Kale Salad & Kale and Mushroom Quiche

With all of the cake, pie and muffins we've posted about lately, it's probably time to throw a healthy meal into the mix.  Don't worry -- there are more of them than what we post about.

I was very excited to see The Leafy Greens Cookbook sitting in my mailbox when we returned from visiting Giz in Toronto.  Our friends at Ulysses Press offered to send us a review copy of the book.  I couldn't resist checking it out, since we're always trying to find new, healthy recipes.  I'm looking forward to trying out many of the recipes.

To start, I was instantly drawn to the simplicity of the Kale Salad with Avocados.  I liked that the recipe included almonds and avocados, both ingredients known for being good fats (monounsaturated) to include in your diet.  Plus, I've been determined to incorporate more kale into our meal planning.

I have had some challenges with raw kale since I've only recently learned that it requires more time to absorb dressings.  I had to laugh when a friend talked about massaging the kale.  I envisioned pieces of kale laid out while I worked out the tension.  In reality, it just means mixing the kale with the dressing for a couple of minutes.  It makes a difference!

First, I started by cutting out the stalk from the kale.

Kale Salad with Avocado

Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups packed de-stemmed chopped kale
1/2 cup slivered almonds (I just did a rough chop of whole almonds)
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Massage the dressing on the kale, and top with the almonds, avocado, and cherry tomatoes. Serve within 1 hour of cutting the avocado and adding the dressing.



I paired the salad with a Mushroom and Kale Quiche.  It was my second time making this quiche.

Mushroom and Kale Quiche

1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
8 cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 cups packed de-stemmed chopped kale
1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
6 eggs (I used a 500g pkg of liquid egg whites)
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup grated cheese (we used marble...gouda would be good too)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Fry shallots in olive oil until translucent.  Add sliced mushrooms.  After mushrooms begin to soften, add kale.  The kale will shrivel when it is added to the frying pan.  Once these ingredients have cooked (about 10 minutes from start to finish in the frying pan), set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and milk together.  Add chopped roasted red pepper and the slightly cooled mushroom and kale mixture to the eggs.  Stir in about 1/2 of the cheese.  Salt and pepper, to taste.

Pour egg mixture into a circular pie plate that has been sprayed Pam (or something like Pam).  Spread remaining cheese on top of quiche.

Cook until quiche is cooked through and browned, as desired.

There's just something so refreshing about a meal like this.  It's simple, but good for you.  Plus, both components can easily be modified to include your favourite ingredients.  

Eggplant, Tomato and Provolone Cheese Quiche

R's is known for threatening to reveal some family "secrets" on the blog.  He's also known for crying wolf.  But...I guess he has been pushed enough.  Without further ado... Here's R:

Just over three years ago, I tried to hold an online intervention to help my mother-in-law, Giz, with her addiction to cooking.  You can read about it here.  She was obsessed with reading/watching/buying/cooking food.  Sadly, the intervention failed miserably.

Recently, she came to visit for a week and it was obvious that she still suffered from her addiction.  When she went shopping for groceries, it reminded me of the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer goes to Price Club: 

Predictably, Giz overbought.  There was so much food to eat up, I felt like the horse that was forced to
eat up Kramer’s beef-a-reeno.

   

Everytime I opened the fridge, I felt overwhelmed.  It was hard to find something in the fridge without taking out ten other items.  Plus, it was hard to fit everything back in afterwards.  Also, I couldn’t believe Giz bought more tomatoes and cucumbers.  We had a tonne of fresh ones from the garden!

Anyway, after she left, I tried to use what I could, so that we wouldn’t have to jam everything into our compost bin.  Since we had a tonne of tomatoes and a bunch of eggplants, I searched for a recipe with these items and found a great recipe for a quiche.  The recipe didn’t include roasted red peppers, but I added them, since we had a giant jar in the fridge.  The silver lining in this whole ordeal is that I found a great recipe that I plan on making again.  It’s a keeper. 

Ingredients (for a 10in cake tin):

2 ready puff pastry sheets

4 eggplants

12 tomatoes

5, 30 oz caciocavallo cheese (we used provalone)

Oregano to taste

Basil leaves to taste

Salt to taste

Olive oil to taste

Vegetable oil for frying (preferably olive oil)

Wash, dry and cut eggplants into small cubes. Put in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and let rest for 1 hour about. Drain, dry and fry in hot oil stirring occasionally. Add salt and oregano to taste and let cool.Wash and dry tomatoes and basil leaves. Cut tomatoes in half, remove the inner part and cut into small pieces. Cut basil leaves into small pieces and caciocavallo cheese into sticks. Put tomatoes and basil in a bowl, add salt and olive oil to taste and stir.

