Radish Top and Kale Soup

Oh...you are still here?  I figured the title post would scare you away.  So, in my CSA basket this week I received radishes.  The group I go through, I get to choose every week what I want.  So this week I decided to get some radishes.  I figured they would be like the ones at the grocery store.  Just little odd round balls.  BOY was I wrong.  These suckers are HUGE and the tops on them are even huger.  It seemed a waste to chuck all the pretty leaves in the trash so I was on a mission to find a recipe to use the leaves.

I found a few recipes.  One was for this soup and another is for a beet, carrot, and radish top salad.   I think I will try that one tomorrow.

Anyway.  I fiddled with the recipe enough to say that I made it up!  Always fun when that happens.  I will not be posting a picture of the finished soup first, because well, green creamy soup does not look that pretty.  But my radishes do!!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter, I used salted
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 medium potatoes, sliced
• 4 cups raw radish greens
• 1 cup raw kale
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1/3 cup half and half
• 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, depending on taste.
• pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  I used a 2 1/2 quart size.  It was rather hard to stir all the greens in.  Larger than that would be ideal.
2. Add onions to the butter and cook until tender.
3. Add the sliced potatoes, radish tops, and kale.  Stir to coat all with the butter.  You don't have to worry about chopping all the leaves, because the soup will be blended at the end.
4. Add the stock and rosemary.
5. Heat to boiling, then reduce and simmer for 30 minutes.  
6. Check and make sure the potatoes are tender.  If they are, let the soup cool for a few minutes.
7. At this point you have a choice.  You can either pour this into a blender and blend OR use a hand held immersion blender.  That is what I used.  
8. Once all blended, add the cream and stir.  Heat through and add pepper to taste.

All done!  I'll add a picture now, just so you can see what it looks like.  Looks much nicer in person!

Enjoy!

Lemony Kale Pasta

I just signed up for my first CSA, Home Harvest,  this week!  I am really excited about all that I received.  The one I signed up for gives you to option to pick and choose what you want, so it is the perfect chance for me to try some new things!

Kale isn't a new veggie for me, but I just thought you would like to know what was going on in my kitchen.

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats and LOVE it.  So yummy.  I have had it a few times just to make sure I got good results every time and I did!  Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

 Ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ tsp. kosher salt, divided
• ½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (Confession-I used Kraft.  It was still awesome)
• 6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 2 lemons
• ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (I like heat.  Feel free to reduce this amount)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 lb. penne 
• 1 large bunch kale, rinsed and dried, stems removed

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. 
2. While you are waiting on the water to boil, make the dressing.  Mince the garlic cloves and sprinkle the minced garlic with ¼ teaspoon of the kosher salt. Smash the garlic into a paste with a fork or the side of a chef’s knife.  (Confession time!  I could not get this done to say my life.  I tried my hardest, but still had some lumps.  It was still good.  :)  Don't stress if you can't get it either.)  Transfer the garlic paste, or your attempt, to a small bowl.  Add in the Parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and black pepper.  Whisk together until well combined.
3. Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the package directions.  Chop the kale into ½-inch ribbons.  Add the kale to a large bowl and toss with the dressing to coat well.  When the pasta is finished, drain well and let cool a minute or two.  Toss the pasta with the kale and dressing until well coated.  

Enjoy!!

From Annie's Eats

Kale Chips

I had extra kale left over from the salad.  So you know what they say...When life gives you kale you make kale chips!

My snack.  Can you tell I have a house full of kids?

Ingredients:

• Kale
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt, to your taste preference

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 300*F
2. Wash kale, dry, derib, and cut into bite size pieces.

       3.Add kale to a bowl
       4.  Pour in the Olive Oil and salt.
       5.  Toss well.
       6.  Put on baking sheet.

     7.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until crisp.  Make sure you don't burn it!

It shrivels a lot!

   
     8.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Enjoy your snack!

Kale Salad...Also knows as YUM!

Not gonna lie.  Kale scared me a bit.  But I found a recipe on Hello Giggles and figured it looked decent enough so I would give it a whirl.

I changed it a bit to suit my needs.  I am VERY anti-fresh tomatoes.  I tried one today to "check it out".  The verdict?  Still nasty.  I added some to my husbands though, he likes them. 

I now present to you...Kale Salad!!

Ingredients:

Fun from the produce aisle!

Packaged Ingredients Needed

•  1 large bunch kale, rinsed and chopped into bite size pieces
• 10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 10 Greek Olives cut in half
• 1/3 cup Sprouts
• 2 avocados, peeled and cut into pieces.
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 3 tablespoons hummus
• 1 large lemon
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/3 cup feta cheese
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl whisk together hummus,  juice from the lemon, and the white vinegar.  Set aside.
2. Place kale in a large bowl.  Add tomatoes, olives, sprouts, avocados, pecans, and feta.  Mix well.
3. Add Olive Oil and toss.
4. Pour dressing over the top and mix again.  Make sure to REALLY scrape the bottom of the bowl.  All my good stuff hid down there!

Enjoy!!