What to do with all Those Kale Ribs?

It was a bit time consuming to cut them all out, but I did it.  Being my mother’s daughter, though, I do hate to waste them.  Any ideas?  Otherwise I’ll chop them up and compost them!  I have enough soup stock already!  Next time, I think I’ll time my kale purchase with the need to make soup stock.

I did my research this morning at various websites, including Canadian Living, All Recipes, Kath Eats and finally Straight .  There are more and you could spend a day checking them all out, but here it is in a nutshell – or rather a bowl full:

I made three batches of chips, each with their own flavouring:

• Salish Smoked salt from Just a Pinch which I buy at the Co-op deli.  (Love this salt a lot!)
• Club House Salmon spice mix
• home-made Italian seasoning

I’ve listed them in the order that I like them.  But the beauty of this is that you can make them what ever flavour you like or have available!

So here’s the simple formula for making kale chips:

1 bunch of kale.  Cut out the center rib and then cut the leafy part into 6 to 8 pieces (they will shrink!)

2 tsp.  oil.  You can use olive or canola.  Maybe sesame.  I found 2 tsp. to be enough.

Flavouring:  Whatever flavouring you choose, don’t go overboard. I know that there’s a lot of kale in that bowl – but there isn’t a lot of chip left in the pan when you’re done!

Toss the kale with the oil and flavouring.  Place in two 9 x 13 pans. I found that this made for more even baking.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12 – 15 minutes, flipping the chips in the middle.

BUT… don’t go crazy eating these things.  I put this recipe in “MyFitnessPal” and if you eat the whole batch – 305 calories!  I’ll divide them into thirds in a bit and have a veggie snack ready to go!

Enjoy experimenting with these!  You can have something different every time!

Marcia

PS:  On the green side of things, I got the kale on sale for 99 cents a bunch!  I think I will try to grow some this year!

Related articles

• I’m Really Trying… (oneyearoneweekonepound.wordpress.com)

Spelt Bran Muffins!

I just made up a batch of these and I thought I’d share the recipe here.

You can find the original on the boxes of Quaker Wheat Bran.  Here’s a picture that I got from the Pepsico website.  They seem to have their fingers in everything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, I’ve been using this recipe since I first learned how to make a muffin – I think it may have been eighth grade – so at least 40 years.  Now that I can get spelt bran in Calgary, I can make these again!  Here;s the recipe I used today.  It makes 12 muffins.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tins.

• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (or oil)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 eggs, unbeaten
• 1 cup water or milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups bran (spelt or wheat)
• 1/2 cup raisin, optional – or try chopped apricots instead!

Mix all these ingredients together and let sit for a while.  In a smaller bowl mix:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Add the dry ingredients to the bran mixture and stir until combined.  Spoon batter into greased muffin tins and bake until don, about 18 – 20 minutes.

Enjoy them!

I have to say, this is the first time I’ve made them without oil.  It’s good, so  I think I’ll skip the oil regularly.

 

Have a good evening.

PS:  I’m still plateauing at 228 pounds.  This is not a happy place for me, but I am preservering.

Now it’s bed time!

Marcia

A Bowl of Soup with A Friend!

The last 24 hours have been pretty busy – a political gathering yesterday after work, making soup, watching Columbo DVD’s, sleeping, gymming, volunteering and then….

visiting with my friend!

I can’t think of a better way to spend my day off.  (And I resolved the computer issues with my course, so I can keep plugging along with that!)

I thought I would share my latest soup making experiment.  I was going to take pictures and write notes, but I got into the process and it just took off.

Broccoli Squash Soup – with a hint of Chipotle

I started with a small pumpkin that was going soft on me.  So I pared it, chopped it and threw the cubes in a bowl.  For fun I added:

• a large onion, chopped
• a butternut squash that met the same fate as the pumpkin, even though it wasn’t going soft
• about 5 cloves of fresh garlic that’s grown right here in Calgary!
• a splash of canola oil and some salt.

These got tossed about abit, coated with the oil and then I put them on a baking tray and roasted them for about 40 minutes.  (I need a deeper pan for this!)

While the veggies were roasting I chopped up the broccoli (1 bunch), even the ends and about 4 carrots. These were put directly in the crockpot together with vegetable stock cubes.

Once the other veggies were roasted I added them to my crockpot (It’s around 10 pm. now) and put the whole thing in the fridge overnight.

This morning I boiled a kettle full of water and added it to the crockpot, put the pot into the heating part and TURNED IT ON! (This step is vital to the procedure!) Then I went to the gym, volunteered, picked up some odds and ends, and came home.   I realized that I had forgotten the chipotle pepper! This was quickly added! I’m not a big fan of heat, but I enjoy my soup when I’ve added one pepper to the melange!  (I have stored them in my Tupperware in the freezer and take out one at a time)  I turned the pot onto low and let it simmer while I managed to resolve my computer issue and get ready for my friend to come.

