Kale Smoothies

I know, sounds weird, right?  Kale in a smoothie?  That's just crazy talk, but here at TCC we are crazy talkers.  I was skeptical going into this but in the name of culinary science, I had to give it a whirl and you know what I discovered?  Crazy good!

When I went to buy my kale, I saw that they had both green AND purple which inspired my second smoothie.  Be brave and try these, I promise you won't be sorry.

Green Kale-Pear Smoothie

3/4 cup green kale, chopped
3/4 cup pear, peeled and chopped
1 (6 oz.) container lowfat French vanilla yogurt, cold
3/4 cup almond milk, cold

In a blender, puree the kale, pear and yogurt together until the kale is in even smaller bits and the mixture is semi-smooth.

Add in the almond milk and blend until well mixed.  Pour and enjoy.

Purple Kale-Blueberry Smoothie

1/2 cup purple kale, chopped
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 (6 oz.) container lowfat French vanilla yogurt, cold
1 cup almond milk, cold

In a blender, puree the kale, blueberries, and yogurt together until the kale is in even smaller bits and the mixture is semi-smooth.

Add in the almond milk and blend until well mixed.  Pour and enjoy even more. This was my favorite of the two.

NOTES

I keep all my ingredients in the fridge to make sure my beverage is cold.  You could always add crushed ice to chill it down, or use some frozen yogurt to make it chilly too.

If you want to add some protein to the mix to make it more of a meal, you can add a dab of almond butter.

Good and Good for You -- Kale

 

At lunch today, one of my co-workers was talking about how she keeps pre-packaged portions of smoothie ingredients in her freezer, you know for easy early morning smoothie production.  I did a double-take when she mentioned that one of them was kale.  What the kale is that about?

Though I was kind of eyeing a big curly-leafed bag of kale at the grocery store the other day and flashing back to a dish that one of my catering folks makes, a delectable concoction of kale, corn, cheese and rice which is to die for.

I've not worked with a lot of kale so thought I'd do a little investigating and try it out.  But first, let me tell you why this green veggie should be a part of your daily do too.

KALE

Kale comes from the same family (borecole) as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, collard greens and cabbage, though it most closely resembles wild cabbage.  It can have green or purple leaves, the more common being the curly green.  Until the end of the Middle Ages, kale was THE green veggie, the most commonly used throughout Europe.  Couldn't find info on who or what usurped its hot spot, but probably that upstart cabbage.

Kale has a long growing season which extends well into the winter. It has a very intense, almost bitter taste but interestingly enough, when exposed to a bit of frost, it becomes sweeter and more flavorful. On the other hand, when kale is combined with lemon juice or oil, it becomes much more mild.

Kale freezes well and can be steamed, stir fried, boiled, or eaten raw.  It goes well with bacon, eggs, and cheese (mmm, kale, corn, cheese and rice).  When you bake or dehydrate kale it takes on the crispy consistency of a chip and is quite tasty.  Adds a nice little crunch to any dish.

FYI, kale is similar to spinach in that it shrinks a lot when cooked, so don't skimp on your initial toss-in.  And always make sure to carefully wash your kale because those curly leaves are notorious for capturing sand and soil in their twisty little grasp.

Besides its culinary versatility, kale is a very nutritious.  It contains the highest levels of antioxidants of any veggie and it also contains more calcium and iron than any other veggie.  It also has:

* Selenium, helpful in the fight against cancer
* Lots of vitamin C, making it a very efficient vegetable in that it provides enough vitamin C to help your body absorb the iron it also provides
*Magnesium and vitamin E, useful for maintaining a healthy heart
*Calcium, for keeping your bones healthy
*Carotenes, for keeping your eye healthy
*Indoles, which can assist in lowering bad cholesterol
*And a host of other nutrients that help your skin stay healthy and young looking

Anybody else up for a kale smoothie now?

Orange Cinnamon Pecan Waffles

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the maternal gals out there!  Since my momma loves her some pecan waffles, I treated her to a flavor upgrade for Mother's Day brunch.  So yummy!  With a little turkey bacon on the side, it was all good and then some.