Spread one roll of puff pastry over the baking tin and spread the eggplants on top of it and press with a back of a spoon. Pout the tomatoes with basil onto the eggplants and press again with a back of a spoon. 

Spread with caciocavallo sticks and place the remaining pastry sheet on top. 

Fold the edge of the pastry and press it. Riddle the surface using a fork.

Bake in the preheated oven at 395°F for 30 minutes about or until golden brown. Let cool and remove from tin. Serve.

Blueberry Oat Loaf

When I have company over for dinner, I usually start my menu planning with an ingredient or recipe that I've been thinking about lately.  In this case, the meal I made for my friend and her mother (who was visiting Ottawa for the week) started with wanted to make something with blueberries.

I love blueberries and when I find food that I crave that is actually healthy, it goes on heavy rotation in the menu repertoire.



In Canada, we're fortunate to grow two different types of blueberries, lowbush (aka wild) blueberries and highbush blueberries.  The majority of our highbush blueberries are grown in British Columbia (BC), by around 700 blueberry growers.  You can read all about BC blueberries and find great blueberry recipes here.


Most wild blueberries, in Canada, are grown in Nova Scotia.  Since they don't tend to be as available in the grocery store, we keep a large bag of frozen wild berries to add to recipe throughout the year and use wild blueberry syrup, a product you'll find all over the place when visiting Nova Scotia.  For more information about and recipes with wild blueberries, visit this link.


According to this link, highbush blueberries begin ripening in June and continue to produce through July for a long harvest season, while lowbush blueberries become ripe in July and are harvested only at that time. The highbush will produce berries in abundance, with plumper and larger fruit than lowbush blueberries. Though smaller and less plentiful, lowbush blueberries have more flavour than the highbush blueberry.  


This blueberry recipe comes from The Kitchn.

Blueberry Oat Quick Bread

Makes 1 loaf, 10-12 slices

1 cup blueberries, washed and dried

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used 3/4 cup whole wheat and 1 cup of all-purpose flour)

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking or steel-cut)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 325°. Grease one loaf pan.

Toss the berries with 1/4 cup of flour. This will help keep them from sinking in the batter.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. In separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir gently until you see no more dry flour. Fold the blueberries into the batter.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes, rotating the pan partway through. The loaf is done when the top is puffed and dry, and when a toothpick inserted into the 

centre of the cake comes out clean.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding. I dusted the top with icing sugar.  Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

Everyone enjoyed the loaf.

Since I knew that I was making this dessert, I wanted to keep the meal laid back and light.  So, I went with a caprese salad and vegetarian quiche.

My friend's dog, Dolly, approves!

Kale and Bacon Quiche

Here we are - Tuesday again - where did last week go? A total blur of helping a friend prepare for her daughter's wedding. AND...because it's Tuesday, it means that it's Two for Tuesdays Day. I love this event! I get to share REAL food with other bloggers who are like minded thinkers. Not only that - there are a number of hosts who post your creations on their blogs which automatically multiplies your exposure. I also get to see what other people are doing in the real food category. To find out more about how to participate and who's connected to this blog hopping event, make a point of visiting Girli Chef .

For the longest time, for health reasons, I wasn't allowed to eat Kale. It didn't really bother me too much since I didn't appreciate the value of this green.



So what's all the fuss about? Having an inquiring mind, I decided to do some research and get smarter on what's really good for me and now that my health does allow me to eat it, let's just give it a try. Here's what I found. Firstly, this incredible green has more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. It's anti cancer properties are widely known. Kale is totally packed with nutrients:



Pretty impressive, no? There are pages of positive attributes - let me just send you over to the World's Healthiest Food Site and see for yourself.

Moving right along - I wanted to make something that highlited kale and found an interesting recipe at All Things Nice for Kale and Bacon Quiche.



A bunch of green kale, roughly chopped and cut away from the middle rib.
Several rashers of good quality, thinly sliced smoked bacon
1 medium white onion, diced
1 tbs olive oil
3/4 cup of Buffalo Parmesan, grated (I used regular parmesan)
5 large eggs
3/4 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of whipping cream
1 tsp of sea salt
1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
1 sheet of pie dough

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Butter the pie tin and press the pie pastry along the base and up the sides. Brush the pastry with a little olive oil. Set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat and saute the onions until they are slightly browned. Add the kale and fry for about 3 minutes or until it has wilted slightly. Remove from heat and set aside.

Fry the bacon strips until they a little crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Next, spread the bacon, kale and onion over the base of the pie shell.

Beat the eggs and mix in the milk, cream, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Blend well and pour into pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven at 450 degrees.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the centre of the quiche is almost firm.