We enjoyed our lunch, went for a walk to the library and Planet Organic and came home to knit and drink tea!  The soup did need some extra salt but that was all.  Love the effects of that chipotle!

Now it’s time to hunker down and do some homework! Have a good day!  For more of the “day to day” stuff, visit: One Year, One Week, One Pound!

Marcia

Collecting Recipes!

It’s been a day!  Trouble sleeping, and a sudden sadness in the middle of the night that made me weep.  Doesn’t happen often, but it sure makes you think – and pray.  And after all that, warm up some milk and eggnog!

I let myself sleep in, and went to they gym late, but I had a great work-out.  I switched to the elliptical for half an hour (my heel is giving me pain – no running!), did my weight circuit and some biking and stretching.  Then home to do laundry and recipe collecting!

I’ve been wanting to make hot chocolate mix, but all the recipes I found had coffee whitener in them – and I don’t like that stuff!  So you can imagine my delight to find a recipe for Mexican Hot Chocolate Mix.

It really does look like the picture because I “borrowed” it from the blog!  And there’s also a recipe for marshmallows!  I do have to make some in advance but I’ve invited my nieces over to make candied popcorn and also to help me with the mixing (20 minutes) that’s required!

Another recipe I want to try is for coffee scrubs.  I’ve been saving the grounds from my morning coffee and it’s time to try this on for size.  I checked a few out and this is the one I liked

But, now it’s time to eat my veggies and get on with the tasks of today – sending cards, writing a Christmas letter, and making some ornaments.

Here’s the next episode in the continuing saga of Cinnamon Bear: “Oliver Ostrich”

Have a wonderful day, preparing for the Light of the World!

Marcia

It’s not just for blueberries anymore!

When I think of creativity my first thoughts go to the things I create with needle and thread – mostly knitted things such as:

It involves someone else’s pattern and my adjustments.  This pattern is by Susan B. Anderson and is called Knit Chickens.  http://susanbanderson.blogspot.com/

As you can see, mine does not look at all like the original.  A lot of my creativity is that way – build on the creativity of others.  Which brings me to the recipe I’d like to post today – which builds on the creativity of “The Tightwad Gazette”

If you have Amy Dacyczyn’s combo-tome (All three volumes between just two covers!)  the beginnings of this recipe are on page 466.

What makes this interesting (to me at least) is that I’ve ended up with something that I would never have thought of before.  That’s the blessing of an open mind!

For 12 muffins (although I always double it!) – Preheat oven to 375 – 400 degrees

2 cups kamut or spelt flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 – 4  tbsp. sugar (I use organic sugar)

(Mix these together in one bowl with a whisk so that everything is evenly distributed)

In a smaller bowl mix together:

1 egg

1 cup liquid (milk or water)

1/4 cup (or less) canola oil

1/2 tsp. vanilla

I used to just use blueberries as my fruit, and since I have a lot in my freezer, I still do – a good handful of frozen blueberries will do.  But when Clean Eating had a recipe for mango muffins, somewhere a light bulb went on in my head.  I’ve added chopped mango (Don’t buy them too ripe) and lately a chopped peach.  Next week I’m sure it will be chopped nectarine (They’ll be on sale for 99 cents at Co-op in Calgary!)

I guess the point of all of this  (other than another muffin recipe) is that creativity often builds on someone else’s ideas and thoughts.  The results are worth exploring!

In the meantime- have fun creating your new muffins!

I’m going to get ready for the gym!

Marcia

 

Bacon, Eggs and Asparagus?

One of the pluses of walking on the treadmill is that I get to read magazines!  I go to the library and take out a stack of them and read them while I walk.  Yesterday I saw a picture in the Good Housekeeping magazine and I wanted to make it.  Here’s a link to the recipe – which is a good thing, because it was torn out – how rude!  http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/bacon-eggs-over-asparagus-recipe

This is NOT a “cheap” recipe, but it is relatively easy and very nice for a change!  Here’s my take on the recipe – which I modified somewhat – since I only wanted to make enough for one serving – today.

This is Irish bacon.  I buy it at the deli in  Calgary Co-op, McLeod Trail.  Its a bit of both – bacon and back-bacon- and it is delicious.  I bought 6 slices – enough for 3 servings.  You can buy as many slices as you’d like!

The oven needs to be preheated to 475 degrees and then the bacon gets roasted (I used my 9×12 pan, but they recommend a jellyroll pan, which I don’t have) for about 8 or 9 minutes.  Watch it carefully towards the end, so it doesn’t burn.