Orange Cinnamon Pecan Waffles
will need to use a waffle iron with this recipe, just FYI

2 cups flour
1 tbsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup saffron oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. orange zest
1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, beat eggs until they're "fluffy."  Whisk in milk, oil and vanilla.

Pour wet ingredients into the dry mix and beat together until smooth.

Mix in the orange zest until well incorporated.

Heat your waffle iron according to instructions.  For a single waffle, pour 1/2 cup of waffle batter on the iron and as it spreads out, sprinkle some of the chopped pecans on top before closing the waffle iron lid.

Cook for 3-4 minutes or until iron lid lifts easily and the waffle is to your consistency taste.

Remove, drizzle with your favorite syrup and try not to hurt anyone as you shovel your waffle into your face.

Cold Crab Casserole

 

Picnic food!  Or backyard eating food, whatever your pref is.  What I'm bringing you tonight is an up-scaled fancy pants variation of one of my all-time favorite dishes from childhood.  It's filling and tasty and easy to make.  And because it can be served cold, it's an ideal dish to make in the morning to enjoy later in the day or tote with you to a friend's house for sharing.

Cold Crab Casserole

1 (16 oz.) box small shell noodles
2 (4 oz.) cans lump crab meat, drained
1-1/2 cups mayo
1 (8 oz.) can peas, drained
1 tbsp. capers
1/2 tsp. Spanish paprika

Prepare noodles according to box directions.  Once cooked, rinse noodles with cold water and set aside to finish draining.

In a big bowl, mix together everything.

Yeah, that easy. The best thing about this dish is that it can be eaten at any temperature, but I recommend cold.

NOTES

This is based on my Mom's Tuna Noodle Casserole which is cooled cooked elbow macaroni, mayo, peas and tuna instead of crab.  Delish and it never lasts long.

You can use any kind of substantial noodle (would not recommend spaghetti or fettuccine).  We chose small shells because, well, it was shellfish. :)

Blueberry Pineapple Salsa (with Grilled Pork)

 

Haven't gotten around to braving the Orange Pie experiment again so have something new and different for you.  Still fruit-based but inspired by what was on the shelves in the fridge when I was sightseeing in there the other day.

Again, its spring, time to dust off the grills and start some outdoor cooking.  One of my favorite things is grilled pork and since pork is a great vehicle for fruited condiments here is a light and refreshing salsa to accompany it.

Blueberry Pineapple Salsa

2 cups chopped vine ripe tomatoes
1 cup fresh blueberries, divided
1 cup chopped pineapple
2 tbsp. minced green onions
2 tbsp. pineapple juice
1 tbsp. jalapeno, deseeded and minced
1 tsp. salt

In a deep bowl, muddle half of the blueberries.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Very important because the flavors need time to blend.

Grill up some thick chops or pork loin slices.  When done, top with a generous helping of salsa.

NOTE

As with everything, depending on what your flavor preference feel free to modify amounts to suit your own taste.  If you like it with a bit more bite, add more jalapeno.  If you like it with a bit more zing, add more onion.  For a softer taste, add more bluebs or p'napple.

We did thick cut boneless pork chops and to prepare them I did a really simple rub with ground sage, salt, and cracked black pepper.  Tasty!

Gone Awry Pie

 

FYI, as I am settling into my new job, I find that my weekends are being broken down into Sat = totally useless couch potato recuperation day and Sun = headless chicken impersonation as I run around doing all the things I was too couch potato'd to do the day before.  SO moving forward the plan is to expericook on Sundays, post on Wednesday (I promise, I'll get this figured out yet).

As you may take hint from the post title, Sunday's pie plan didn't turn out the way I'd hoped it would so I thought I'd take this opportunity to turn it into a culinary lesson.

