Kale Chips

These are so good that when I served them the other night, we didn't have enough of them.  That's right, an entire bunch of kale (admittedly, a small bunch) wasn't enough.  If you have some reason to believe that the health benefits of kale are drastically reduced by time in the oven, please don't tell me.  I can assure you that cooked kale is better than no kale, and those are the options at my house.  Maybe someday we'll expand our horizons, but for now we're eating kale chips until we turn green.

There's talk on the internet that kale chips taste just like potato chips.  If you think that, I strongly recommend that you never eat a potato chip again.  You've clearly forgotten what they taste like, and that must work wonders for your self-control.  If, like most people in this country, you remember very clearly what a potato chip tastes like, don't listen to these people.  Kale chips taste salty and crunchy, which is awesome.  They do not taste like potato chips.

I like the curly kale best, although all the kinds I've tried work.  Trader Joe's is selling bags of washed and cut up kale to make this extra-easy, although I haven't actually tried it.   Mark Bittman recently broke my heart by making a convincing argument against bagged salad.  My convenience foods seem to get chipped away one by one.  I make so many things from scratch...can't I just have a factory somewhere get my salad ready for me?

Speaking of buying kale, it seems to last a really long time in the fridge if you put it in a glass of water like a bunch of flowers.  My mother says it looks like I've decorated the inside of my fridge.

But I digress.  It seems like an exaggeration to call this a recipe, but here's how to make kale chips.

Take a bunch of kale and cut the leaves off of the big thick stems.  You can cut them into big pieces of small pieces, it doesn't really matter.  Wash them and dry them in your handy-dandy salad spinner.  You want the leaves really dry, so I try to do this ahead of time and then leave them out to dry more before the next step.  I've heard rumors that there are climates where leaving kale out on the counter doesn't actually dry it out, but it works very nicely here.

Then put the kale in a big bowl and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil.  It doesn't seem like much for all that kale, but trust me, it is enough.  Then sprinkle on plenty of salt and pepper and put it on a sheet pan with a silpat on it.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.  When they're crispy all over, take them out and serve.  Sit down in front of the TV and mindlessly eat an entire bunch of kale.  Not bad, eh?

Vietnamese Beef & Noodle Soup

Now, I am so white that I can get a sunburn inside, so when I say "Vietnamese", I hope you understand that the recipe that follows is like Vietnamese food in the same way that Connect 4 is like chess.  But it still tastes good, and best of all it is easy and can be ready when you walk in the door in the evening.

This is adapted from a recipe in Slow Cooker Revolution, which you should totally buy.  I make a new thing from it every 2-3 weeks, and I've loved everything so far.

When you buy the beef, get something with a nice bone in the middle with tons of marrow.  It makes the soup taste super beefy.

You could use some of those tiny bird peppers that are way more authentic, but you could also just put some lighter fluid in your mouth and light a match.  I have no idea how people eat them, so I use jalapenos.  If you like them, by all means use them as garnish.

One really nice thing about this is that the heat comes from the garnish, so the whole family can enjoy this.


Vietnamese-Style Beef and Noodle Soup

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 onions, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 T. vegetable oil
- 4 c. low sodium chicken broth
- 4 c beef broth
- 2 c water
- 1/4 c fish sauce
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 2 T. sugar
- 1 stalk lemon grass
- 4 star anise pods
- 4 whole cloves
- 3-4 lbs. beef shank or beef soup meat with bone
- 8 oz. thick rice noodles (see picture below.  I bought mine at 99 Ranch. If you can't find these noodles, I'd suggest using ramen noodles instead.  Throw out the flavor packet and cook them in the slow cooker for about 5 minutes instead of the 20 needed for the rice noodles.)
- 2 c bean sprouts
- 1 c fresh thai basil or regular basil leaves
- 1 c fresh cilantro
- 2 scallions, sliced thin
- 1 fresh jalapeno chili, sliced thin
- lime wedges


Serves 8

Take the lemon grass and cut off just the bottom 5 inches.  Then smush it a little with the flat side of your knife.

Saute onions, garlic, and oil in a skillet for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are softened. Transfer to slow cooker.

Stir chicken broth, beef broth, water, fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and lemon grass into slow cooker.  Put the  star anise and cloves in a small cheesecloth pouch or tea bag and add to slow cooker.   If you have a tea ball, you can use that instead of cheesecloth.

Season the beef with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker.  Cover and cook until beef is tender, 9-11 hours on low or 5-7 hours on high.

Transfer beef to cutting board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces.  Throw away the bone.  Discard lemon grass and spice pouch.

Stir in the noodles, cover and cook on high until noodles are tender, 10-20 mins.  Stir in shredded beef and let sit until heated through, about 5 minutes.

Serve with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro, scallions, and jalapenos for garnish.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Soccer Season Wrap-Up

Soccer isn't over, but the time change means that late evening practices are.  Mostly, things went really, really well.  There was one week where I completely failed -- I don't exactly remember what we ate before soccer, but it may very well have been a bag of goldfish crackers.  A good snack was the least of my problems that day, but hey, one day in the season isn't too bad.

I learned a couple of things.  First off, I never, ever feel like spending Sunday afternoon making soccer snacks.  Easy was definitely important.  Re-packaging some leftovers worked well, and so did leftover soup.  The kids' favorites were granola, sausage kebabs, and red pepper spread.  Fortunately, those were some of the quickest, too.  Just as important as the kids' favorites were my favorites, because when 6:00 rolls around, I'm usually the one who needs dinner RIGHT NOW.  Waiting until 7:30 was a major problem, and soup was my favorite way to stay upright until we sat down to a real dinner.