Remove the quiche from the oven and let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Verdict: It's fabulous!!!

Spicy Italian Sausage Quiche

I don't consider myself to be a lucky person. I mean, specifically, as it relates to winning money, having my name drawn for a prize, etc. Admittedly, I'm not much of a gambler, which cuts down winning opportunities.

Research suggests that the belief that you are lucky actually has an impact on more objective measures of luck (e.g., how often you actually win things). Here - watch this video for an elaboration on the idea (it's lengthy, but interesting).



Maybe my luck is turning around... A couple of weeks ago, I won free movie tickets from Girl About O-Town. A couple of weeks ago, she posted a contest to win free passes to see Creation, a movie about Darwin and the process he went through when writing The Origin of Species.

R and I went. Now - I have to tell you that during about 85% of movies, R will (at some point) lean over to tell me that the movie is crap. I suppose it's a step above his reactions to tv shows I watch -- where he will break into fake dramatic tears. Thankfully, he held back and only told me the movie sucked once.

I suspect the book would have been better than the movie (haven't read it though). There was some interesting imagery and the performances were good. But, I felt that the plot dragged. I also couldn't help but be distracted by the parallels between this movie and previous movies that Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelley had been in. The basic plot -- brilliant scientist with poor social skills slowly degenerates while experiencing hallucinations. Kind of like A Beautiful Mind. Then you have the other plot about the scientist theorizing and conveying messages that would oppose the Catholic church. In this movie, the opposing theory is evolution, in The Da Vinci Code, it's revealing the truth about stories in the bible.

But, I'm happy to have had the opportunity to go see the movie! Definitely check out Girl About O-Town. She's a fellow Ottawa blogger who is starting an exciting time in her life.

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Let me also introduce you to Words and Weigh. Although new to the blogging world, "Happy Losin' It" is hitting the ground running while sharing recipes and successes in healthy eating. I was inspired by her recent crustless quiche post and made my own:

Spicy Italian Sausage Quiche

I know I should enjoy a vegetarian quiche, but there's something about spicy sausage that takes quiche from a lunch dish to full meal.



6 egg whites (left over from this recipe)
2 large eggs
spinach (defrosted, chopped, water drained)
2 spicy Italian sausages
1/2 cup creme (left over from the crème brûlée)
1/2 cup emmental cheese, grated
salt and pepper, to taste


Cook in oven (around 350 -- I turned mine up to 375 because my oven is slow) until it becomes golden and is cooked through (about 45 minutes).

Quiche - my first one!

Cheesy Spinach Quiche
Comments: Preparation time: about 2 hours before serving or day ahead.
Servings: 10



1 pound [454 g] sweet Italian sausage links, chopped (I used spicy - was good)
6 eggs
2 [10-ounce / 284-mL each] packs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 [16-ounce / 454-g] pack mozzarella cheese, shredded [4 cups / 1 L] (I used about half this amount of cheese)
2/3 cup [160 mL] ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspon [2.5 mL] salt
1 [10 to 11-ounce / 284 to 312-g] package piecrust mix
1 tablespoon [15 mL] water
I almost forgot...I added about 8 sliced up cremini mushrooms

Directions
Into a 10-inch [25-cm] skillet, over medium heat, cook sausage meat, stirring frequently, until well browned, about 10 minutes.
Spoon off fat from skillet.
Reserve 1 egg yolk.
Into a large bowl, combine together remaining eggs and egg white, sausage meat, drained chopped spinach, shredded mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese and salt.
Prepare pie crust mix following instructions onto packaging, for a 2 crust pie.
Divide dough into 2 parts, 1 slightly larger than the other; shape each part into a ball.
Onto a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, roll large ball into a circle, 2 inches [5 cm] larger all around than a 9-inch [23 cm] pie plate; line pie plate.
Spoon sausage mixture into pie shell.
Roll remaining pastry ball into a 10-inch [25-cm] circle.
Cut out a small circle from the center; transfer over filling.
Trim pie edge, leaving 1/2 inch [1.3 cm] overlap; fold overlapping dough underneath the edge and press gently all around rim, shaping a stand-up edge.
Cut slits onto pastry top.
Into a small bowl, beat together reserved egg yolk and water.
Brush top of pie with some of egg yolk mixture.
Roll dough scraps together; cut into decorative shapes, decorate top of pie and brush decoratins with egg yolk mixture.
Bake into a preheated 375°F [190°C] oven for 1 1/4 hours, until golden.
To serve hot, let pie stand for 10 minutes at room temperature before cutting it into wedges.
To serve cold (it tastes good cold or warm), refrigerate pie, uncovered, until well chilled; then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.