What to do with Kale?

Kale is not usually on the menu in our house, but we belong to an organic produce co-op. Which basically means we buy our produce along with a whole bunch of other people in order to save money. The thing that is a deterrent for most people is actually the selling point for us...you can't choose what you get each week. They buy from local farms so it's seasonal/organic. So, no watermelons in January and a lot of kale and lettuce in the Fall. These kind of constraints excite me and allow me to explore new foods and recipes that I would never venture to try on my own. Since I don't want a bunch of kale wilting away in my refrigerator I've been looking for a good recipe and this is it! This is so good, if I weren't in a co-op I would go looking for some kale in my grocery store to whip up this soup...seriously!

ZUPPA TOSCANA SOUP


Did I mention it has bacon in it?! Well, it does. I cut up six slices of bacon with my handy kitchen scissors and fried it in a large stock pot.
Then I added a half an onion chopped up. *insert delicious smell here*

I bought a pound of spicy Italian sausage and, again, using my handy, dandy kitchen scissors I cut them into inch long pieces and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees while I worked on the soup base. For the soup I just added a pint (or four cups of water). I added a dry onion soup mix packet and let simmer while the sausage cooked (about 20 minutes).


When the sausage was done I added it and about two cups of washed, chopped kale to the soup and three small red potatoes washed and chopped.

stir...
I let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes more until the kale was bright green and tender.


Last, I added 1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream (by the way, this isn't exactly light)...
but it's so delicious. This will be a staple at our house during the coming Fall/Winter weather.

Doughnuts

The jury is still out as to whether or not homemade doughnuts are worth the effort...My husband definitely thinks they are, but I'm not convinced. They were a ton of work and took almost four hours from start to finish! However, they were amazing! Totally different from fast food doughnuts. They were much lighter (although, probably not in calories).

They were not the most beautiful doughnuts ever, but I had to improvise on cutting them by using a cup and then punching out the centers with my thumbs.

The process begins by scalding milk in a saucepan and pouring over the yeast in a mixing bowl. Then I added the flour and let it sit until the flour began to crack, which took about forty-five minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan I melted butter and "burnt" vanilla to infuse the flavor. This was actually pretty neat, as I've never done this before. I'm sure there is some property from chemistry that this represents, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what that is. The vanilla actually beads up and turns the butter brown. It smells delicious!

Then I poured the vanilla/butter mixture into a bowl with whisked egg yolks and blended those ingredients. Next I poured the egg mixture into the flour/yeast mixture and blended until a very sticky dough formed. I think you are getting the picture of how labor intensive this yummy little treat was to make, but I will continue for those of you who wish to replicate.

Then I cleaned the bowl and sprayed it with vegetable oil spray and placed the dough back in to rise...this took about two hours for the dough to completely double in size.

Ah, finally, it was time to roll out the dough try to make something that looked like a doughnut. I'm not sure that I succeeded on the aesthetics, but I don't think it would matter what you shaped these like because I stared with some balls just to test my frying method and they were great!

These are my little dough balls in the oil. They puffed up perfectly and no one in my house really cared that they weren't shaped like perfect doughnuts.

As for a recipe...there are lots out there and I'm not really sure I used the best one, but I did find it hard to see the steps so I hope this little explanation of the steps will make it easier for you. I have since seen a number of easier recipes out there so I may try again and if I find a recipe worth posting I will certainly put it here first.

Walnut Fudge Brownies

I cook a lot, but I'm not much of a baker. I decided that this would be the year I tackled my fear of exact measurements and buckled down to learn how to really bake. For my birthday I got a KitchenAid mixer, which honestly, intimidated me for weeks. I've been trying to decide what my inaugural recipe would be, but because it takes four hours to make I'm saving it for the weekend and will have to post later...stay tuned. So, yesterday, I threw caution to the wind and decided to make something easy to get my feet wet. Shocking as it may sound, I've never made brownie's from scratch ie. not a box. It wasn't nearly as big of a deal as I imagined and they came out great. My family decided they were twice as good as box brownie's, which in my book makes them worth the effort, because they weren't really twice as much work!
I threw in my margarine, sugar and vanilla and mixed them first...
While, at the same time I melted my chocolate and margarine on the stove top. The recipe said to let this cool, but the baking rebel that I am just couldn't wait, so I threw the chocolate in the mixer as soon as it was smooth.
This is what the batter looked like! I poured the contents of the bowl in the pan, but the beater was all mine! I had to hide because I didn't want to share with my kids, and it's probably not good to eat raw egg, but that's the joy of baking for me!