When the bacon is done to your liking, remove it from the pan.  Cut the woody ends off the asparagus and place them in the pan so they’re all facing the same direction.  This makes the end product very attractive.   Roll them around gently so that they get nicely covered with the bacon grease.  You can sprinkle them with salt and pepper, but I didn’t.  Then pop the pan back in the oven and roast the asparagus for 8 – 10 minutes or until they are turning kind of golden.  And since a picture shows it better, here’s one!

Asparagus, ready to be roasted!

Now, here’s where I go at it a bit differently.  I divided the asparagus into thirds and focused on just one of them, but left the rest in the pan.

On the one pile, I carefully cracked two eggs (You don’t want to break the yolks, since it’s all in the presentation!) Very carefully put the pan back in the oven once again and roast until the white is set, but the yolk is still runny (about 5 -6 minutes)  I don’t like runny yolks, so I broiled mine a few minutes, watching carefully,  until the yolks were the way I like them

Two eggs on asparagus

Once the eggs were done and out of the oven, I put the unused asparagus in one of my many Tupperware Freezermates, together with four of the bacon slices and popped them in the fridge.

Tomorrow, for breakfast or supper, I will fry or poach an egg or two, reheat the asparagus and bacon, and have this again.  It won’t be quite the same, but it will be quite nice I suspect with a little smoked salt or parmesan cheese.  But I’m sure you will agree that it looks very nice on my little red plate!

Messing with the Recipe!

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken/thyme-garlic-chicken-breasts/

I do hope this link works.  The link in the previous post keeps going to YAHOO, which is a site I am getting extremely annoyed with.

If it doesn’t work, do go to www.bhg.com and search for the chicken recipe.  Here’s a picture if that helps!

from Better Homes and Gardens.com

My grocery bill, with coupons was just over $60 this week.  A good chunk of that was for this salad – about $15 for the chicken breasts (on sale) and $5 for the feta cheese.  But it could have been more!

Here are some of the changes I made to bring the cost down, as well as the number of grocery bags I had to carry home!  Not that it made a great difference in the latter category, but it did help the bottom line!

What  the  recipe  called  for	How I changed it
A box of mixed salad greens  $6.99	A head of romaine lettuce,   $1.99 I will need more, but I can buy another head of lettuce next week – no spoilage!
Salad dressing	I added a bit more orange juice and thickened the sauce.  The sauce becomes the dressing.
Pitted Kalamata Olives	Next time I think I will use a small can of olives.  It’s easier and probably cheaper!
3 – 4 pounds of bone-in chicken breasts	My package had 5 breast pieces and I used them all.  When cooked, I divided the breasts in half, so I got 10 servings.  These are now in Tupperware Freezesmart containers in my freezer!

I just had a serving for supper and I did enjoy the combination of tastes that the olives and feta cheese provide.  I don’t think I’ll thicken the sauce next time either.  But I certainly won’t discard it and replace it with a bottle of dressing!

Being able to heat up the chicken makes me feel that I’m having a meal, not just a salad.

Since one of my goals is to eat more veggies, I’m sure this new way of having salads will help me!  We’ll see.  In any case, I hope you can connect to the recipe.  Let me know what you think!

On a different note, I did get my measurements taken at the gym this morning.   I don’t like them, and I’m not going to share them.  BUT… in 8 weeks I’ll take them again, and we’ll see how they’ve changed.  I wish I had done it right away, but I didn’t.  In the meantime, my pants are a little looser these days and that’s a good thing!

Enjoy the evening!

Marcia

PS:  I just checked the link and the top and it worked!

“Best Banana Muffins Recipe”

Good morning!  I’ve just spent a chunk of time drinking coffee and scouring my Facebook messages for my favourite banana muffin recipe – which I never can find or remember.  So… why not add it to my blogland cookbook?  Which is what I’m going to do.  It is based on this recipe from… http://www.catcancook.com/awesome-banana-muffin-recipe and I borrowed (Without permission) the picture from her blog.  Of course, the recipes I use hardly ever stay the same, and I’ve made my changes, which I will share here, but Cat’s the source and you might enjoy reading her blog too!

Marcia’s Banana Muffins – inspired by Cat!

4 large bananas, mashed or …

1/4 cup sweet – sugar, brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten, or…

1/3 cup liquid fat.  Butter, margerine, canola or olive oil, they all work.

(In case you’re wondering what … is – it’s not what it is in Mama Mia – Instead of mashing and lightly beating, I just toss the above ingredients in my blender and liquify! After the muffins are in the oven, 400° I cut up the banana peels, add some water and make banana peel soup to feed to the worms in my garden!)

