact that I have not really used the produce from the last seasons so I guess I will see if I can make one GreenStalk successful then add a lilac one next year....

 

There we go, though I have absolutely no idea why there is no background.  I don't really mind since there is a lot of "stuff" on the deck, though the picture I actually thought I was going had a lovely view of the rain-wetted decking.  Oh, well.

Here is the GreenStalk with wax beans looking good; some basil really going to town. The strawberry plants on the top layer are doing well, too.

There are some tiny kale plants in the second layer but they are totally invisible here.  There are very sturdy marigolds that are volunteers from last year, too.  They look promising.  You can just barely see a few green leaves on the right side of the second layer.

When I went out to investigate the garden this afternoon I noticed that the deck railing planter where I had started a packet of kale seeds earlier had been devastated...probably by the squirrels that visit from time to time to see if they can pick up something just lying around for them to steal.  Those hummers.  Well, as Alissa says, "Squirrels need to eat, too."  Yes. they do.  I am so sorry they scarfed down the last of the kale seedlings, though.  I intended to transplant them shortly.

Today I have been wondering how to use the basil this year.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Food Friday

Sometimes you fall into a yummy dish without even planning it!  Today was one of those days.

All day there was something going on...I left really early, went to a diabetes class, tried to get a simple no-polish manicure but that salon was filled so I tried a different salon.  It only took a very few minutes at the second salon so there was too much time to hang around in town before swimming so I went home.

When I was home I started tidying the kitchen which was screaming at me to stay home and take care.  Well, at least my inner tidy person was screaming finally, so I really went to town on the surfaces.  There was a big bag of chopped kale I had purchased at the "past expiration date" produce rack at Piggly Wiggly a few days ago and realized that if I did not do something with it, the 99 cents I spent on it would be wasted.

Kale, the whole bag, plus 3 cups of water went into the 8 quart Instant Pot.  It had been previously on a long-term cook at 58 minutes so I said, why not let it go?  Then I went swimming.

When I got home after a good long swim and a haircut, we had time enough left to eat before going to the temple with a couple in our ward. SO...since I had not really made breakfast just announced what was available in the kitchen I decided I should do a little something for a supper for Dear One.  I was going to make him a sandwich but saw we still had one of the Bubba veggie burgers left and a bun, so I put the two of them together in the microwave then put on catsup, mustard, and relish.

When I came back to the island I decided to eat some of the kale.  It was cooked within an inch of its life, just the way I like cooked kale to be if I am not having it perfectly cooked for just 8 minutes.  THAT kale is like candy...you cannot stop eating it!  Anyway, this 58-minutes-under-pressure-then-2-hours-and-23-minutes-on-warming kale was ready to eat...

The mustard and relish were still on the counter so I thought, "What the heck?!  Why not try it?"  I remembered my friend Ruby telling me about cooking collards with relish so...I put a good squirt of dijon mustard and probably a tablespoon of pickle relish on the kale, mixed it up and ate it. IT WAS SO GOOD!  So good that when we got home after 10:00 PM I made another big bowl of it and ate it all.  I never eat after supper on a good day and then only a tiny snack.  The kale was really eating.  So good. 

 Now it really late and my eyes are blearing over.  Time to go to bed.  And man, is my tummy
happy. I hope it is still happy in the morning...

You can't really tell anything from the picture but the condiments are in there plus the thick tough stems that always come in those big bags of chopped kale.  By pressurizing the heck out of the stems they are soft and delicious.  No waste there...!

Using the Dehydrator: Kale Powder

We had a lot of some nondescript kale in the garden.  It was getting out of hand so I remembered that I had thought to use the dehydrator with excess food so here was the first opportunity.

I love this dehydrator!  There are nine shelves.

In this case I filled the shelves and set the machine going for 20 hours, which was really overkill.

After the kale was dry I put it into a bowl.

With the dried kale in the bowl I scrunched it all up, then put it into the food processor to turn it into a powder.

This was the first batch of dried kale.  After a second batch the jar is about half full.
Now I can add kale to soups and all sorts of things and it will be more or less invisible.

Fun stuff!

Kale is Really Hard to Kill!

