VOTM - Kale: Ways 2 and 3

So I did it!  I managed to prepare my Vegetable of the Month - Kale - in three different ways.

As a recap, my first way was in a White Beans Stew & Greens dish.

Way #2: Kale Chips.  In my bio over there to the right, I resolved to make kale chips.  And technically I did make them.  I just didn't make them well.  They weren't awful.  But they weren't great.  First off, I didn't cut them correctly...I left on some thick stems which made me gag at one point.  I also possibly didn't dry them well enough after washing the leaves.  And lastly I definitely DEFINITELY accidentally over salted them.  And I love salty things so for me to say it was too salty says a lot.  But the few chips I did get that were nice and dry and crisp and just the right salty were absolutely scrumptious.  So I will definitely be trying these again.  (If anyone out there has any kale chip tips for me, please pass them along!)

Way #3 - Kale & Mango Smoothie.  As recommended by the instructor over at the Bikram Yoga Studio, 2 mornings in a row I whipped up this kale and mango smoothie.  It definitely turned out bright green so if that color isn't appealing, this might not be the recipe for you.  But my word, oh my, this thing was tasty.  I crammed the bottom of the Bullet full of kale, then topped it off with as much frozen mango as I could fit and then some water.  (For the record, after blending for a minute or so I added another couple mango chunks).  So, so, so stinking good.

So there you go!  My recipe of the month challenge was a success!  And kale is definitely something now that will make it into my regular buying rotation.  Now I have 5 days to think of my February VOTM.  Any suggestions??

Little Miss Muffet

Soon after I read Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma, I developed an obsession interest in learning more about "real food".  Look up "how to become a real food foodie" on Google and chances are that you're going to find an overwhelming response that the best first place to start is with Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.

Talk about a cookbook that bucks every low calorie, low fat notion being pushed on us by the US Food Pyramid...or maybe it's a plate now.  I can't keep up.  Frankly, I don't want to keep up.  Once I get my family's eating on track, then maybe I'll tackle the government.

Ok, so back to Nourishing Traditions.  This book is incredible.  Not only for its recipes (truthfully I've only tackled maybe 1% of them), but for all of the other information it provides.  I have read it pretty much cover to cover at least once, and I've read certain sections maybe a dozen times or more.  I bought the book in Kindle format so when I'm waiting in a long line, too early for preschool pick-up, at a kid's sports practice, etc I will often pull the book up on my phone and just start looking through its pages hunting for inspiration.  Dorky yes.  But also fun...in my own dorky kind of way.

So where to start in this 19,414 page book (that's in the Kindle edition...I think it's only 600ish in print form)?  "Mastering the Basics - Fermented Vegetable & Fruits", why of course.  Why start there you ask?  (1) Because it's the second recipe chapter of the book which makes it pretty close to the beginning, and (2) the first recipe chapter of the book is about cultured dairy products (think piima and buttermilk cultures, homemade yogurt, etc), and it's more than a touch overwhelming.  I'll get there one day, but for now it's all about Little Miss Muffet who:

Sat on her tuffet

Eating her curds and whey.

When along came a spider 

Who sat down beside her

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

You guessed it - the first recipe I tackled in this book (and have made a dozen times or so in the past year) is Whey and Cream Cheese...not quite the same as curds, but you see where I'm going with this.  So basically I take a quart of good quality organic, plain, full fat yogurt and dump it out over a strainer lined with a cheesecloth (or thin kitchen towel in my case).  

When the dripping slows down, pull up the corners of your cloth and concoct something snazzy like I did to get out the final drips.  (Make sure not to squeeze the yogurt.)

Let it sit there for pretty much the whole day and what you have at the end of it all is some of the tartest, most scrumptious cream cheese you have ever tasted and some funky looking yellowish liquid that I am to believe does incredible things to your digestive tract as well as to your vegetables.  (More on the latter later...I've got a few recipes in the works to use up my whey.  Stay tuned.)

So here you go, 

Little Miss Tracy

sitting at her desk typing about 

Along came her daughter

who sat down beside her 

and reminded her it's time to do homework.

Vegetable of the Month: Kale

I have a feeling when my sister-in-law reads the title of this entry that she's going to gag a little bit.  I can't say I blame her.  She and I share an aversion to funky foods.  Or foods that seem too healthy.  Too weird.  But as I said, I resolve to do better.  Remember my mantra -

I just want to do better.

Better does not mean perfect.  Better does not mean fanatical.  I just want to train my palette to appreciate the beauty of real foods.  Real foods that consist of one, and only one, ingredient.  Real foods that God put here on this Earth to nurture us and satiate us, and hopefully bring us joy.  Isn't that what eating is supposed to be about?

