Saturday, August 31, 2013

Call of the Kale

Last night I found myself reading kale smoothie recipes.  Yep. Mango and banana, avocado and oat, blueberry and almond milk.  The health benefits of kale.  Curly versus Dino, or Italian "Tuscan" kale.  My pal Robin makes a raw kale salad that I am not a fan of -- too bitter and too chewy.  I hear this is the way of kale.  Robin is an excellent cook and I adore 99% percent of her exquisite food.  Just not the raw kale salad.

So, with kale on my mind and a spring in my step, I headed over to the mid-town farmer's market to score me some kale.  Tuscan kale, babes.  And I found it after passing by many stalls.

ze Tuscan Kale
Morning Bounty
 Of course I had to get many other delights -- zinnias, grapes, green cauliflower (higher in vitamins) and two flavors of cashew cheese.  Oh, and not pictured here, for dessert tonight, fresh cannoli!  I haven't had it in years.  It looks positively crazy good.  See how I work this?  I have a nice healthy green shake in the morning and sugar and fat in the evening.  It all works out in the end, me thinks.

Do you go for the super green food kale?  If you have a favorite smoothie recipe, please send it my way.  I haven't tried making mine yet, but I'll report back when I do.

9 comments:

  1. Hey, I sent my brother Marc the raw kale salad recipe, and he has gone absolutely crazy for it. He told me he eats twice a day and is wondering if he may turn green. There a lot of "massaged" raw kale recipes. Maybe if you try a different one, you might like it better.

    It all works out in the end... yes, it does!

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  2. curly kale or dino kale? I just tried a kale,banana and blueberry shake made with apple juice base. Was good!

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  3. I keep thinking I should eat kale as it's such a healthy choice but so far haven't. My daughter though puts it in lasagna, between the layers and her kids eat it up.

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  4. "Beyond antioxidants, the fiber content of cruciferous kale binds bile acids and helps lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, especially when kale is cooked instead of raw." so, maybe it's better cooked?

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    1. yes, I have read about the benefits of cooking the kale first. others say raw is the way to go. but like tomatoes, they actually increase their lycopene when cooked. I just found a kale and Portuguese sausage recipe that I'm going to try in the next couple of nights.

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  5. Kale is wonderful---absolutely love it. One of the ways to counter the chewy aspects is to massage the leaves with olive oil----a tip from an Italian friend.

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  6. We eat it a lot, as our nearby friend grows many varieties organically. I dare say that I make the best kale pesto around. With friend's macadamia nuts!

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    Replies
    1. oh my that sounds good. i'll bet the mac nuts really mellow out the kale.

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