Yes, We Cook!

The other day, the wife asked me to make a dish with Kale (because she so enjoyed Eileen’s dish) and I thought… hmm… what could I do that would be unexpected?  Well, I ended up going with Pizza!

Thanks to JT, I started with this dough recipe. For this you’ll need:

3 1/2 cups high gluten flour

1  cup warm water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

So, you’ll want to mix add the water, oil, yeast, salt, and sugar in a mixer with a dough fitted with dough hook until yeast has fully dissolved. Then add flour and mix on low speed until the flour and water have mixed and a stiff dough ball forms. Place in a bowl and cover… you’ll end up with something like this:

Let the dough rise in the fridge for 24 hours… and you get this…

This will allow you to make 2 twelve inch pizzas.

Toppings were…

Broccoli

Red bell peppers

Green bell peppers

Kale

Spinach

Tomatoes

Red onions

Mushrooms

The sauce consisted of:

28 oz. can pureed tomatoes

2 tsp of sugar

2 diced jalapeños

1/2 clove diced shallot

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

At this point, you’ll want to heat your oven to 500. This will heat up while you toss your puree into a pan over a medium low heat. Make sure to stir in everything and let simmer for about 20 minutes once you are finished, you are ready to roll out your down and top.

I used mozzarella and sharp cheddar.   Tossed it in for 10 minutes….

And it was ready to go…

Some outstanding stuff, easy to make… and above all, healthy!

This looked intriguing and since I had been turned on to the use of kale in various recipes I decided to give this a shot.  I love onion – it doesn’t matter what kind – because I think it does so much for flavor and so the sweet onion here turned out to be a great flavor combination with the kale and swiss cheese.

What you’ll need:

1 large sweet onion

1 lb very lean ground beef (the leaner the better)

1. 5 tsp garlic powder

4 slices low fat swiss cheese

8 red or green kale leaves, stems removed

2 tsp olive oil

4 – texas toast, toasted

1.  Peel and cut onion into 4 – 1/4 in thick slices.  Shape meat loosely into 4 1/2 thick patties; sprinkle with garlic powder, 1/3 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Press one onion slice into the center of each patty and shape meat around onion until top of onion is flush with the surface of the meat patty (this was really tricky for me).

2. Place meat, onion side up on the rack of an uncovered grill and cook to desired doneness, turning once halfway through.  Brush kale leaves lightly with oil and add to grill the last minute or so of grilling.

3. To serve, place two kale leaves and slice of cheese atop each bread slice.  Top with a burger, onion side up and serve with choice of side (I did sweet potato fries).  Makes 4 servings.

1. I could have melted the cheese on the kale in the oven for a minute or two.

2. The onion didn’t completely grill the way I would have liked.

But overall, the taste was a success.  Just keep in mind that this is definitely a fork and knife type burger

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 321

Total fat: 10 g

Cholesterol: 78 mg

Sodium: 387 mg

Carbohydrate: 22 g

Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 34 g

It was time to do brunch again and I really wanted to do something different.  ZenChef inspired me as he has used Gruyere in tarts before.  If you like to branch out in your cheeses Gruyere is also wonderful as a dessert cheese and melts well for sauces and fondues (just a side note if you didn’t know this already!).  So here you are. . .

For the Bread Pudding:

4 large egg whites

4 large eggs

1 c skim milk

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp fresh minced rosemary

4 c whole grain bread (I left the crusts on) cut up in 1 in cubes

5 c chopped spinach wilted

1/2 c chopped jarred roasted red peppers

1 c diced ham steak (5 oz)

3/4 c shredded Gruyere

1. Preheat oven to 375 and prep your 2-2.5 qt baking dish.  Whisk eggs, egg whites and milk and then add your seasonings; whisk.

2. Toss your bread, spinach, peppers, and ham in a large bowl.  Add your egg mixture and toss well to coat. Transfer to baking dish and press down to compact.  Cover with foil.

3. Bake for 40-45 mins; uncover and top with cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes more.  Cool on wire rack.  Makes 8 servings.

For Kale and Potato Hash:

8 c torn kale

2 tbsp horseradish

1 med shallot, minced

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp salt

2 c cooked shredded potato

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Place kale in large microwave safe bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Wilt – about 3 mins.  Drain and finely chop.

2. Mix the rest of the seasoning ingredients and add potato and kale.

3. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.  Evenly layer your hash and cook until potato is crisp and golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. (The ingredients above yield 4 servings so I doubled the recipe.)

To offset the two dishes we whipped up some buttery pancakes and made homemade whipped cream topped with strawberries (sigh).  This was delicious!

Nutritional Information:

Bread Pudding:

Calories: 276

Carbohydrates: 25 g

Protein: 21 g

Fat: 10 g

Cholesterol: 169 mg

Fiber: 3 g

Sodium: 746 mg

For Kale and Potato Hash:

Calories: 240

Carbohydrates: 30 g

Protein: 6 g

Fat: 12 g

Cholesterol: 0

Fiber: 5 g

Sodium: 244 mg

I saw this recipe and thought, “Hmm. . .interesting.”  I love mushrooms but was a bit apprehensive since I’ve never cooked with kale before.  I *loved* how this turned out!

What you will need:

1 lb lean boneless pork, cut into thin bite-size strips

2 c sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 c chopped onion

2 tbsp canola/olive oil

1/4 c all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried sage, crushed

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 c fat-free milk

4 c chopped, stemmed fresh kale or swiss chard

2 c cooked wild rice (i used a mix of long grain and wild)

1 tbsp finely shredded lemon peel

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prep a 1.5-2 qt rectangular or oval baking dish.  Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add pork and and cook for 2-4 mins, stirring frequently until there is no more pink.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Add mushrooms, onion, and oil to the same skillet and cook about 5 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Stir in flour, salt, sage, and pepper.  Add milk all at once and cook until thickened and bubbly.

 

Stir in pork, kale, cooked rice, and lemon peel.

3. Spoon mixture into baking dish and bake uncovered for 30-35 mins.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 servings.  Enjoy!

 

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 285

Total fat: 10 g

Cholesterol: 49 mg

Protein: 24 mg

Carbohydrate: 2 mg

Fiber: 3 g

Sodium: 305 mg