So for the year of 2012, I'm going to (among other things) pick a new vegetable each month and resolve to prepare it in 2-3 different ways.  I will force my husband and I to eat what I make, while encouraging the kids to take a taste.  Ideally I'd like to pick the vegetable based on what's in season, and what I can get locally...but for now, one step at a time.  A new vegetable is a new vegetable, and whatever looks good at Whole Foods is what I'm going to pick.

January's Vegetable of the Month: KALE.

Kale Dish #1: White Bean Stew & Greens
I have to say it was pretty stinking good.  But then I'm a big fan of bacon, so it never hurts to try something new when it's cooked alongside of bacon.  (Some people need sugar to help the medicine go down...for me, it could be bacon.)  I followed the recipe exactly as written.  I used canned beans, but I'm in the process of transitioning us out of most canned goods.  I've been reading some scary things lately about the chemicals found in those cans, and until the claims can be proven true or false, I feel it's best to just reduce consumption.  But that being said, I happened to have 2 cans of cannellini beans in my pantry, and I hate to waste.  So I used them...then replaced them with their dried counterparts for next time.  So back to the recipe - when I cut the kale, I sliced off the long stems at the end, then stacked up all the leaves and cut them into 1-inch slices.  I didn't realize though that some of the leaves were so wide and therefore I got some really huge pieces of kale.  Which made for quite a mouthful of the green stuff in some bites.  So lesson learned - next time I will chop the kale in smaller pieces.  I also could have cooked it another minute or two.  Other than that, my first foray into kale was a huge success!  Hubby ate 2 helpings.  I made the kids plain bacon, then picked out the cannellini beans from the dish and served them each a bowl of those.  And whenever I don't have to make something completely separate for the kids, then in my book that dinner is a winner.  (For the record, I didn't even pick the battle of having them try the kale.  Not this time at least.)

Kale Dish #2 - KALE CHIPS....stay tuned.  Kale Dish #3....no idea.  Any suggestions readers?

Big Flop

About a year and a half ago, my friend Lisa over at Just Here Just Now bought a 20(ish)-year-old bread machine from our local Goodwill.  And she immediately fell in love with it.  Then right around that same time, I read Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma, and as I mention over in the sidebar (look over to the right), it changed my life.  What that book brought to light for me is the huge divide that separates us from our food.  From growing our own food.  From making our own food.  From eating in a responsible manner.  So I committed to turning things around.  To trying to get back to some basics.  To trying to feed my family more nutritious food.  Real food.  And seriously, what better place to start than bread.

Lisa's purchase inspired me greatly, so off I went to look for my own Goodwill bread machine.  After a few weeks of searching, a friend of mine finally scored one for me...for a whopping $5.  My sweet 'new' (to me) beauty was 17 years old and showed a bit of wear and tear.  I cleaned her up with loads of soap and water, then with a vinegar solution...just to be extra clean.  Then I purchased several kinds of flour, yeast, vital wheat gluten, and on and on.  Then I took off on my bread making journey.  And despite the fact my machine made some crazy loud noises and produced an unidentified burning odor, it sure did produce some quite tasty bread.  Or at least quite tasty to me.  I couldn't get the husband on board, because it wasn't shaped like a regular loaf of bread and it had a big divot in the middle from where I had to pull out the mixing paddle.  The kids didn't take to it mostly because it wasn't as soft and mushy as store bought bread.  So then I just gave up.  Instead, I found a source for bread that is easy to just run out and buy and it's made with the basic "whole wheat flour, honey, water, yeast" ingredients and it tastes good.  Plus the husband and kids will eat it no questions asked.  Oh, and it's locally made (not necessarily local ingredients, but at least locally made).  Sounds like a win-win, but the problem...it's made with margarine instead of butter.  That one fact and that one fact alone keeps me on my 'bake my own bread' mission.

Fast forward to today...I took a long break from bread making, and in the meantime the same friend that scored me my original machine scored me a more up-to-date model (this time at no charge).  I had mixed feelings about giving up my first love, but the snazzy buttons and shiny lights won me over.  The loaf the new machine makes is shaped more like a traditional loaf (although we still have the divot problem), and it takes up less room in my pantry...two good things.  However, the machine just doesn't work.  I've tried recipe after recipe and this is what I get:

A Big Ol' Flop

Or it burns. Or it's too dense. Or it's too {add in an adjective that is NOT what you want in a bread}.

 
And yes, I realize it may be user error and not the machine's fault.  But I felt flawless with my old machine.  Now I feel winless.  So my new plan - to master some basic dough recipes.  Then turn the dough out into bread loaf pans and go from there.

For the record - I got a KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas.  So bread dough, here I come!  Anyone got a good recipe to share?

