Tag Archives: locavore

Purple Kale Chips

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So, I was introduced to the idea of kale chips by my friend Lori, and she easily converted our friend Cyndy into a true believer…but somehow I’d never gotten around to kale chips. Then, the one time I tried them recently (with CSA kale), I managed to flub it. I was so excited about making the kale chips and jumping on this bandwagon that I didn’t really question whether I was putting too much on the tray. Turns out, I had put too much on. I didn’t realize at the time that kale chips need to be in a single layer to crisp effectively. When you have kale piled on top of kale (even just one extra layer), you can have limp kale instead of crackling, crunchy kale. It’s a critical difference.

Shot #2 at kale chips came when the week 5 CSA delivered into my hot little hands a bunch of purple kale. Ooh baby. Purple is one of my favorite colors, and when you put that together with a leafy green (leafy purple?), I just think that’s magic. As dh noted, “Purple IS a color found in nature!” So it is. I used the same amount of kale, but this time I divided it between two pans. That certainly made all of the difference, both in texture and in acceptance (everyone in the family eagerly dug in).

Thus, we have Cyndy’s recipe for kale chips with a slight set of mods. As I’d noted previously, I put Penzeys 4S seasoning on the regular kale chips (and the ones that came out crunchy were very tasty). Today, I did two pans – one with the 4S and one with a light sprinkling of salt and a very light dusting of ground white pepper. YES. This worked. Where the white pepper took hold, the kale had not only the green flavor of the kale but also the nice bite from the pepper that gave it a little kick.

 

Purple Kale Chips

So nice, I made 'em twice!

 

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10-13 mins

Serves: 1-6 (depending upon how good people are about SHARING)

 

Ingredients

1 bunch purple kale, stems removed

olive oil (no more than 1 Tb per baking sheet)

seasoning: your favorite seasoned salt, Penzeys 4S, or (for a spicier kick) salt and ground white pepper

 

Make it Happen

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Wash and dry the kale, then tear the leaves into small pieces.

3. Place the kale on baking sheets in a single layer. This is VERY important. If you have enough kale that you have to stack it in anything more than one layer, employ an additional sheet. The pieces can be touching (horizontally), but they should not be stacked.

4. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the kale, then toss with tongs to coat the kale with the oil.

5. Lightly sprinkle your seasoning of choice over top of the kale, then place the baking sheets in the oven. Cook for 10-13 mins.

6. You can tell the kale is done when you lightly touch the tops of some pieces and they make a light crunching sound. If there’s softness or give, then you need to leave it in longer.

Adventures in CSA (week 5): Purple kale!

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This week brought quite a nice bit of good news: the program will continue for another 8 weeks (yeay!), albeit on an every-other-week schedule. So, my Adventures in CSA will continue into the winter with veggie boxes delivered to work. Yee-haw! The schedule will change a little, since the veggie boxes will arrive on Tuesdays. Thus, price comparisons will come days after the box contents are announced and planning the meals will be a little more of a scramble…but hey, we’ll figure it out.

I love Fridays right now. You have to picture this: It’s after 2:30pm and I head to a set of banquet tables near the company cafeteria that’s covered with veggie boxes for all of us who are participating in the program. You come for your pickup and peek into the boxes to see which one tickles your fancy the most. For the most part, they are all filled with the same basic ingredients, but today, the first box I picked up had a special surprise. I knew we were getting kale (yeay – more kale chips!)…but the box I opened had PURPLE KALE. Not only will I have yummy kale chips, they will be purple. That’s so fantastic, I just can’t even tell you.

 

Week 5 CSA

Lovin' the colors in this week's box...

 

Today’s box also included pea greens. I’d never even seen these out in the open (I truly doubt we’ll be able to find these at our grocery store). I can also vouch for their yumminess; a small amount of them went into an omelet tonight with bacon, CSA tomato and shredded cheese (monterey jack & cheddar). The omelet TOTALLY WORKED. I also accompanied it with toast that I had lightly coated with CSA honey from the week 4 box. Wow. For anyone who hasn’t yet tried wild flower honey, it does blow clover honey out of the water. The flavor is both subtler and richer, smoother and fuller. Brinner infused with CSA = WIN.

Week 5 box contents:

  • Purple kale
  • Scallions
  • Pea greens
  • Carrots
  • Macintosh apples
  • Corn
  • Green peppers
  • White onion
  • Italian eggplant
  • Asian pears
  • Tomatoes

Given what I now know about some of these items, I can make some predictions about how this week’s price comparison will go. The Asian pears alone should have a big impact on things, given their price of $2 apiece from a few weeks ago. If I had to guess, I’m going to go with a minimum $3 savings this week vs grocery store prices.

As for what to make with all of this yumminess…that’s where I’ll have to come up with some inspiration. I’m kinda sad that the sweet potatoes advertised in the heads-up e-mail from the CSA folks didn’t materialize, but they do warn you that actual contents may vary from what they hope to get in the box. The purple kale will definitely be turned into kale chips, and I may try to do something in a skillet with the pea greens and scallions. It just seems like those two would go nicely together in a pan. With a smidge of olive oil. And maybe some chicken. Mmm…

Crock Pot Harvest Ham with Butternut Squash

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I’ll admit it: I’d never cooked a butternut squash before. Prior to the CSA, the closest I’d come to having a butternut squash in my kitchen was when we used to buy them to shred in a Salad Shooter for dh’s iguana. (No, really, you can’t make stuff like this up.) So, I didn’t have a ton of ideas of what to do – but I knew that the crock pot really needed to figure in it somehow. What follows below is one of those rare things where I’ll recommend that you not let it go much longer than the recommended cook time (6-7 hrs). The squash came out wonderfully, to the point where it just melted on the tongue, but I have the feeling that letting it go for our standard weekday cook time (~11 hrs) would have turned the squash to mush. As it is, this is DEFINITELY getting made again. I’m not a huge fan of the time it takes to peel the squash (OMG are we there yet?!), but the result is a light, sweet dish that combines two great fall tastes.

Note that you can make this with ham steaks or a quarter ham – just make sure that you cube the ham and the squash to about the same size chunks. We needed a light meal after a day at the Topsfield Fair, so we ate it all on its own; on a typical night, this would probably go nicely with either some brown rice or a nice loaf of crusty bread.

Crock Pot Harvest Ham

Ham + Squash = YUM

Prep Time: 50-60 mins (3/4 of which is peeling/cubing the squash)

Cooking Time: 6-7 hrs on LOW

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

3 Tb olive oil

1 medium yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

3 Tb water

2 Tb soy sauce

1 butternut squash

1/3 cup Grade B maple syrup

2/3 cup apple juice

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1-1/2 lb ham (steaks or quarter ham)

3 Tb brown sugar

Make it Happen

1. Peel and thinly slice the onion and garlic. Peel, seed and cube the butternut squash. Cube the ham to roughly the same size as the cubes of butternut squash.

2. Coat the bottom of a 5qt crock pot with the olive oil. Layer the onion slices and the garlic in the crock pot.

3. Mix the water and soy sauce and pour over the onions and garlic.

4. Add the squash to the crock pot. Layer the ham on top of the squash.

5. In a bowl (or measuring cup), combine the maple syrup, apple juice and powdered ginger. Pour over the ham and squash.

6. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the ham; distribute as evenly as possible. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hrs.