Pasta with Kale and Walnut Pesto

Pasta with Kale and Walnut Pesto

I saw this recipe in Real Simple Magazine awhile back and ripped it out. 

I had a bunch of kale on hand and we love pesto, so I decided to make this last week for my pasta lover, Brennan.

I'm new to cooking with kale, but have been trying some new recipes, including the Yummy Greens I posted recently.  I love a recipe that uses ingredients I already have in the house!

I toasted walnuts on a baking sheet in the oven for 8 minutes then chopped them up.

While the nuts were heating up, I boiled a large pot of salted water and then cooked my kale for about 30 seconds until it turned bright green.

Then I scooped the kale out of the water and drained it, leaving the water too cook the pasta.

After it drains, you have to take paper towels and really get all the water out so your pesto isn't watery. 

That's better

You put the kale, Parmesan (or pecorino) cheese, garlic clove, most of the walnuts, and Kosher salt and pepper in the food processor and finely chop it, streaming olive oil in through the tube.

You then drain your boiled pasta, reserving a little bit of the cooking water, and put everything back into the empty pot - the pesto, the drained pasta and about 1/4 c of the reserved pasta water, and combine well.

Transfer to a serving bowl and topped with the remaining chopped, toasted walnuts.

 

Kale has a distinctive flavor, and I think the garlic, pasta, walnuts, and cheese really improve the flavor.  This is a great dish warmed up the next day for lunch as well!

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Buon appetito!

Romaines of the Day

Abs Diet Hall of Fame

Romaines of the Day Salad

This salad is really, really good! 

We made it the other night and David has said a couple of times now that he really liked it - in case he forgot to tell me.  I think we'll be making this every week.

This comes from the Abs Diet cookbook that my friend John loaned me a year or so ago.
I copied a bunch of recipes from it and they've been waiting for me patiently in my large recipe file.

There are some good recipes from this book, but the recipe titles are the best, including this one.

I made the vinaigrette that is part of the recipe with olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, salt & pepper.  I tossed the diced avocado into the dressing before incorporating it with the rest of the salad to keep the avocado fresh.

I mixed romaine, cilantro, scallions, and rinsed & drained black beans.

Added the dressing and tossed it all together.

Mmmm...it was so good!

The next time I made it I kept the avocado/dressing separate so I could store them separately in the fridge so the lettuce wouldn't wilt.  It's a really great salad!

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Enjoy!

Warm Red Lentil Salad

Warm Red Lentil Salad

I purchased a large bag of red lentils when I was at Jungle Jim's international market in Cincinnati a few months ago.  I was looking for good red lentil recipes and found this one in Gillian McKeith's You Are What You Eat cookbook.  I simplified it quite a bit from the original, but it turned out to be a really great recipe.

Red lentils soften up quite a bit more than green or brown lentils, which stay pretty well intact after cooking. We like them all around here.

This recipe is designed to be served over mixed salad leaves.  Instead, I served it over brown rice, and it was great.  I think it's a really versatile dish that you could customize depending on what you have and how you're going to serve it.

You place 4 oz of red lentil in a saucepan or frying pan with vegetable bouillon, garlic powder, and then cover with water.

I use this bouillon that I get from Kroger.

Then you bring the lentils to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes until they are tender.

Drain away any excess water (I probably didn't use enough water to start with, so I didn't have any excess to drain away), but the texture was great.



And serve.

Again, I think this would be great over greens, but it was terrific with rice, and sooo easy!

Delicious!!

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Bon Appetit!



Watermelon Granita with Mint and Lime

Watermelon Granita with Mint and Lime

This recipe is modified from the Vegetarian Times' Farmer's Market Cookbook magazine.

It's a great dessert that my boys were only too happy to help me make this weekend.

Brennan attempted a granita from a kids' cookbook a couple of weekends ago, but we didn't have the ingredients on hand.  So he made up his own version (including bottled lime juice and vanilla extract, blech).  Didn't exactly work but he was so proud of his efforts!

I promise the one below is really, really good!

A granita is a semi-frozen dessert that is similar to a sorbet or an Italian ice.

We started by creating a flavored, simple syrup over medium heat.

Brennan heated water, sugar, lime zest, and a mint spring until the sugar was dissolved.

We used this sweetener, but regular sugar will work.

The recipe calls for a long curl of lime zest that you remove before freezing.  Brennan instead decided just to zest the lime.  It worked just fine.

Then we chopped up about 15 cups of watermelon and pureed it in the blender.

Thomas then strained it to get just the juice.  We added lime juice to the watermelon juice.

We removed the mint sprig from the simple syrup and combined it with the watermelon juice, and poured it all into a 9x13 inch baking dish, and popped it uncovered into the freezer.

After 45 minutes I took it out and used a fork to incorporate the frozen parts with the rest of the juice.

Then we checked it and "fluffed" it with a fork every 30 minutes (or so) for 3 hours.

This photo below shows Brennan mixing it up again after about 2 1/2 hours total freezing time.

After about 4 hours freezing time total, it's ready to serve.

At that point, cover the granita with Saran Wrap to keep it from freezing solid.

A wonderful fresh fruit dessert for summer!!

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Enjoy!



Yummy Greens

Yummy Greens

I want to incorporate more green, leafy vegetables into our diet, but needed to find easy, flavorful ways to serve them.  We got a big bunch of kale and I got to work looking for good recipes.

I decided to go with steaming because it seemed like a great way to keep the nutrients intact and cut down on some of the bitterness of kale.

Kale is probably the most nutrient-dense food per calorie of all foods.

But it's kind of bitter.

I heated water in the bottom of a large pot and put the (rarely used) steamer section into the pot.

I don't like it when recipes don't tell me amounts to use, especially of an ingredient that I don't use often.  Several recipes I researched called for "a large bunch" of kale, and some said "steam kale" without even telling me how much! 

I can tell you that I put in 4 very large handfuls of kale and watched it quick reduce down as it steamed, covered. 

Then I tasted it after 10 minutes and the bitterness was still present.

If I want my family to eat, and LIKE, greens, then I knew I needed to make them more palatable.

So I added in 2 handfuls of chopped romaine, and that was a great balance.

I covered the steamer and cooked an additional 10 minutes.

I pulled the steamer tray out and seasoned the greens with minced garlic, dried dill, and dried basil, a little Kosher salt and black pepper.

This was a great greens dish! 

I asked my youngest to try the greens with dinner, and he ended up eating 2 servings, without any issue.  The leftovers were good reheated the next day as well.

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Enjoy Your Veggies!