Quick and easy vegetable side that is jam-packed with vitamins and nutrients.  It is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.  I am finding that Kale is a very versatile veggie – flavour and spice to your liking and serve with most any meal.  Here is the braising method of preparing Kale but then you can be creative to how you want to finish up it’s ‘delicious kraziness’!

Prepare Kale for each recipe:

1. Trim tough ends and ribs from 1 bunch of Kale
2. Coarsely chop leaves.
3. Place chopped Kale into pot or deep saucepan
4. Add 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
5. Cover and simmer until wilted – Stir occasionally – approx 10 mins.
6. Follow any of the below delicious Kale recipes:

Lime-pepper Kale

Toss braised Kale in a splash of olive oil, squeeze of a fresh lime, generous sprinkle of sea salt or kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper!   (Excellent with chicken, pork, lamb or mixed in with cooked linguine pasta).

Balsamic Mint Kale

Toss braised Kale in a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, generous sprinkle of sea salt/kosher salt and sprinkle of white sugar.  Top with freshly chopped mint.  (Excellent with beef, pork, lamb or chicken)

Dijon-Bacon Kale

Cook until crisp 3 strips of bacon.  Crumble and put aside.  Toss braised Kale in 2 tbsp dijon mustard and 1 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper. Top with crumbled cooked bacon.

Lemon Parmesan Kale

Toss braised Kale in a splash of olive oil, generous sprinkle of sea salt/kosher salt, and grated fresh parmesan (large curls).  This is great as side dish but feel free to toss this into a bowl fun of hot boiled pasta like fettuccine, linguine, large pasta nests or spaghetti.

Prosciutto Sage Kale

Toss braised Kale in a splash of olive oil, sprinkle of sea salt/kosher salt, and chopped strips of cured proscuitto (Italian ham) and top with

chopped fresh sage leaves.  (Great compliment to chicken, lamb or turkey)

Curry Spiced Fruity Kale

Toss braised Kale in 2 tbsp of any Chutney jam (Mango Chutney etc) and a dash of dried curry powder.  Top with a sprinkle of raisins and grapes

cut in half.

Lemon Caper Kale

In a small saucepan, heat a tbsp of olive oil, add 2 tbsp capers, sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Stir the capers until a little browning happens.  Squeeze juice of 1/2 of lemon over the browned capers and pour this mixture over the braised Kale.  Toss and serve.

Apple-Almond Kale or Cranberry-Pine Kale

Toss braised Kale with a splash of olive oil and apple-cider vinegar, sprinkle of salt, and top with some diced apples and browned almond.  Or,

top with a handful of cranberries and browned Pine Nuts.

Be creative.  Toss in flavours that you love!

Here is my Grandma’s secret to making sure we ate up all our carrots (not that her little garden carrots weren’t sweet enough!).  I found my Grandma’s little recipe book!  A treasure it is.  Like a memory journal as dinner at our Grandparents was always a weekly joy.

This is an easy glaze to make to toss any steamed vegetable in but what I remember was the lovely pretty glazed orange carrots!  Be adventurous cut the carrots in shapes, try long julienne style carrots, carrot wedges or  mini-carrots.  Make veggies fun to eat and delicious.

Combine in a saucepan:

• 2 Tablespooons brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon white corn syrup

Add carrots and heat until carrots are all glazed.

• Season with salt and pepper
• Garnish with chopped parsley

Perfect for about 2 cups of carrots (diced, chopped, slivered, wedged, shaped etc.)

Great little recipe.  Super simple to do with only 4 ingredients!  Kale, Olive Oil, Vinegar &  Salt!

Before you even start…Let’s be creative to integrate delicious and nutritious kale into a meal….

a) Serve in a cool little bowl… Salad or snack (tastes to me a little like ‘popcorn’ but not fluffly and white)

b) Sprinkle on top of a pasta dish! Lovely on top of a bowl of simple noodles with squeeze of lemon, drizzle of olive oil and shaved parmesan cheese.  But also can get away with adding on top of traditional spaghetti and meat or tomato sauce.

c) Lovely vegetable bottom to serve with some baked or steamed salmon or fish of your choice place on top.  Great with chicken as well!  Interesting texture and flavourful.

d) Sprinkle on top of a bowl of soup, chilli, stews.

Please message us with your thoughts on this simple but unique addition is a family meal!  Let us know if you are successful with adding a different kind of ‘green’ to your families diet.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 cups Chopped fresh Kale, hard stems removed
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt or sea salt

Directions:

• Place rack on lowest shelf of your oven.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread kale out on a sturdy baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar.  Toss to coat completely.  (Another coating method – place kale in plastic baggie and shake with olive oil and vinegar then pour onto baking sheet)
• Place on lowest rack and bake 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and stir/toss so that the kale moves around and spreads out to get crispy all over.
• Bake another 8-12 mins or until Kale is crispy.  It should be just lightly browned and crispy to touch.  Keep your eye on this closest to the 8-9 min mark – do not want to burn just brown.  Note: if kale still bends, rather than crackles, when you touch it, it is not done yet. Return to oven. Turn down heat if it is getting too brown but continue cooking until crispy texture.
• Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt and serve.

Here are some other Kale recipes from the classic Canadian Living site: Top Kale Recipes and a nice recipe blogsite ‘Dinner with Julie’  - Spaghetti with Braised Kale – absolutely easy, healthy and a nice twist to introduce another vegetable to the plethora of attempts you will try with your children.