We planted some curly kale starts on our back porch last fall.  We had kale through the winter. A month or so ago I harvested what I thought was the last of the kale and pulled up the four plants that were still in the container on the porch.  (I wanted to use the container for something else..)

Dear One suggested that I not just leave the poor plants lying there on the deck but to try planting them in the raised bed/square foot garden on the lawn.  I had absolutely no thought that anything would come of this but since there was room in the lawn garden I took them down and put them into the Mel's Mix.

There did not seem to be a downside of planting them out there.  They had been lying on the porch for several days drying out, on they way to the compost pile (a thing that is prohibited by our HOA so we don't have one!!! R-r-r!).  There were lots of small started kale plants  from the seeds I had put into pots in the dining room so I put them into the garden as well and turned the former kale container into a lettuce bed.

When I was out in the garden, this is what I found a month later!!!  The plants are NOT dead!  Also the tops are filling out.  We shall see if this amounts to more than tiny little leaves. I will give these plants as much time as they need to grow into good kale!  Such a happy day.

Food Friday: Sweet Corn Sauce on Steamed Kale-Delicious. Really!

A couple of days ago I was on a YouTube binge.  I went from watercolor painting to box making to card making to whole food plant based cooking and finally ended up at Jane and Ann Esselstyn's channel.  They are really fun to watch (mother and daughter in daughter's kitchen) and share some unusual and sometimes pretty good recipes.

The recipe they shared today, or which I watched on that particular day, was Sweet Corn Sauce.

This is the recipe as I made it:

Sweet Corn Sauce

16 ounces frozen sweet corn (or you could use 5 ears of fresh sweet corn)
1 medium or larger sweet onion
1 cup vegetable broth

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend, scraping down the sides as necessary, until it is sauce-like.  Move the sauce into a saucepan and cook until hot, slightly reduced, and the onion does not taste raw anymore.  Actually, I could not taste the onion.  It was very sweet and mild.

For the kale,  wash and dry the kale and strip leaves from the stems.  Tear into smallish pieces and put in a steamer.  Steam for about 8 minutes.  Less time might also work.  This is what I did on this occasion.

Put a serving of kale in a bowl and cover with sweet corn sauce.  You are in heaven.  Seriously.  So simple.  So good.  I gave Dear One a bowl of it and he ate it all!  With no comments!  He did not actually take a second serving, but that would be too much to ask.  Just eating that one bowl put me on cloud nine.

This was my bowl, half eaten!  Truly, this is wonderful.  How can you go wrong with vegetables?  I do recommend this if you are trying to get family members to eat more greens.  Perhaps spread the sauce totally over the kale covering it up...?

Anyway, I really loved this stuff.  I will make it again.  In fact, I have just realized that I really really like cooked kale.  Much better than raw kale.  I hope it is healthier to eat it cooked.  I will have to investigate that, though experience shows me that all the smart people have different ideas.  I like it cooked.  I will eat it cooked....

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Kale Chips!

Kale had been on my mind for a while but I did not really want cooked kale this time.  What to do, what to do...kale chips again.

This time I made kale chips in the microwave at the office.  That microwave is a heavy duty model,  I think. I don't know the wattage but it warms things up very fast.

How I made kale chips was to put the washed, dried, and ripped from the stems kale on a glass plate ready for the microwave. I had a can of the spray oil you use to avoid greasing pans with butter or whatever.  I sprayed a few squirts on the kale pieces then sprinkled on a little bit of salt then put the plate in the microwave for 2 minutes. When I pulled it out, I carefully flipped over the kale then sprayed lightly again, but no more salt.  I put the place of kale back in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.

It came out bright green and mostly crispy. I let it sit a minute, well, not true, I picked up a piece that was not quite crispy and ate it up.  Then another one, and another.  After about three I let it cool briefly then shared with the Vehicle Coordinator.  Dear One and the President's secretary were not really interested.

Pretty and pretty good.  I was sorry when it was gone.  So quick and easy.

Munchie Monday: 3-2-1 Greek Kale Chips

Here is another recipe for kale chips.  I have made them twice this week as we had company I was trying to interest in kale!  The first time was way too salty, though I really do like salt.

3-2-1 Greek Style Kale Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare a half sheet pan or other large rimmed pan by placing a silicon sheet on it or parchment paper.

