Kale Alfredo?!

No amount of punctuation can really express how excited I am about this recipe. This creamy, delicious alfredo sauce features an unlikely vegetable hero instead of the usual suspects of butter and cream: cauliflower!

I've got veggies for days

I was skeptical of the glowing reviews when I first read this recipe, but the cauliflower really makes a velvety sauce that satisfied my craving for creamy, buttery pasta. I would say this recipe was infinitely more successful than my attempt at cauliflower pizza, which is all the rage on Pinterest, that basically turned out like eating a weird potato-like pancake with some marinara sauce and cheese on top.

When I looked at the pictures of this dish online, it seemed a little...boring. Where is the color? The excitement? The vitamins? Since I love spinach alfredo, and we had a bunch (literally, an entire bunch) of kale left over from making my favorite pasta dish earlier in the week, I was inspired to modify the dish and add a pop of green. Behold, kale alfredo was born!

This recipe makes three generous dinner-sized servings. When I reheated the pasta, I added a little bit of water to reconstitute the sauce, as it dried out a bit upon cooling and refrigerating. You can also use a bit of milk if you prefer.

Kale Alfredo

Sauce based on Healthy Fettuccine Alfredo from Pinch of Yum
Addition of kale by necessity

Ingredients

6 oz uncooked pasta (I used Barilla Veggie Pasta)
1 small head cauliflower
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 large handfuls of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon butter
1/3 teaspoon salt
dash of nutmeg
dash of black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon heavy cream
1/3 cup starchy boiling water from pasta pot (reserve more for thinning sauce)

Instructions

1. Remove outer green leaves and woody portions, and chop the cauliflower (florets and stems) into bite-sized pieces. In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over medium high heat, and add cauliflower. Cover and cook until cauliflower is soft, about 15 minutes. (The longer you cook it, the easier it will be to blend, and the smoother the sauce will be.)
2. Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Heat to medium, and add kale. Add about a 1/4 cup of water to the pan to prevent burning and to aid in cooking/steaming the kale. Saute until bright green and limp, about 5 minutes, adding additional water if necessary. Remove kale to plate, and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic, and saute for 3-4 minutes or until soft and fragrant (but not brown).
4. As the garlic and cauliflower are cooking, bring a large pot of water to boil, and cook the pasta according to directions on package, reserving some of the starchy water to add to the sauce later.
5. Transfer cauliflower to a blender with about 1/2 cup of the broth. Add the sauteed garlic, salt, nutmeg, and black pepper and puree until very smooth, about 3 minutes, adding additional broth if needed (I used almost all of the broth I had to get it to blend smoothly). Once the mixture is moving, stream the olive oil into the blender. Add more broth or water if the mixture is too thick to move through the blender easily.
6. Wipe out the butter/garlic skillet to remove any burnt bits, but leave a bit of browned butter on the bottom of the pan to add a nutty flavor to the sauce. Transfer cauliflower puree back to the butter/garlic skillet.
7. Stir in the heavy cream, and cook over low heat. Add the starchy pasta water and the kale, and cook until warmed through. Add more pasta water, if needed, to get the consistency you prefer. Drain noodles and add them to the skillet, stirring to coat the pasta evenly. Enjoy!

Post-St. Patty's Day

Still recovering from St. Patty's Day? You are not alone, my friend. I take this mostly as an indication that I am getting old.

I don't know about you, but my St. Patrick's Day consisted of lots of Guinness and Bailey's, mostly in coffee and brownie form. Our friends Kellie and Lauren had a lovely St. Patty's day brunch with all kinds of delicious noms. Throw some Korean BBQ in there for good measure (I know, not Irish, but a delicious addition to the weekend), and my body is offended by the lack of vegetables over the past week.

(Sizzle)

Chicago does St. Patrick's Day to the extreme. I would compare it to a Penn State football weekend but spread over an entire city.

People wear kilts (isn't that Scottish?) and break out their paddleboards.

For the love of God, do NOT fall into that river.

Some people even take their fanciest cars for a spin.

 The elusive car-boat

There's a parade and bar specials out the wazoo starting at 9 AM and all that, but my favorite part of the weekend is the dyeing of the Chicago river.

Yes, the river is really THAT green.

You see it in pictures, sure, but you always think to yourself that it must be Photoshopped. I say to you, readers, that is the real, non-retouched version. Definitely my favorite!

