Monthly Archives: November 2014

Kale Salad, Kale Omelette

Kale
My wife has been trying to get me to eat more healthy foods, many of which I’ve never tried before. Some are pretty tasty and some I just don’t like. She read some where that Kale was very good for you, full of antioxidents, amino acids, some other stuff. Anyway she bought a head of it and brought it home.

She made a Kale salad with pine nuts and goat cheese. You could probably use blue cheese if you don’t like goat cheese. She toasted the pine nuts in a small frying pan and a little olive oil. Keep an eye on these as you just want them to brown a little.  They will rapidly burn if you aren’t careful. Put it all together in a salad bowl and add a little of your favorite Italian dressing.

I found that the Kale tasted a little like a cross between spinach and curly parsley. Denser and chewier than spinach but good. I thought I’d try it on my own so I made a Kale omelette. Simply beat an egg, pour it into a hot frying pan, let it cook until it just hardened, then add the ingredients to one half. In this case finely chopped Kale, onion, ham and cheddar cheese. Flip the egg over on top of the filling, cover and cook until the cheese melts. It’s an interesting flavor. The texture is kind of unexpected but not bad.   Try it you might like it. Enjoy!

Kale Omlet

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Black And White Stuffing

T day is coming up so i’m reposting this.Stuffing
I’m continuing with the Holiday theme for a little longer. I’ve made this stuffing for a very long time and it seems to be a tradition now with our family. It’s basically just a bread stuffing, but using pumpernickle and Italian bread. Don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of pumpernickle the turkey kind of overrides all the other flavors. I buy it in the bakery department of our food store and if it’s not sliced, I have them slice it.

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That way, you save one step and have nice uniform squares for your stuffing. I slice it again the long way, usually one half loaf at a time and then slice it the other way into 1″ cubes.

Put it all into a big bowl and let it dry out for 24 hrs or so. That way it won’t absorb too much liquid from the bird. My wife likes it baked outside of the bird, so add some chicken stock to the stuffing. I like it in the bird, you won’t need the stock. One loaf of both breads will do a 12 lb. or so bird.

Ingredients

1 Loaf Crusty Italian Bread chopped in 1″ cubes
1 Loaf Dark Pumpernickle chopped in 1″ cubes
1 large onion chopped
1  sweet apple peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup Celery stalks and leaves chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup melted margarine
1/2 Tsp. each Salt and Pepper
1 Tsp. crushed Sage
1 Tsp. crushed Thyme
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock if baking the stuffing

Directions

I get out a large soup pot, kind of like a lobster pot or a giant bowl, to hold all of the bread. Chop the bread into 1″ cubes. Leave them sit at least over night (two is better) to dry out a little. The drier they are the less mushy the stuffing will be when done. Add the seasonings to the bread and mix.

Saute the vegetables in the margarine until softened. Add the apple and raisins (if you don’t like raisins use Crazins (sweetened cranberries, or dried apricots), the wine (and the stock if you’re not baking it in the bird). Mix it all up and stuff the bird (or a large baking dish, cover and cook for about an hour at the end of the bird).

Enjoy!

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Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

T day is coming up so i’m reposting this. I’ve been out sick for the past couple of weeks, Flu, Cold, Infected Tooth, who knows? Any way I was in no mood to Blog so no Blog.

Csauce

It’s the season so I decided to add a couple more of our Holiday favorites. Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce is not totally sugar free. It does have some orange juice in it and cranberries do have a little sugar in them. This is a whole berry sauce (not jellied). We used to make it with tons of sugar, now we use Splenda. One batch makes enough for about 6 people, so if it’s only you and one other, cut everything in half. Ideally you want to make this ahead of time so it has time to thicken in the fridge. The day before is good but at least 4-6 hours ahead.

Ingredients

2 12 oz. bags of fresh cranberries
1 good sized orange
1 cup of Splenda
2 cups of water
2 Tbs. of White Wine
1 Tbs. of Lime juice

Directions

Wash the cranberries in a strainer and drain. Put them in a medium pot with the two cups of water, the wine and lime juice. Make zest out of the orange skin using a zester. It’s a tool you can buy at the grocery store that cuts thin strips out of the peel, leaving the white pith on the orange.

Put the zest into the pot and squeeze the juice from the orange and add it to the pot. Add the cup of Splenda and stir it all together.

Cover and boil for about 5 min. or so. Then turn down the heat to low and simmer for about ten minutes. Let it cool on the stove and then in the fridge.

Enjoy!

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My book “Small Foods” available on Amazon, has lots more recipes, sorry no deserts or sauces, just Entrees and all of them ramekin sized. We will add the deserts section in the   next book.

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Filed under Cooking, Food Photography, Holiday, low sugar, Thanksgiving