In a small bowl place:

1 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
3 teaspoons Greek Seasoning

Mix well with a spoon and set aside.

In a large bowl place all the leaves you have stripped off the kale ribs.  They can be any size you want, but you do want some larger ones as well as smaller ones.

Drizzle 1-2 Tablespoon of olive oil over the leaves then toss them well so that every inch of the leaves are shiny with oil.  It is amazing how small an amount of olive oil will do this.  1-2 Tablespoons is quite a lot...less is better.  You really just need enough that the dry seasoning will stick.

Once all the leaves are shiny, sprinkle the seasoning over the top, then toss again to get a good bit of coverage on the leaves. 

Greek mix on oiled kale ready to toss!

Spread on the baking sheet then bake for 10 minutes.  Pull out of the oven to check.  Some will seem ready but probably will not be chips yet.  Put back in oven for 5 more minutes then check again.  You might have to let go a final five minutes (20 minutes in all) but no more than that or you will burn it.  Burned is NOT good.  Trust me.

Kale chips ready to munch!

The second batch I made this week was also too salty.  I think the next time (there will be a next time!) I will make it 1-2-2 Kale Chips using only 2 teaspoons of the Greek Seasoning.  After all, the first ingredient is salt.  In fact, maybe I should use my own homemade Greek Seasoning which does not have salt in it.  Duh!  What was I thinking?!

Anyway, it is still good.

Munchie Monday: Reviving Kale

Earlier in the week we  did a little grocery shopping.  By the time we arrived home, I was a basket case and just sat down in my chair...after merely putting the milk in the refrigerator.  Then came the Fourth and another day at the office.  The kale was looking pretty limp where it was still lying on the table.  For some reason it occurred to me to treat it like a bouquet of flowers!  So I did.

After cutting off about an inch of the stems, I filled a glass with cool water and inserted the kale.  Look how happy those leaves are now!!  I am hoping to make a nice kale salad tomorrow.

Food Bonus: Kale Chips in Microwave!

On the weekend I saw a video about making kale chips in the microwave.  Sadly, I did not keep track of the source BUT if I had, I would have told you to go watch the source.  Instead, this is what I did.

First thing, always with vegetables and fruit, WASH the kale, then dry it thoroughly.  Using about 3 stems of kale per serving (also per cooking try), strip the kale leaves from the stem.  Break into large-ish pieces.  Put them into a large bowl.  Dribble on 1 teaspoon (yes, teaspoon) of olive oil and toss well with your clean hands.  When all the kale is shiny, indicating a little dab of oil on it,  sprinkle on some coarse salt, some granulated garlic, and a SMALL amount of chili powder.  Toss again with your hands.  (Lick your fingers before going on.  You might need to add a little more garlic or chili powder.  In my case, I thought it was perfect.  Dear One thought the end result was a little high on the spice.)

On a large microwave-safe place, place a piece of parchment paper.  Spread out the kale leaves on it, keeping the overlap to a minimum.  Start heating on high for 3 minutes.  Check the kale.  Move it around a little bit on the paper.  Cook for 3 more minutes.  Check again.  Repeat one more time.  By then the chips might be done.  If absolutely necessary, give them one more minute, then pull them out of the microwave and let cool, if you have the will power.  These are nice and green and tasty and crisp.

The only advantage of baking them in the regular oven is that you can do more at once.  These turned our really well.  Dear One even enjoyed them, though he turned up his nose when I placed the plate on his lap.

Munchie Monday: Kale Salad, a New Rub!

Kale salad is one of my favorites: kale, sweet onions, broccoli, and celery.  I had not made any in a while so was excited to get it together enough to make a big batch. I was rather in a hurry so, after chopping the kale and putting it in the bowl, I only massaged the kale for about a minute.  Two minutes at the most.  Bad idea!

When it came time to eat a bowl of salad, I found it to be bitter.  Well, kale really is a bitter herb, but this was the first time it had tasted bitter to me.  I had a LOT of it.  What to do...!

Well, this morning I put the cast iron skillet on the stove and started it heating on medium heat.  When it was sort of hot I added a tablespoon of olive oil then filled the pan with kale salad.  Sautéed salad here we come!  After stirring for a moment to get a tiny smidgeon of olive oil on as much of the salad as possible, I put on the cover and walked away to do something else.  In about five minutes I came back, stirred it again, then put the cover back on and shut off the electric burner.