Why Start ANOTHER Blog??

I realized that when I made my New Year's Resolutions, that one of the best ways for me to stick to them would be to write about them.  Writing is definitely a creative outlet for me.  It provides me with a sense of 'realness' to my thoughts.  A way to sort through the various things that constantly swirl through my brain...and more importantly a way to get them out of my brain and onto (virtual) paper.  Writing provides me with a sense of accountability.  I like finding my voice, and I like sharing my stories.  Even if no one reads my words, writing is a form of relaxation for me.  

** A quick back story - I started a personal blog (Life at the Arbaugh Inn) in 2005 after my oldest, for this blog I shall call her Bean (as in she's skinny like a string bean, and passionately hates green beans), was born.  When Bean was born, I started sending out weekly emails to my family and close friends giving them a recount of what we were up to and I included a few pictures to show off my baby girl.  One night when I realized my emails were turning into huge files, I commented to my husband that I wish I knew how to design websites so I could just put my text and pictures up there and have people come look at them when they felt like it.  He says "you should blog".  My response?  "What the heck is a blog?"  Well, a mere 6+ years and 1,339 entries later, I am now well acquainted with exactly what a blog is.  And I have to say that I'm so glad I have become a dedicated blogger.  I honestly feel like I am truly documenting my family's history.  Capturing the big events of course, but more importantly documenting the little things about our days that despite the fact we swear we will never forget, we of course forget about them.  I am also proud of how my writing has evolved - from just the facts and only the facts, to a little bit of humor, a little bit of me shining through.  It's not always grammatically correct, but I write like I think.  Like I talk.  So I feel like my writing is accurately capturing what I want to say.  I hope 30 years from now when my girls have families of their own, that my 'Life at the Arbaugh Inn' will be a treasure for them, and that it will be proof of how much fun I am having being their mama. **

OK, so we're caught up to today.  If I'm so happy with my first blog, why in the heck write another blog??  I'm not sure I have an answer for that question other than, this seems to be a different side of my life.  Something that for now is all about ME.  Cooking better and eating better are MY goals for this year.  (Of course, this will all filter down to my family since I do all the cooking and food shopping, but we won't go there yet.)  I like the idea of keeping my personal blog, mostly about my kids.  Their milestones.  Their adventures.  Their shenanigans.  And this blog, well honestly, I can be selfish and write about me.  Food - healthy food, real food - is quickly becoming a passion for me.  (And I think that's different than an obsession, but more on that later.)  This blog is going to be my outlet to talk about my new passion.  To share my cooking (mis)adventures.  To link to other blogs that I couldn't live without.  And hopefully to learn from my readers. 

So here we go...blog #2 on its way.  I hope you'll come along on this journey with me!

I Resolve

Every year I often have a pretty hefty list of New Year's Resolutions.  One reason I have so many is that not all of them last all year.  For example, last year, I had a resolution to get our closets under control.  To meet that goal took one solid morning (during preschool 9-12 hours) about once a week for a couple of months, and then I could mark it off of my 'to do' list.

But this year, I'm making a change.  I'm going to focus on 2 main things.  Two BIG things.  And I hope to keep these resolutions up all year...and then next year, and the year after, and so on.

So here goes!  2012 New Year's Resolutions:
(1) Exercise more.  Plain and simple.  Boring. But important nonetheless.
(2) The most blog-worthy of the 2 (hence the new blog) - Make a serious commitment to cook "real" foods for my family.  To plan menus that utilize fresh vegetables (ideally locally grown, organic next best, then anything that looks good at the Giant from there), local meats, whole grains, healthy oils, and on and on. Truth be told, I'm so new to all of this that I truly don't know the extent to all I 'resolve' to do.  I just resolve to be open minded about a better way to cook.  A better way to eat.  I resolve to make the time to plan meals.  I resolve to make smart decisions.  I resolve to follow blogs and read books that can help (and inspire) me with this goal.  I resolve to not be intimidated by new ingredients.  I resolve to make kale chips.  I resolve to know that not all dishes I slap on the table will be well received.  I resolve to try my best to do better.  I resolve to feel proud of what I'm doing.  I resolve to give myself a break when I come up short.  And lastly, I resolve to drag my family (and any blog readers) along with me for this ride.

Don't get me wrong...I am by no means a fanatical about this "real food" stuff.  I truly believe that convenience food was designed to be just that...a convenience.  To help a Mama out, so to speak.  I do eat highly processed food.  I do eat fast food.  But I sure do it a lot less often than I used to.  And what I would like in my life moving forward, is that for the most part my food is "real" and that I feel good about what I put in my body.  Call me naive, but I think that's a pretty do-able New Year's Resolution.  Stay tuned for more...