After a weekend of too many noms, I was looking for a recipe that was healthy but still delicious and sort of decadent. I came upon this recipe from the nifty blog Iowa Girl Eats. I tweaked it a bit based on what I had and what I could get at the store. My favorite modification was the use of roasted grapes rather than fresh cherries. The juices from the grapes act as a sort of dressing when combined with the balsamic reduction, so you don't even have to add anything extra!

This recipe has a few parts to it, but don't be intimidated; they're all simple to do. I broke the recipe down by section so that it is hopefully a little easier to follow. When I made the salad, I reduced the balsamic vinegar while doing the other stuff in the oven, as this part took the longest. I would recommend putting the chicken in the oven first followed by the grapes and then the goat cheese. That way, you have nice warm goat cheese for your salad, and the chicken has had a chance to rest. Alternatively, you can bake the chicken and roast the grapes at the same time if you're in a rush then bake the goat cheese.

Almond-Crusted Goat Cheese Spinach Salad with Roasted Grapes & Chicken

Inspired by Iowa Girl Eats
Serves 2

Balsamic reduction:
1 cup balsamic vinegar

Chicken:
1 boneless skinless chicken breast (about half a pound raw)
Salt
Pepper

Grapes:
2 cups red seedless grapes, removed from stems (about 1/2 to 3/4 lb)
Olive oil flavored cooking spray or olive oil
Salt to taste (1/4 to 1/2 tsp)
Pepper to taste (1/8 to 1/4 tsp)

Goat cheese:
3 oz goat cheese
2 tbsp toasted unsalted sliced almonds (I bought the pre-toasted kind from Trader Joe's)
Olive oil for brushing

4 oz baby spinach (about 4 cups)


For the balsamic reduction:
1) Pour balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan.
2) Heat on medium heat until the vinegar thickens and is roughly the consistency of maple syrup. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
Pro tip: If you have a fan above your stove, turn it on. The reducing vinegar is quite pungent and will burn your nose if you breathe it in!

For the chicken:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Place chicken in a baking pan or dish (with sides! Or you'll wind up with chicken juice all over the bottom of the oven and the fire alarm going off. Not that I know this from experience or anything...).
3) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Flip chicken over and repeat.
4) Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink and juices run clear.

For the grapes:
1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (or 400 F if you're doing this at the same time as the chicken).
2) Place grapes in a baking dish or on a baking sheet in a single layer.
3) Spray with cooking spray or drizzle lightly with olive oil. Roll grapes around by shaking the pan so that they are coated evenly with oil.
4) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roll grapes around again to coat evenly with salt and pepper.
5) Roast in oven until grapes begin to split but before grapes begin to brown, about 15 minutes (slightly longer at 400 F), shaking the pan occasionally to prevent the grapes from sticking.

For the goat cheese:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet or baking pan with parchment paper.
2) Cut the goat cheese into four rounds ~1/4 in thick. Place on cookie sheet.
3) Lightly brush the tops with olive oil. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the surface of the goat cheese, pressing lightly so the nuts stick to the cheese.
4) Bake 5-7 minutes or until soft and warm.

Assembly!
1) Divide baby spinach between two plates.
2) Top with grapes, chicken, and goat cheese.
3) Drizzle with balsamic reduction and sprinkle with additional almonds if desired.
4) Enjoy!

Farmer's Market Ratatouille

As I only have two more weeks(!) left in Livermore, I'm trying to use up all of the food that I have and be smart about what I buy. Not do the thing where I'm like, oh this looks interesting...I'll use this for something...and then I never do. You know how it is.

I exercised my super-California-ish-ness by biking to the farmer's market. I really like the one in Livermore, especially the Thursday one, which has live music and a bunch of food trucks where you can grab some dinner before you shop. For this recipe, I was able to get everything I needed vegetable-wise at the farmer's market, even the garlic and the parsley. I had some Parmesan cheese left from my kale adventures as well as some pasta sauce from a sauce I had made with leftover chicken sausage and basil from my plant at home that I harvested last weekend.

I searched the web for a ratatouille recipe, and what resulted is sort of an amalgamation of all the recipes I found. This is a good base recipe, but it definitely needs...something. I think maybe some extra seasonings like rosemary or thyme would be great to throw in with the eggplant and onion mixture.

Deliciousness in progress. So colorful!

I served the ratatouille with brown rice, but it would be great with cous cous or another starchy grain to soak up all of the vegetable juices.

