Tag Archives: kale

Lentil Kale Soup

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This soup is a meal in itself! Our kids both loved this soup, especially our 1-year old who ate two big bowls!

Lentil Kale Soup

I served this with a little Coconut ‘Bacon’ on top, it was delicious!

Original recipe from Food.com.

Ingredients

  • 5 cups vegetable broth + 3 cups water (OR 8 cups of water)
  • 1 1/2 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed (I used brown lentils)
  • 1 cup brown rice
  • 1 (2 lb) can chopped tomatoes, drained,reserving juice – I used a large can of tomato sauce (all I had on hand) but I bet you could use fresh tomatoes, if you prefer
  • 3 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¼ inch pieces
  • 1 onions, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups chopped frozen kale (Trader Joe’s sells it now) OR 1 bunch fresh chopped kale
  • 1/2 heaping tsp crumbled dried basil (pinch it between your fingers)
  • 1/2 heaping tsp crumbled oregano
  • 1/4 tsp crumbled dried thyme
  • 1 bay leaves
  • 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions

  1. Combine broth, 3 cups water (or just 8 cups of water if you’re not using broth), lentils, rice, canned tomatoes with reserved juice (or tomato sauce OR fresh tomatoes), carrots, onion, celery, and herbs and bring to boil (do not add parsley and vinegar).
  2. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 45-55 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.
  3. Stir in kale and cook for another 5 minutes or until kale is wilted.
  4. Stir in parsley and vinegar and season to taste.
  5. Serve as is or blend up soup using your immersion blender. (I blended mine so that our 1-year old could eat it)

Combine everything BUT parsley, vinegar and kale in a soup pot

Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 45-55 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender. Add kale, cook for 5 more minutes or until wilted. Then add parsley and vinegar.

I blended my soup with an immersion blender but you can eat it just like this if you wish.

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Kale Avocado Salad

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This is a super easy kale salad recipe with tons of flavor! This recipe is from my favorite food movie Planeat. I’ve served this a few times now and everyone loves it! This picture is terrible… just trust me, it’s really good!

Kale Avocado Salad

Kale Avocado Salad

1 head kale, any variety is great shredded – you can use chard or spinach

1 large tomato diced, or red bell pepper – I add both

1 1/2 avocado chopped

2 Tablespoons red onion, green onion, or leek fine diced – I like red onion the best but all three are good!

1 lemon juiced

1 Tablespoons sea salt – I use about 1/2 tsp, if that

pinch of cayenne

INSTRUCTIONS

In mixing bowl toss all ingredients together, squeezing as you mix to ‘wilt’ the kale and creaming the avocado. Serve immediately. This dish is also great to substitute the kale for chard or spinach

Massage all ingredients together

Kale Avocado Salad... YUM!

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Kid Friendly Green Smoothie

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This is one of my toddler’s favorite Green Smoothies! Perfect for those days when it seems like your kids hate your cooking and won’t eat anything but snacks and air (it seems!). We like this one too, the peanut butter addition is good! I like to add a scoop of protein powder to this for my breakfast – I like Vega Whole Food Optimizer or Ultimate Meal powder. I make this in my Vitamix, best blender for Green Smoothies! I get most of my smoothie ingredients from my CSA box, delivered weekly from Abundant Harvest Organics and Squeeze Play Organics!

Kid Friendly Green Smoothie

  • 2 ripe bananas – can use frozen
  • 1/2 organic apple, core removed – granny smith is good, gala and fuji too (I get THE BEST apples from my CSA!!)
  • 1 pear, seeds removed (CSA Delivery favorite!)
  • 2 dates, pits removed (Halawy are my favorite!)
  • 1 heaping teaspoon of peanut butter
  • 1 small cucumber
  • 1 or 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (extra here, again from my CSA!)
  • 1 large leaf of dinosaur kale (without thick stem)
  • 1/2 cup of almond milk, hemp milk, coconut milk or soy milk
  • 1/2 cup of orange juice (or just add an extra orange)
  • Optional but really good – mint leaves, ginger, celery
  • Blend & Enjoy!

Learning how to use a straw cup

I let her lick the peanut butter spoon... as you can see!!

Kool Ranch Kale Chips

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WOW these are good! I’ve made a ton of kale chips in the past but these are my new favorite!! I used my dehydrator to make these but you can use a regular cookie sheet lined with parchment paper if you don’t have one.

Kool Ranch Kale Chips

Kool Ranch Kale Chips

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in hot water for 1 hour to soften

-1 bunch of kale – I used lacinato/dinosaur kale but it would be good with any kind

-1/8 – 1/4 cup water

-1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

-1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

-1 tsp dried parsley

-1/4 tsp garlic powder

-1/4 tsp dried dill

– 1/4 tsp onion powder

– 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

-1/4 tsp sea salt

-1/4 red onion, chopped 

-paprika and extra sea salt for pre-dehydration sprinkling

1.) Blend (great in a VitaMix!) the cashews, water and seasonings in a blender until smooth. Place mixture in the bottom of a large mixing bowl and add the chopped onions.

2.) Wash the kale and remove the stems. Tear off chip-sized pieces of the kale and add to the bowl. Using your hands, massage the mixture onto the kale bites so that each piece is well coated.

3.) Transfer the kale to your dehydrator or parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with paprika and additional sea salt.

4.) Dehydrate for 5-8 hours at 115 degrees – my dehydrator took about 5 hours

** If you use the oven method,  spread kale chips on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven until crisp, on the lowest setting with the door slightly ajar.

Blend cashews, seasoning and water

Add to bowl with onions

Wash kale, remove stems, tear into chip pieces and add to bowl

Massage mixture into each piece and transfer to baking sheet or dehydrator, top with salt & paprika

Dehydrate for 5-8 hours at 115 degrees

Yummy!

Bet you can't eat just one!

Original recipe from The Kurious Kale website.

Kale Butter

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This is for all you kale “cult members” out there! There seems to be two kinds of people when it comes to kale – those who have no idea what it is and those who are obsessed with it. I don’t have much experience in between the two, only one or the other. We eat kale almost everyday so I suppose that puts us in the “cult member” category.

I found this recipe in the Engine 2 Diet book. It’s really good on crackers, pasta, veggies and sandwiches/wraps. I smear this on my toddler’s sandwiches with white beans and soy cheese and she devours it!

Ingredients:

* 1 bunch kale, rinsed and chopped (I use black/lacinato kale – use stems too)

* 1/2 cup walnuts

* 1/2 cup water – (use water leftover from steaming kale!)

* Salt, to taste

Directions:

– Steam the kale for 5 minutes, until tender

– Blend the cooked kale with the walnuts and 1/2 cup of the green water from steaming. Blend until smooth.

– Add salt to taste, if desired

My toddler LOVES this! Can you tell?

 

Napa Cabbage Tacos

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I ordered a napa cabbage from my CSA and when it arrived yesterday I was blown away at how big it was!

I took the leftover TVP “meat” mixture and all of my toppings (including the Southwestern Chipotle Dressing/Sauce)and used the napa cabbage to make Napa Cabbage Tacos! Napa Cabbage isn’t as thick as regular cabbage, it’s very refreshing and has a nice crunch to it.

These turned out really good! Yay for leftovers!