July: Kale Medley

My main mission for 2015 is a simple one: Getting and Staying Happy. In order to achieve this lofty goal I applied a START-STOP-CONTINUE approach. And so I’ve decided to START cooking more – using recipes I’ve never tried before and sharing my culinary mis/adventures on the blog once a month.

PS: I realize I've spelt KALE wrong here...forgive me friends. I (can't find original pic to alter text now) — PS: I realize I’ve spelt KALE wrong here…forgive me friends. (I can’t find original pic to alter text now.)

July’s recipe: Kale Medley

I’ve only recently began cooking with kale over the last few month, having heard about all of its many health and nutritional benefits. Kale, I find, is quite bitter on its own as salad, so often I eat it stir-fried, steamed or sautéed.

I have heard it is tasty baked, added to a stew or blended into a smoothie…but I personally haven’t tried any of these myself.

Summer has kept me super busy so far … but I have found myself cooking more often. If you’re following me on Instagram then you know most of my adventures in the kitchen usually begin without a plan, but rather a desperate need to use up the last of the contents in my fridge before they spoil or before I’m leaving on a trip somewhere.

So here’s a quick and tasty way to sauté your veggies into a Kale Medley.

Ingredients

One bunch kale
2 cloves garlic, crushed (you can never have too much garlic, but that’s just me)
Olive oil
2 tomatoes
Lemon juice (half a lemon) or white wine vinegar (optional)
Salt
Pepper
Chili flakes
+ Whatever veggies you want

STEPS:

Wash the kale thoroughly, and pat dry.
Slice or chop kale roughly, into bite-sized pieces.
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and lightly brown crushed garlic. Watch it closely!
Dice your tomatoes and add to pan. This will create a tasty base coat to the kale leaves.
When garlic is lightly brown, quickly add kale.

STEP 6: Stir and toss until kale is coated with tomatoes, chill flakes and add other veggies and let the kale steam and slightly soften. Check the kale after about 3 minutes. It should be soft, still bright green, and NOT soggy. OPTIONAL: When it’s softened, and just before serving, add your lemon juice (or vinegar). Taste and season with salt and pepper and serve.

OPTIONAL: I added instant cooked rice directly to the pan and leftover cold cuts to make this an easy one-pan-dinner to yield leftovers for the next day.

Now, I’ve recently read a few articles speaking about “The Darker Side of Kale” … as there have been some findings that eating this veggie raw isn’t good for you. Cooking it seems to help eliminate some of the concerns. Still, it’s probably best not to go overboard with kale and to simply integrate it into an overall healthful diet full of other fruits and vegetables.

Have you tried cooking with kale? Will you? Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments below.

Want other PPMeow recipes? You can visit my Instagram page and look for the hashtag #PPMeowCooks for more adventures in my kitchen.

I’ve also created a sub-menu on my homepage under REVIEWS on the homepage for you – my readers – to find them easily…and hopefully try a few yourself. 🙂

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Author: PetitePlusMeow

Social Media Enthusiast. Learning Designer. Curvy Fashionista. I'm a 30-something Canadian born Bengali (parents are from Kolkata, India...for those of you who need to know that type of thing). I've been chubby-curvy-plus-sized my entire life. Standing at a height of 5'2 and with a darker complexion, it has always been a challenge finding outfits or "looks" that really suit me. Living in the fashionable city of Toronto since birth, with a solid career has finally allowed me to embrace my love of pretty fashions in clothing, shoes and everything in between. View all posts by PetitePlusMeow