Kale is the new Black

It might be just a fad, but right now kale is as cool as it gets when it comes to vegetables. I had it for the first time about two years ago at a friend's house, and it's now in our produce drawer at all times. When I went to Islandwood (outdoor school) with Maddie a couple weeks ago they had a ton of it growing in their kitchen garden. I'm planning to plant some in our garden this summer because kale will grow all winter in this climate, even surviving some snow and freezing.

Here are three of my favorite ways to eat it.

Kale Chips

Cut off the center rib. Toss with olive oil and kosher salt. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes until edges start to brown and leaves are crispy. (Don't cook too long! They go from cooked to overcooked quickly). These are delicious as is (kind of like potato chips), or yummy dipped in ranch. The kids ate an entire pan of these in about 5 minutes this morning.

PB, Banana, and Kale Smoothie

I am seriously obsessed with my peanut butter and banana smoothie. I have had it almost every day, sometimes twice a day, for the last year. I actually emailed the owner of the condo we rented in Maui to make sure they had a blender because I didn't want to be without my smoothie on vacation. It was hard enough to be away from my cats on vacation. Leaving my smoothie behind would have been too much. Every house guest who stays with us gets one of these at breakfast. Kolby gets my smoothie update every day. "My smoothie was so good this morning. Must've been an exceptionally good banana or something." I don't mean to talk about it as much as I do, but it's totally a highlight of every day for me. And when Kolby works late or is out of town I'm a little bit happy because it means I can have it for dinner too. And this isn't one of those 700 calorie smoothies. I think it ends up being about 250-300 calories, so it's guilt free. So what does this have to do with kale? I started sneaking spinach into it, a couple leaves at a time, last fall and found that I could add a whole handful of spinach without changing the flavor. Then I attempted kale, and I wasn't sure it would work because kale has a much stronger flavor. But I can. I usually do one side of a large leaf (rib removed). Make sure you blend it really well or you'll get little bits of kale in your teeth.

1 ripe banana

2-3 ice cubes

1 tablespoon of peanut butter

About 3/4 cup of vanilla soy milk (add to desired consistency)

1/2 large kale leaf or handful of baby spinach

The girls both love this smoothie, but I'll also add kale or spinach to their berry smoothies and they don't mind. You can actually sneak more kale into the berry smoothies because the berries better disguise the vegginess.

Raw Tuscan Kale salad

This is the salad I had when I first tried kale. It's still one of my favorites. Kale doesn't wilt easily, so you make this salad ahead of time--maybe an hour before eating it so the salad dressing soaks into the leaves a bit. And then you can eat the leftovers for a few days and it just gets better. Kolby says he feels a little bit like a rabbit eating this one, but I can't get enough of it. The recipe is here. I do not discriminate against any kind of kale. Sometimes I can only find one kind at the store. Last time I went they had three kinds. Tuscan kale has larger, less lacy leaves than some of the others I usually find.