Be warned that there is a LOT of prep work involved, but once you get everything chopped, all you need to do is layer it in a dish and poof! After 50 minutes, you have dinner! If you desired, you could probably buy pre-cut veggies or even get cut up stuff off the salad bar at your local supermarket.

Also, the ratatouille gets better with age, so look forward to leftovers!

Farmer's Market Ratatouille

Cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 Japanese eggplants
2 tbsp fresh parsley
2 medium zucchini
2 medium yellow squash
1 bell pepper
1/2 cup baby carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium tomatoes
1/3 jar tomato sauce
Fresh basil
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup-ish)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of a 9x9" glass baking dish (or any similarly sized casserole dish) with cooking spray.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Saute garlic and onions until garlic starts to brown and onions are slightly translucent. Add the eggplant and continue sauteing until the eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. In the last minute of cooking the eggplant, add the parsley and cook until incorporated but still green. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Spread the eggplant mixture on the bottom of the dish. Cover with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Layer zucchini on top, sprinkle with salt and more cheese. Continue layering the squash, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes, salting and adding cheese in between each layer. Top the tomato layer with torn basil, pasta sauce, and a final sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 50 minutes or until cheese is browned and vegetables are soft.

The finished product!

The Kale Chronicles

My favorite part about summer is the plethora of unique fresh veggies that appear at the grocery store and farmer's market. Sure, I love the usual suspects like carrots and peppers, but part of the fun of cooking is being inspired by what is in season at any given moment. One class of veggies that doesn't get nearly the respect it deserves is the leafy-greens family. This includes things such as Swiss chard, collard greens (a current obsession when I eat Ethiopian food), and my personal favorite, kale.

Source

I love, love, love kale. It has a strong enough flavor to stand on its own, but it is versatile enough that it blends in with whatever flavors you desire.

When looking at what to make for dinner, I try to adhere to the cook-once-eat-all-week mantra. This pasta dish stores and reheats really well, so you can nom all week from one easy night of cooking. I've adapted this meal from a WeightWatchers recipe. I like to use more kale than the original because as I said, I really like kale, and the extra greens make it more satisfying in my opinion. You really can't go wrong with whatever kind of sausage you use, and you could probably even use other greens like broccoli rabe, chard, or even asparagus if you can't find kale.


I went a little kale-crazy, and I wound up buying two bunches, which is kind of a lot of volume for one person. Thus, I needed to find another recipe to make with my limited ingredients. The idea for kale chips was born!

The term "chip" in relation to kale is kind of a misnomer. They're really more of a crisp than a chip. They're not quite hearty enough to survive a salsa or a dip, but they're light and delicious and perfect for a savory, crispy food craving!

A few notes on kale chip prep: make sure your kale is REALLY dry. Otherwise, it won't crisp up evenly, and you'll have some chips that are overcooked and some that are still floppy. Also, as I found out, the kale chips tend to get soggy if you don't consume them immediately (but a little moisture didn't deter me from eating them!). Enjoy them fresh out of the oven. Plus, they're really yummy when they're still warm.

Cheers!

Pasta with Sausage and Kale
Adapted from WeightWatchers.com recipe "Rigatoni with Sausage and Kale"

2 cups uncooked pasta (I like to use fun shapes like bowties or curly pasta that holds the kale better)
8 oz uncooked bulk turkey or chicken sausage, spicy (I've used spicy turkey sausage and spicy chicken parmesan cheese sausage...both were great!)
1 bunch uncooked kale, roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup canned fat free, low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, brown sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking up sausage as it cooks, about 3 minutes. Add kale a handful at a time. Cook, stirring frequently, until limp, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add broth to skillet and scrape up browned bits on bottom of skillet with a wooden spoon; season with salt and pepper. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low; cook until kale is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in rigatoni; heat through.

Sprinkle each serving with about 2 tablespoons of cheese before serving.
Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

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Baked Parmesan Kale Chips
Modified from Skinnytaste

1 bunch kale
cooking spray (I used canola, but olive oil would work well, too)
sea salt
black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray large baking sheets with cooking spray.

Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Remove any thick stems, and tear kale into bite sized pieces.

Place kale pieces on baking sheets in a single layer. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for ~10 minutes, moving the kale around as it shrinks and gets crispy.

Remove from oven, top with cheese, and bake for another ~5 minutes until cheese begins to melt, edges are crisp, and some kale begins to get brown around the edges. Enjoy!