This fall and winter more than any others in the past, I've been a soup eating machine. When eating out, I keep going for the soup on the menu. At home, there have been countless lentil, tomato & spinach soup dinners, and then there have been some soup experimentations, like zucchini puree and tonight's recipe: sweet potato, kale and pasta soup. This soup has so much goodness in it - including antioxidants, iron, fiber, Vitamin K, B6, A, C and D, calcium, magnesium, potassium... and the list goes on. Let's just say that it's nutritious! This recipe came about because I had a bag of tuscan kale about to be past its prime in my fridge. I decided that it would pair well with sweet potato and pasta in a soup. Celery, onion and basil came into the picture because they're soup staples to ... [Read More]
kale
Goddess Kale Salad
Happy first day of summer! Summery things I did today include: Going hiking with Harley... ...and thoroughly enjoying this dinner on my patio this evening... Lightly fried zucchini + beefsteak tomato + cheddar + horseradish mustard = one bangin' grilled cheese. I was craving grilled cheese all day, and this guy totally hit the spot. I refrained from eating a second one... though I easily could have! And now onto more yummy eats... Recently I had a blogger date with Gina, the chick behind Health, Love and Chocolate. We met for lunch, and while we were both enjoying kale caesar salads, I started talking about how I'm a pretty new kale eater. I told her I feel confident that I can whip up a yummy kale salad now, but that I like the kale super tender and never seem to get it quite that way ... [Read More]
Fruity Kale Salad with Pistachios
Up until recently, I was not a fan of kale. I was turned off by its bitterness and coarse texture. But once I began making green juices and getting used to them, I began to not dislike kale so much. It started to not be quite as scary to me, and I wound up ordering a couple of kale salads out at restaurants...and really enjoying them. Kale is a nutritional powerhouse. It provides you with tons of antioxidants and vitamins and is high in fiber. And while I wouldn't say that I'm in love with it, I certainly am finding ways to incorporate it into my diet more often. Enter this colorful salad: One of the things I'm trying to do when I experiment with kale is find ways to make it not quite so bitter, so that I can reap the benefits of the veggie AND actually kind of like eating it too. One ... [Read More]
My First Juice Recipe: Minty Strawberry, Kale & Tangerine
When I first started really getting into reading healthy living blogs a couple of years ago, I noticed that everyone was talking about green smoothies. Every time I would see a picture of a ''green monster" drink, all I could think was, Drinking spinach? ICK! Here and there I've tried a green juice, but I've never been crazy about them. Actually, I don't think I ever allowed myself to like them because I was so turned off by the color. I'm a big smoothie person, and I like brightly colored, pretty drinks -- not ones that are a nasty green color. But recently, I've been more and more curious about juicing. After trying BluePrint juices recently, I knew that I could start to overlook the unappealing visual of a green juice a bit, and focus more on the taste. I think the idea of ... [Read More]
Kale & Ricotta Ravioli
Hi there! My Sunday shaped up to be a pretty good one. I spent the morning taking Harley for a long walk and cleaning my place. This afternoon I had a much needed date with my friend Jackie, where we had lunch together and got our nails done. Then the highlight of my evening was making this fabulousness... I'm just not a big kale fan. Kale chips? Bleh. Sautéing it with garlic and oil? No thanks. But knowing that it's such a big superfood, I wanted to find a way to somehow like it. A quick overview about why kale is a superfood: Recognized as a protector of many kinds of cancer, kale boasts high amounts of heart-healthy antioxidants, fiber, folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, lutein and potassium. Over 45 different flavonoids have been identified in kale, offering a variety of ... [Read More]