Here's the recipe I used, courtesy of Kitchen Aid
Fudge Brownies
1 cup margarine or butter, softened, divided
4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (I add liberally)

Melt 1/2 cup margarine and chocolate in small saucepan over low heat; set aside to cool (or not if you are rebellious)

Place remaining 1/2 cup margarine, sugar, and vanilla in mixer bowl and mix. Add eggs, one at a time, beating about 15 seconds after each addition. Stop and scrape bowl.

Add cooled chocolate mixture and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Add all remaining ingredients. Turn to Stir Speed and mix until well blended, about 30 seconds.

Pour into greased and floured 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack and cut.

Paula Deen's Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

These chicken nuggets are delicious! The dipping sauce is just as good. Kid's love them, but the best part is that adult's love them just as much. They make a great appetizer too. What's the secret?

They are breaded with Sour Cream and Onion potato chips! Yes, that's right, leave it to Paula Deen to come up with the ingenious idea of breading chicken with potato chips.
The one thing I learned after making the recipe the first time was to season the chicken with salt and pepper before breading it. I thought it would be too salty, but it was a little bland without that initial step. The picture above shows the "assembly" line I use...chicken, egg mixture, and potato chips.
Then onto a baking sheet! I was shocked that Paula Deen didn't fry them, but it made me feel a little better about the whole potato chip thing. You just have to remember to drizzle the melted butter over them so they don't dry out in the oven!

Here's the original recipe Enjoy!

Cinnamon Applesauce Waffles

I stopped buying frozen waffles for kids, mainly because with three kids it was costing us a fortune. Once I realized how simple it was to make them I decided to just do it myself. Besides they tasted better. At first I just tried out a few basic waffle recipes, which were good, but then I started adding cinnamon to them and they were even better. Last week I stumbled on a applesauce waffle recipe and put the two together and am pretty sure this will become my everyday waffle recipe.
The batter looks a little runny when it's in the bowl, but the waffles come out light and fluffy when cooked. Without doubling it I'm able to make enough to freeze for a second day, so in theory I could make a big batch at the beginning of the week and freeze them for breakfast all week. I haven't done that yet, but mostly because we eat other things too. They freeze great though, but you have to toast them (not microwave as my husband found out).
Recipe
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups reduced fat milk
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup applesauce (can use fresh or frozen)

Place ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine until well blended. Let batter sit for five minutes before using.

Spaghetti with Canned Tuna

This post is a long summer vacation in the making. I was on vacation for five weeks, during which I didn't cook at all! It was great, but by the time I got home I actually missed planning meals, and shopping for fresh ingredients, and cooking dinner for three small children, who let's just say, aren't always really excited to try what I make. I grabbed a pile of cooking magazines and cookbooks and set out to find something new to make. In the new Bon Appetit magazine I stumbled upon a recipe in the BA Foodist column that Andrew Knowlton writes. He answered a woman who wanted ideas for what to make with all the canned tuna in her cupboard with a tantalizingly easy recipe that I couldn't resist. What followed changed the way I will look at canned tuna forever!The recipe is as follows: Open a can of high-quality tuna and heat its oil in a skillet over medium heat. Mix in garlic, parsley, and lemon peel. Add tuna, gently breaking it up, and add a pinch of dried crushed red pepper. Toss the tuna with al dente spaghetti and enough pasta cooking liquid to moisten. Top with toasted breadcrumbs and herbs. No cheese necessary.
This is how it looked when it was ready to serve, but it tasted amazing! The lemon flavor was really light and permeated the dish. This dish will definitely be a regular on our menu.

Crabbies

This is a great appetizer, but since we have three small children and rarely throw a dinner party, I decided to throw caution to the wind and make them just for us. They turned out just how I remember and I can't believe now that I was waiting for company to make these! However, if you are cool and have people over then these would be a great "company" hors d'oeuvres.
It's really easy too! You just make the crab/cheese mixture and spread it on rye toast, or french bread rounds and freeze until solid. Then you can either store in a plastic freezer bags until you are ready to cook them, or like me you can just throw them under the broiler and eat them!

Recipe:
1 stick margarine, softened
1 jar Old English Cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 can crab meat (6 1/2 ounces)
1 package thin sliced small party rye bread of french bread, sliced thin.

Mix butter, cheese, mayonnaise, and seasoned salt. Add crab meat. Stir to mix. Spread on party rye breads or sliced french bread rounds. Freeze until solid and store in plastic bags in the freezer until needed.

To serve, broil in a single layer under broiler until bubbly and lightly browned.