GONE AWRY PIE

A little background, when I was going through culinary school, I had the best baking instructor, Mr. Kimber.  Great guy, good sense of humor, and knew his baking sh*t like nobody's business.  Because he was so good it was a little nerve wrecking when we had a bake day for grades where you had to present your final product to the panel of instructors for critique and discussion.  Very nerve wrecking...at first.  Then Mr. Kimber explained to us that even if you brought up a biscuit that resembled a charcoal briquette, as long as you understood what went wrong and could explain it, you could still get an A for that day.*  It wasn't about making the perfect product, that's not what they really wanted, it was about the learning experience and what you took away from it.  For me, cooking is fun because it's both a science and an art, and with either you only get better through experimentation and practice.

*Side Note: this was also the day I started honing my "lawyering" skills in the kitchen and was able to product justify my way to a 4.0.

Alright, onto my failed experiment.  Dad told me about an orange pie that he and Mom had on one of their recent travels.  I love key lime pie, I love lemon ice box pie, another citrus pie sounded great to me.  So I decided to use Mandarin oranges.

I modified a key lime pie recipe -- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk + 3 egg yolks + 1/2 cup Mandarin orange puree blended together and poured into a pie shell, baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees -- voila! Orange pie!

Was it edible...yes.  Was it good...not so much.  What I did not take into account is that Mandarin oranges lack the zing of the other citrus fruits.  Instead of standing out in a glorious taste display, it kind of got overwhelmed and pushed to the background by the condensed milk.  Poor Mandarin oranges. :(

I tried to cover up the pie gone awry by mixing Mandarin puree with whipping cream and then slathering it over the top.  Yeah, not much help.

So I started thinking about what I could have done different to make it better and here's what I came up with:

(1) orange zest -- I should have zested the pie filling.  The citrus fruit zest is just that, a tangier zippier version of the fruit itself

(2) sugar -- I should have added a touch of sugar to help sweeten up the puree.  Orange puree is not that sweet in and of itself

(3) salt -- I should have added a pinch of salt.  Salt actually tends to bring out the hidden sweetness in fruits that don't seem that sweet

(4) not used a key lime pie recipe in the first place -- something more along the lines of a light custard or mousse may have made a better vehicle for this delicate tasting fruit

Of course it goes without saying that Dad decided he could live with the results and offered to "take care of the problem" for me, but I think next time it will require a little more thought about the qualities of the ingredients and how best to highlight them.

So I know it's not a recipe per se, but more a recipe for life (yes, I just went pompous on you).  While I like it that people think I'm a really good cook, it's never been for lack of trying and I hope that by sharing some of my "whoops" moments, it will encourage you to keep on keeping on in the kitchen even when things go awry (we've got a pie for that now).

Until next week, bon appetite!

Dipping Fruit with Basil Sugar

 

Now that the weather is getting nicer, more people are flocking to the great out of doors to dine al fresco.  You can tell that people around here are desperate for sunlight and fresh air because despite the yellow pollen coating EVERYthing the outdoor seating area at a local eatery was packed this morning.

So I was in Paris last week for business (yeah, new job is pretty okay) and we ate ridiculously well.  French food is not only delicious, it's so beautifully and creatively presented that you can't help but eat whatever they put down in front of you.  You will be seeing things coming up that have a Parisian inspiration, including tonight's very simple post.

No matter what time of day, there seemed to be a plethora of fresh fruit to enjoy and tonight's post is based on some of the snacks that we were offered during our work day.  These are light, refreshing, easy to make and a great new addition to any picnic offering.

Dipping Fruit with Basil Sugar

1/4 cup white sugar
1-1/4 tsp. basil paste

blueberries
raspberries
Mandarin oranges
pineapple chunks
4" skewers

In a food process, blend together sugar and basil until mixture is a consistent texture.  Put in a small bowl, set aside.

Thread fruit on skewers in descending size order -- pineapple, orange, raspberry, blueberry.

To enjoy, simply dip the fruit in the basil sugar.

Voila, simple dish with a pretty presentation.  Wow your friends.

NOTES

Basil paste is available in the produce section of the grocery store with the fresh herb packages.

If you can't find basil paste, you can always food process fresh basil leaves before adding to the sugar.  Made sure to add a drop of oil to help it come together as a paste, then add in the sugar afterwards.