In the muffin mixing bowl I sift together:

1 1/2 cups spelt, kamut or wheat flour – I use the first or second.

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. of salt, since I don’t use butter or margerine.

I use the sifter because there is nothing worse than a chunk of baking soda to wreck a perfectly good muffin!

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 or 400 degrees.  Prepare your muffin tins.  Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just moist.  “Don’t overmix!”, as my grade 8 home ec. teacher used to say! Bake for about 20 minutes.  Take them out of the oven, and turn the oven off! (I sometimes forget this crucial step in the process!)

Let them cool off a bit, and then enjoy…with your coffee, on a break, for breakfast – they are great!

And now, I don’t have to scour old notes, messages or emails!  I just need to read my blog!

Have a great day everyone!

Moroccan Vegetable Stew… Or today “Clean out the Fridge Stew with a Moroccan Flavour”

(I don’t buy a lot of magazines but one I do watch for is Clean Eating (www.cleaneatingmag.com) In a back issue (May/June 2009) I found a recipe for Couscous with Seven Vegetables which I decided to make. It’s also my day off, so I’ve been cleaning out the fridge a bit! Seven is considered lucky by Moroccans and it shows up in their recipes too!

Here’s the original recipe on the left side, and my changes on the right!

Ras El Hanout: ( A spice mix with 7 Spices)

Makes 2 tablespoons, so you can make the stew twice!

1 ½ tsp. each of cinnamon and cumin.

1 tsp. each of ginger and turmeric

½ tsp. each of allspice, ground black pepper, and coriander.

(Or you could find a Moroccan spice mix and use 1 tbsp.)  I didn’t have all the spices, so I used some smoked Paprika and anise.  Make do with what you’ve got!

The Original Recipe	What I did…
3 tsp. olive oil	3 tsp. olive oil  (more or less)
3 cloves garlic minced	4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced (I like garlic)
1 tbsp. Ras El Hanout	1 tbsp. Ras El Hanout, again more or less
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1 inch pieces	Mine was more medium, but the cubes were the same.
2 small turnips, peeled and diced	I used only one, and got a parsnip for the “halibut”
1 medium zucchini	Mine was medium too, but I hope to get them from my garden next time!
2 carrots, peeled and cut into those one inch pieces again.	I had three carrots that really needed to be cooked so I used them all
¼ head of cabbage, cut into….(you know the drill by now, I hope)	I don’t eat cabbage, so I bought a bunch of kale, cut out the middle rib and chopped that
½ a red bell pepper cut into chunks	Mine was green, but what do you do with the other half?  I threw mine into the pot too!
½ cup green beans, cut into thirds	I’m going to use some spinach that is getting at the end of it’s rope.  It’s green too.
½ to 1 tsp. Harissa or any chile paste or hot sauce	At my stage of life I’m hot enough, (and I don’t have any of this anyways, so I’ll skip it or add some red pepper flakes, we’ll see)
½ tsp. sea Salt	I pinched some of Em’s Himalayan Pink Mountain Salt (www.justapinch.ca)
¼ cup raisins, soaked in 2 or 3 tbsp. warm water	I did that too,
¾ cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed	I’ve got a 19 oz. can, so I’ll just use all of that (I don’t like bits left over)
16 oz. white fish (tilapia, haddock, sole) cut into chunks	I’m going to leave out the meat and cook individual servings later
1 1/3 cup whole-wheat couscous	I’ve got lots of rice and pasta, so why not use that?
½ cup cilantro, chopped and divided	This is a garnish, so I’ll garnish the individual servings.

Chop the veggies.  Heat the oil, and add the garlic and spice mixture.  Cook for about a minute or so.  (You could also add onions at this point if you wanted to). Add the more solid veggies (yams, parsnips, carrots, kale, turnips etc.) and add enough water to cover. Let cook for about half an hour, or until potatoes are just not quite cooked.  Softish.  Add the more tender veggies (Pepper, zucchini,), Harissa, and salt.  Cook for another 10 or 15 minutes, or until everything’s tender (But not mush).

Ladle out 3 cups of broth and veggies (1 ½ cup of each) and puree in blender.  Add it back to the stew.  Mix in raisins and chick peas and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Place pieces of fish on top of stew, cover and cook until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Cook couscous or other starchy side according to instructions.

In each bowl place a serving of couscous (or rice, pasta, potatoes) and top with stew and a sprinkle of cilantro.

HERE’S what I’ll do:  I will divide the stew I’ve come up with into about 8 servings which I will freeze.  I can have this with rice as a vegetarian meal, add some tofu, or some chicken or fish (since I have some single serving packages in the freezer)  However you do it, there will be lots of veggies, and enough carbs and proteins to make your body happy.

Enjoy!