Kale Chips

It's a snowy day in my neighborhood.

It's been snowing since early morning, and though it's the kind of heavy, spring snow that doesn't really build up on the roads, it's wet and windy enough that no one particularly wants to go out in it. It's a good excuse to get some things done indoors and take a break from all the hectic activity that has become our lives lately.

As always, when I have time at home, I tend to spend much of it in my kitchen. There's often no rhyme or reason for what I decide to spend my time on. Usually it's just whatever interests me or sounds good that day. But even I think today's agenda was a bit unusual.

We started with a big weekend breakfast.  Nothing unusual here. Eggs fried in butter and coconut oil (I just got an order in from Tropical Traditions yesterday), bacon, and shredded potatoes cooked in coconut oil and bacon fat. Just the thing to keep everyone nice and warm.

Somewhere along the line, I decided to start making Kombucha again. Isn't that what one does? Just wake up one snowy morning and say to oneself 'I think I'll start making Kombucha again, and I think I should start, like, today. And instead of doing the sensible thing and ordering a culture, or getting one from a friend, I think I'll try 'growing' one from a bottle of the storebought stuff.'


I did have a jar with some long neglected cultures, but upon investigation I decided they should probably go to the compost.

So I bought a bottle of unflavored Kombucha from the store, brewed up some tea and set it in a cabinet to see what happens.






The weatherman had been warning us for days to expect a big storm, so we made sure to put out a bowl to catch the falling snow.  It wasn't long before we had more than enough for Snow Cream.

In between all these things, I made some a batch of Kale Chips. (I also made some Parmesan Crisps, but that's a tale for another day). 

Future kale chips

Kale Chips

1 bunch kale (any kind will do)
2 Tablespoons olive or/and melted coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon salt


Rinse the kale well. Cut out the stems and thickest veins, and tear the larger leaves into pieces.

Allow the leaves to dry thoroughly.

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Drizzle with olive oil. Rub it in to make sure the leaves are coated. Sprinkle with salt, and spread on cookie sheets, being careful not to overcrowd.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until crisp and dry, stirring once or twice during cooking.

Easy Beets

The end of summer is always a busy time for me, but this year it has been exceptionally so. My life took an unexpected turn in mid-August and for the past few weeks there has barely been enough time (or energy) to cook food, let alone write about it.

A couple of weeks ago, though, as I was rooting through the refrigerator looking for a vegetable that hadn't wilted out of neglect, I spied a couple of beets that I decided had finally been taking up space in the drawer too long.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I think I'd intended to grate them for salads, but since I was baking bread that day, I decided to roast them. While they were roasting, I googled around for ideas and in the process learned that pickling them wasn't as difficult as I'd expected it to be. In fact, according to every recipe I looked at, it was quite easy. 

So I pickled 'em. And it really was dead easy. 

I cleaned and trimmed the beets and put them in a small casserole alongside the bread while it was baking. They took a bit longer then the bread, about 45 minutes. 

When they were done, I set them aside to cool a bit while I made the brine. Since I only had two beets, I only made a small amount of the brine.  

When the beets were cool enough to handle, I peeled and sliced them, and packed them into a quart canning jar and poured the brine over them. They were so easy and turned out so good, I've already had to make another batch. 

Brine ingredients: 

1 c sugar

1 cup vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 t salt

1 cinnamon stick

4 whole allspice

2 whole cloves

Boil all brine ingredients together for about 15 minutes. Pour over beets. 

Allow to cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate. If possible, allow the flavors to develop for 3 or 4 days before eating. 

One recipe said that you could put hard boiled eggs in the brine for a few days to make pickled eggs. I haven't tried that...yet. But I intend to when I get a chance. 

Three Bean Salad

 Sometimes I think that I'm so busy trying new things, I forget about the 'classic' or 'everyday' recipes. Last weekend was one of those instances. I'd been trying at least one new recipe everyday, all week and I felt we needed a break. Not to mention I needed a break from the kitchen. I decided on hamburgers, corn on the cob and three bean salad. The salad could be made well ahead of time, and everything else cooked outside on the grill.

I wanted 'plain, ordinary' three bean salad with the sweet and vinegary taste I was familiar with. I did make one change, however. Since I am not too keen on kidney beans,  I swapped those out and used artichoke hearts instead. I used frozen green beans and canned chickpeas for convenience, and artichoke hearts in salt water rather than the marinated variety. I cooked the green beans briefly - about 3 minutes, then drained them and rinsed them with cold water to cool them quickly and keep them bright green.

What I ended up with was 'Three Bean Salad When One of the Beans is Artichoke' or 'Two Bean and Artichoke Salad'. Of course if you like kidney beans, you can always add them back in, or add another type of bean you prefer. As always, change the ratios to suit, but this is what I used.

Bean Salad

green beans - about 10 ounces by weight
Chick peas, 15 ounce can, drained and rinsed
Artichoke hearts (9.9 ounce jar), quartered
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix beans, artichokes and red onion in a bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a jar. Shake well and pour over bean mixture. Chill for several hours or overnight to combine flavors.

Calabacitas

This recipe combines two ingredients plentiful this time of year - and answers the question, "What else can I do with all this zucchini?"

Calabacitas

* 3 zucchini squash, cubed

* 1/2 cup chopped onion

* 2 to 3 tablespoons butter

* 1/2 cup chopped green New Mexican chile, roasted, peeled, stems removed

* 2 cups organic whole kernel corn 

* 1 cup heavy cream

* 1/4 cup grated Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese

Sauté the zucchini and onion in the butter until the squash is

tender.Add the chile, and corn, Simmer the mixture for 15 to 20

minutes to blend the flavors. Add the cream and heat through. Add the

cheese and heat until the cheese is melted.

Serves: 4 to 6