In five more minutes this is what I found:

This is so good and the bitter is gone, or if not gone, at least manageable.  Love kale!  So good for our bodies.  So good for our souls!  I mean, after all, I don't know ANY healthy-eating expert who doesn't think we should be pouring kale down our gullets on a regular basis.  Sautéed kale may be the thing for us all!

Food Friday: Sautéed Kale and Scrambled Eggs

Food experiments can turn out okay sometimes.  This time is one of those okay times.  It is not a great time, just okay.

We got a nice bag of baby kale while shopping last week.  It was a biggish bag and the refrigerator was rather fullish!  So...I put the kale bag on top of the eggs on the top shelf of the refrigerator which is right below the freezing compartment.  You guessed it!  Part of the bag froze.

Not wanting to waste it I decided to sauté it like I do spinach, except I did not take the time to chop any garlic or onions...well, we are down to our last onion and I never want to be without an onion in case some important dish comes to mind before I can get another bag.  So, this was just kale, a little granulated garlic, and then a couple of eggs scrambled in.

It looked rather nasty so I did not take a picture of it, but with a little bit of Table Tasty seasoning, it tasted okay, plus it had the added attraction of being slightly healthy.  Very little coconut oil in the pan and two eggs are not the best but...dark green leafy vegetables and protein...not all bad.  Better than the chocolate wafers from earlier.

Food Friday: More Kale Salad

Earlier I think I shared a kale salad recipe.  Probably more than once, but here is another iteration.  I really do love kale salad. I also feel so virtuous when I eat it.  AND the scales thank me.

One bunch lacinato/tuscan/dinosaur kale
One large head fresh broccoli
One bunch celery
One/half large sweet onion, sliced thin
Pitted Greek olives, cut in half
Hummus
Tajin Classico

Wash the kale.  Dry it.  Strip the leaves off the stems.  Chop them into bite-sized pieces and put into a LARGE bowl

Wash the broccoli.  Shake off the water.  Cut the florets off the stem and chop into your favorite bite-sized pieces and toss onto the kale in the bowl.

Remove the ribs from the celery bunch.  Wash well then cut off any stem pieces that offend you.  Slice fine and add to the bowl.

Remove the outer paper from the sweet onion.    Cut the onion in have from pole to pole, then lay it flat side down on your cutting surface and thinly slice.  Cut the slices in half or thirds and toss on top of your other vegetables.

Toss the vegetables until they are well interspersed with one another.  Take out a large handful and place in an individual serving bowl.  The remaining salad should be tightly covered and put into the refrigerator for the next meal.  I eat this 2-3 times a day.

On the top of the individual serving of salad toss in a few cut Greek olives, a couple of Tablespoons of your favorite hummus and a sprinkle of Tajin Classico.  Stir well and enjoy.

Sometimes I add a little steamed flaked fish.  Sometimes some chopped tomato or carrots or cabbage.

Yummy.

Munchie Monday: Vacation Food--The Perfect Simple Salad

On vacation it can be difficult to eat the way you normally do.  Especially when there are different views as to what makes good vacation food.  In my case, I eat salad every day.  At every meal, if possible.  It is a little harder on vacation depending on the accommodation's facilities.  It turns out this time that rather than the mini-refrigerator/coffee pot we were told to expect in our unit, we have a mini-refrigerator, coffee pot for herb tea, a microwave, some base cabinets and a sink in a nice counter. Things are looking up!  I had brought our Instant Pot, because I assumed somewhere in the room there would a surface with an electrical outlet so we could at least heat up soup or something.

So, today I am hoping to go to a grocery store to find:
Lacinato (i.e. dinosaur) kale
Broccoli
Sweet onion
Canned red beans
Something for Dear One to eat, either in the Instant Pot or the microwave if he wants hot food.

Another thing I am thinking is to get:
Canned chick peas
Garlic Paste
Ripe avocado
Tahini
Lemon or lime juice
Roasted red peppers
A large bowl at Dollar Tree or some such place

The idea for this last list is to  see if I can make some Avocado Roasted Pepper Hummus.  Maybe.

