Kick Ass Kale

Man oh man, do we love kale in this house. We eat it at least once a month, and when we do there are never any leftovers. Michelle even loves her kale, which is awesome because it's packed full of vitamins.

It's taken us a while to perfect our own kick ass kale dish the way my family likes it. We used to just saute it straight up in oil with garlic, then add salted sunflower seeds and call it good. But then we wanted to cut back on our use of extra calories, so we started cooking it a little differently. And honestly, I like this way so much more!

There are so many varieties of kale, and they all taste great. We usually buy the plain old kale that you can find everywhere, but this week we bought purple kale. It is on sale at Raley's and the organic is actually cheaper than the non-organic. Sweet!

First we clean and chop the kale, making sure to remove the hard stalk. It tastes good, and is fine to eat, but it takes longer to soften, and Mish can barely chew her kale as it is. We also crush and chop some garlic. In my opinion you can't have enough garlic, so we chop up about 4 cloves.

Our beautiful leftover stalks go right into the compost bin :)

We start the whole cooking process off by adding a small amount of olive oil (just 1/2 a tablespoon)  to a large pan with high sides and cooking the garlic a bit. As soon as it's cooked we add the kale and a little bit of water. Put on the lid and let it steam for a bit, checking frequently and stirring. The water will steam the kale and let you get away with using less oil. Once your kale is soft, take off the lid so the water will cook out. Saute that delicious kale until it's cooked to your liking.

Next, we add some salt and pepper. Careful! Kale is easily over salted, so taste as you season. If you're like me, you can also sneak in a few shakes of garlic powder. Mmm, garlic.

And you're done! Easy easy easy, tasty tasty tasty!And did I mention it's really good for you? Well, it is.

Taco Night!

Taco night!

Probably one of my favorite meals, but I don't make it a lot because I can't stop myself from eating 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 tacos! They're too good to stop at one, and my diet definitely can't handle that ;-)

I know what you're thinking..Jess, what the heck do you put in a taco? Fake meat? No! Just veggies? Kinda! But are they flavorful? Heck yes!
Instead of meat, or any fake meat products, I use lentils! Trust me on this, you don't miss the meat when you eat these tacos.

Michael doesn't mind eating lentils in his tacos, but he prefers ground turkey, so we make two different fillings!

In order to make your lentils taste awesome and get that "taco meat" flavor, you must prepare them with delicious taco seasoning. I'm lazy, so I buy the pre-measured baggies. I also up the lazy factor by buying ready to eat lentils from Trader Joe's.

Basically what I do is pour my ready-to-eat lentils in the pan, toss in 1/4 water, and taco seasoning. In this case, I had 1 lb of lentils, so I used the whole packet. After the water and seasoning coated the lentils, I heated them in the pan until a "gravy" started to form and thicken.

My Lentils

While I'm doing that, I also cook Michael's turkey. Just saute it with taco seasoning and water (follow the directions on the taco seasoning packet). Ooh yeah, the house is smelling good!

Michael's Turkey

 Now heat up some beans, chop your veggies of choice (we do avocado, tomatoes, onions, and lettuce), and additional toppings (shredded cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, salsa).

I know you don't need a pic of this, but come on, look at those colors! 

 And assemble! I always put beans, lentils, tomatoes, avocado, and lettuce on mine :) Michael likes his piled high with everything- cheese, onions, avocado, tomato, lettuce, and more. I don't like cheese on my tacos. C'est la vie.

Now whose taco is whose?

Turkey!

Lentils!

And what does Michelle eat when we have tacos? Our feisty toddler eats a deconstructed taco with both sets of fillings, and a little cottage cheese on the side.

Viva el taco!

Breakfast Hash Egg Scramble

This morning was hectic. We had to hurry up and get breakfast started so we could watch the Niners defeat the Panthers!! However, we were short some of our favorite breakfast staples. No bread products, and no hashbrowns. Sure, we had eggs, but how much fun is it eating a plain old egg? Boo.

So, I improvised.

I knew I had veggies, cheese, sausage (turkey breakfast sausage), but I wanted some starch! I checked the freezer, and voila: frozen crinkle cut french fries! I know, this sounds crazy, but I wouldn't be writing a blog about this meal if it wasn't a hit in my house.

So I did what any sane person would do; I made a big old skillet of breakfast hash/egg scramble!

May not look the prettiest, but it was tasty!

I'm not going to get too into specific measurements in this post because I truly believe this is one that should be tweaked according to your preference and how many people are eating it. I'll just let you know what I used in parenthesis, but be aware this fed my family of 3.

Also, I made two versions of this today because I wanted to make a meat-filled one for Michael and Michelle. So I'll just list all of the ingredients, and you decide what you want to add or omit. Here we go! 

Ingredients:

• Eggs (I used 5), whisked and seasoned with salt and pepper
• Bell Pepper (1 large), chopped
• Onion (1 medium), chopped
• Mushrooms (about 5 or 6), sliced
• Turkey breakfast sausage (not in links, just the kind in a big tube)
• Shredded cheese (we used about 1/4 cup total)
• Crinkle cut fries (thawed or nuked, and chopped into chunks. We used two servings)
• Salt and Pepper - don't leave it out!
• Butter and Oil

Instructions:

• Defrost, or nuke crinkle fries. 
• chop into chunks, set aside.

• Chop your veggies

• saute in order of cook time. I started with bell peppers. 

• Add in any veggies that will be in every egg scramble served. We both like onions, so I threw them in the skillet. 

• Whisk your eggs and season them
• set aside until end.

•  Saute other veggies. In this case, saute the mushrooms.
•  I like to do it in butter and oil - tastes better.
• notice I'm doing them seperate? I love the taste of mushrooms in things, but I don't like eating them whole. I know, I know.