If anyone has had any luck with different "vacation foods" in a unit without full cooking equipment, I would love to know what you made and how it turned out.  Oh, and if the family liked it, too!

Garden: Actual Final Photo of Garden 2016

At the very end of December I harvested two last plants from our side garden.  The kale was still in good shape and made some wonderful kale chips.  Next year I will grow more kale for sure and plan to pick even longer.  If I keep the snow from the kale, it will last a long time, I am certain since we had multiple days below zero.

Munchie Monday: Muffin Tin Quiches

Dear One sent me a possible breakfast idea.  It was a sort of quiche-like thing.  This is what I did:

Used a King Arthur Flour six-reservoir roll tin

Large cupcake papers

1 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup yellow bell peppers, chopped fine
1 cup frozen broccoli, chopped fine
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk--dairy, coconut, or almond
1/2 shredded cheese
1/2 teaspoon Montreal Steak Seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.

With non-stick spray, completely spray the inside of the cupcake papers then place inside the roll reservoirs.  The papers are smaller than the pan I used.  The better pan to use would be the Texas Muffin Pan. 

In large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, cheese, and Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Add all the vegetables and mix well again.  Using a portion scoop, place six portions into the large cupcake papers. Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool five minutes.  Remove quiches from pan and then from the papers.

These were pretty good but not as flavorful as I would have liked. Next time I will add more Montreal Steak Seasoning and maybe add turmeric and granulated garlic.

These are a good size to put between toasted English muffins as if they are a breakfast sandwiches.  Well, a little thick, but still, they work well.

Food Friday: Kale Chips for Thanksgiving

Our local son and daughter-in-law invited us to eat  Thanksgiving dinner with them and their family.  They were going to prepare everything.  Did not need us to bring anything, so....my thought was, if we brought something, it would be a bonus.  We brought the leftover raw onion and flax crackers and some freshly "chipped" kale from our garden.  (We have three more plants that I am hoarding, but will have to use them up soon, I am afraid.  Next year I will plant a LOT more.)

To harvest the kale at this end of season, I actually pulled up the three smallest-producing plants, pulled off the leaves and buried the roots and stems in the garden's hay covering, hoping they would begin their composting over the winter.

Next I washed each leaf individually, and VERY well, picking off the pine needles that the recent high winds had blown onto these valiant soldiers in the garden.

After the leaves were clean, I tore the kale off the ribs, making them more or less chip-sized and put them in a large clean stainless steel bowl.

Over the pieces of kale I poured 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil then with my very clean hands I gently massaged the oil and kale together.  When each leaf-let had a sheen of oil on it I put on coarse kosher salt (about 1 teaspoon) and freshly ground black pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon), tossed lightly, then put on a pan.

Previously I had set the oven to 225 degrees F to preheat.  Yes, 225.

The pan went into the oven for 20 minutes, after which time I checked on the chips. They were still a glorious green and much of the chips were ready to eat.  Since the rest were not, I put the pan back into the oven for 10 more minutes.  That was actually too long, if green kale chips was our goal.  They were all crispy then, not at all burned, just not as pretty green anymore.

After eating a few slightly not-crispy leaves, I let the rest cool then put them in a container to take to share with our Thanksgiving dinner.   Several of us really liked them.

When traveling with kale chips, you really do need to have a sturdy covered container, and a gentle hand.  It is very possible to "break" the chips.  If they are slightly less cooked, they hold up better.

Garden 2016: Put To Bed

Today I finally went out to finish up putting the garden to bed for 2016.  It is now done.  Well, except for putting away the last of the garden hoses. I somehow imagined that Dear One was going to wash the car one more time this fall (not that I wanted him to do that, he just seems to do that sort of thing pretty often), but he says no.  Yay.  One more thing can be taken care of before the snow falls.

Front garden put to bed

Side garden put to bed

These gardens do not look appreciably different from the last picture I posted, but underneath they are much happier. I took our four-tined garden fork and fluffed the hay.  I am just certain the soil underneath is happier.  The last of the kale is also happy to have warm feet.  I will probably harvest that in the next couple of days.  I think I will plant more kale next year. I love that stuff.  Now that I know how to raise and, more importantly, harvest it, I am a very happy lady.