• Cook your meat of choice, here we cooked the sausage.

•  Now, throw everything you want in each scramble into the pan (except the eggs).
• this is your chance to cook the potatoes and get them nice and crispy.
• Make sure to season everything with salt, pepper, and even a little garlic powder.
• I had two skillets at this point, one for the meat-eaters, one for the vegetarian mama.

MINE.

THEIRS

•  Once everything is cooked to perfection, toss in your whisked eggs and the cheese. Cook until done!

 

And that's it!

meat-lovers on the left, veggies to the right!

Serve it up with your favorite sides, toast (wish we had some), and some delicious toppings (chives, avocado, salsa, hot sauce, or my favorite... ketchup!

No matter what you put on it, it's good! It's one of those one-pot-meals that a mama loves to make, and Michelle likes to eat! Michael eats anything I make, bless his heart.

 

Vegetarian Chili

Chili, need I say more? I made this pot of chili for my family while we watched the San Francisco 49ers defeat Green Bay last weekend. We had it with hot dogs (veggie for me!) and baked potatoes. Mmm, I still have a cup in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. 

One of the reasons I love this meal is because it's so easy, and it's so delicious! Being a vegetarian can be hard if you don't have good versions of mainstream meals. I usually come across chili with corn in it, and I despise corn in chili, so I'm glad this pot is so easy to throw together.

Oh so good!

Ingredients

• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can kidney beans, drained
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 small can (4 oz) tomato paste
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce (fire roasted if available)
• 1 jumbo can (26 oz?)  crushed tomatoes, fire roasted
• 1 packet chili seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 pepper (diced) from a small can (8 oz) of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• Either one pepper diced, or 1/3 of the adobo sauce in the can

Instructions

• saute bell pepper, onion, and garlic
• add of of the ingredients and cook on medium high until everything starts to bubble. Lower heat to low/medium-low.
• simmer in pot (at least 20 minutes works best for us, but it can stay on the stove for a while if cooked on low) 

Serve with cheese, sour cream, raw chopped onions, chips, hot dogs, baked potatoes, or any other dish that's screaming for some delicious chili. Mmm, chili.

Chili dog with mustard!

Vegetarian Pot Pie

This pot pie is one of those meals that my whole family loves, and we're wrestling over the leftovers the next day. It's so easy to whip up, and cooks very quickly. It tastes like something that's been cooking all day, and is so savory and thick for a vegetarian meal. 

This meal is also one that Michael will eat vegetarian, but prefers to have with chicken in it. I'll explain how we do that below.

Yum!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 medium onion (or 1/2 large onion) chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup frozen peas (or 1 cup canned, drained and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (of chicken if you want the meat! Lol)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 packed of Lipton's Mushroom Soup
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, cut to 8x8 (I use pepperidge farm)
• 1 egg (optional: for egg wash)

Supplies

• 8x8 casserole dish

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Make sure puff pastry is defrosted (according to box instructions)
• Chop all of your veggies, keep potatoes to the side.

• Saute celery, onion, carrots, and garlic for 2 minutes.
• Toss in potatoes, saute for 3 minutes.
• Coat veggies with flour, stir in, cook for 1 minute

• Salt and Pepper
• Add milk, broth, and soup mix. Stir together.
• looks good at this point, huh? So creamy!
• Add peas and cook for 5 minutes. 
• If adding chicken to whole pie, put cooked chicken in at this step.

• Place pot pie filling in an 8x8 baking dish (mine is Pyrex), and cover with puff pastry sheet.
• mix egg with TBSP of water and brush on top of pastry sheet.
• Pierce top of pie to vent.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes. 
• If you're adding chicken into just one serving, it still tastes good! Just bake or pan fry up some chicken (white or dark meat - your choice) and toss it into the bowl before your scoop in a serving of the pot pie. 

Now, if you're like me, you are are dying to sneak a taste. Careful! It's very hot (duh).  

It's so pretty!

So creamy and savory!

Hopefully you enjoy this dinner as much as we do!

Best Baked Potato

Why have an entry for something as easy and simple to make as a baked potato? Because up until a month ago, I didn't know how to make a great baked potato! I had so many questions, but felt stupid asking. Do I wrap it in foil? Do I have to poke it? What temp do I cook it at, and for how long?!

So many questions, but here are the answers!

Do I wrap it in foil? No, unless you want a softer skin, then sure! But let's be real, soft skin? No way. It's all about the crispy skin!
 Is it necessary to poke it with a fork before baking? Yes! They'll explode if you don't. I guess you could risk it, but why? 
How long do I cook it? What temp? Read below! 

Ingredients:

• Russet Potatoes (they are the best for baking. Skin gets crispy, insides get fluffy, I get happy)
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Your favorite toppings (see mine below!)

Supplies

• Baking sheet lined with foil
• A skewer or fork to pierce the potato

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 425°F. 
• Rub the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Pierce the potatoes a few times with a fork or skewer. 
• Cook the potatoes for 45 to 60 minutes, until their skin is crispy and they are easily pieced with a fork.

Look at that crispy flavorful skin!

After letting my potato cool a bit, I like to slice it open, sprinkle the inside with more salt and pepper, then plop on a large dollop of cottage cheese. Yes, cottage cheese! Sounds weird, right? But it's so good. Trust me. If you like butter, sour cream, and/or cheese on your potato, you'd probably like cottage cheese on it. It makes it creamy, cheesy, and fluffy. Mmm mmm goooood.

Sometimes I'll add bacon bits (the soy kind for me), chives or green onions, and maybe a scoop of my delicious vegetarian bean chili.

This makes a great side dish, or even the main event! Enjoy!

Look at this delicious thing. You know you want to eat it. Go ahead, treat yourself.