GETTING KRACKING N KRAFTY WITH KALE

photo credit: everybodylikessandwiches.com

Oh, camera.

My DSLR has been missing since my dad's birthday in April 2012.

My phone camera is not focusing properly.

I want to post.

So. Badly.

So I just will.

I've been trying to incorporate more veggies into my diet in general, and I've noticed that breakfast has been bereft of any legumes délicieux. I'm not terribly crazy about omelets these days (runny yolks ftw, folks), and sauteeing spinach as a side dish gets old.

So, friends, I turned to kale. But kale? Really? That crunchy, chewy stuff that's annoying to eat?

Yes. And it's heavenly. And super easy.

What You'll Need: 

-1 pack good quality sausage (I highly recommend Rheintal)
-1 bunch kale, rinsed well, cleaned of stems, and chopped into 2-3 inch sections)
-1-2 cups chopped leek (I like the leafy part of the leek)
-cracked black pepper (optional)
-a pan with a lid

Do It: 

1) Slice sausage into coins.

2) Let sausage sautée on medium to low heat, and watch it release bacon-fatty goodness. Om.

3) Add leeks. Lower the heat maybe 1 notch. Watch leeks carefully as they burn quickly! Let them slow cook for a bit--it's worth the wait. Your kitchen will smell divine. My dad always knows when there's leek cooking!

4) Top the sausage and leek with kale. Cover pan with lid. Let the steam cook the kale, about 3 minutes. Then mix the kale into the sausage and leek. Cover again, and let cook 1 minute or so.

Enjoy piping hot! What I love about this recipe is that the kale comes out delicate and buttery, not at all chewy or hard like it may when cooked otherwise. I will often crack an egg in the middle and make some kind of breakfast skillet out of it. Alternatively, you can also fry a slice of yummy multigrain toast in the remaining bacon-fatty-(and now leek!)- goodness.

Yay breakfast veggies!!

How do you incorporate veggies into your morning meals? What are your favourite vegetables to cook with for breafkast?

some housekeeping...

The more apt among you will have noticed that our little banner up there still reads "Spring". I feel quite sloppy in not having implemented our summer layout yet, so I thought I would explain that my camera is having some issues - namely, our PC died months ago, and the laptop doesn't recognize the camera card for long enough for a transfer, it's maddening (I still have pictures with TULIPS on my memory card!). I should be able to finally transfer some pictures this weekend at my mom's - but if any of you ladies have suggested shots for the summer layout, let me know. I am thinking, outdoorsy, picnics, barbeques, popsicles, that kind of thing. I can do the usual font & editing, just send me suggested shots. Thanks!

sugar

I am now cane sugar-free (and maple, honey, xylitol, molasses, etc-free, for the time being), except my mayo has sugar, and I realized after asking the nice man to slice my roast beef that it probably had sugar - I checked the package and yep, it has two kinds of artificial sugars, grr. From now on I guess we'll have to DIY our mayo and stick to real meat... I mean, cold cuts kind of freak me out anyway. Are you sugar-free? Would you take the plunge? I am still eating fruits and things - while I am trying to be aware of the glycemic index of various foods, my diet isn't really low g. i. as such. I just really have been wanting to cut sugar for a long time and decided it was time.

Maybe in the long term I will re-introduce natural sweeteners that I can visualize gathering - that is, probably honey and maple syrup, but probably not xylitol (while it has a low g. i., and is very natural, and wonderfully good for you, it is undeniably artificially and industrially processed) or coconut sugar (unless I move somewhere with local coconuts). I think blackstrap molasses might make it in, though it can't really be done in a home kitchen (or maybe I am just lazy/intimidated!).

I am also hoping that my new commitment will mean Ambrose will also be eating better. It is really extraordinary, how far-reaching "just sweeten it" has become the standard advice for parents looking for foods for their little ones. And I'm not just referring to the mainstream baby foods and toddler snacks, though yes, they tend to be appallingly filled with sugar (and all kinds of other crap), but also in the "natural" sections, as well as in the trenches. You really realize this when you tell people that you (and/or your child) are sugar-free. Ambrose has a great-grandfather whose "thing" is giving him a piece of dark chocolate every time he sees him. To create a positive association, you know. I have heard other relatives express their desire to systematically condition my child into liking them by using sweets. Most snacks that well-meaning relatives buy have either processed grains or sugar (my mother is terrible about this, she is infamous for NEVER READING LABELS).  It is so hard (but so important!) to fight for your child's relationship with food - to ensure that food and meal times are not about power, control, guilt, etc., but about pleasure, taste, hunger, community. The psychological aspect is already quite a thing to keep in mind (it can be very frustrating to encourage a picky eater, and very tempting to use force, though it must be avoided) - adding the insistence that your child eat healthy, whole foods, and you start to feel like a bit of a crazy villain to those who aren't on the same wavelength. Maybe I'm just sensitive, still? Ambrose isn't even technically sugar-free, yet - that would be a big step to take, and Tony and I haven't even gone there - but as I've been sugar-free for a week now, and am feeling great, and am happy to be leaving behind the ill effects of sugar, I do feel bad giving Ambrose things to eat that are likely to make him crash, give him headaches, etc, where he could be eating good, fresh, filling, nutritive alternatives... maybe the writing is on the wall...!

Some articles...


Is Sugar As Addictive As Alcohol?


Sugar-Free Parenting

bran & molasses muffins (sugar-free!)

Adapted from a recipe I found online (I added the raisins and the butter - what kind of muffin recipe has no fat whatsoever??).

In a large bowl, combine:
2 c bran flakes
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 c molasses (160g for those of you blessed with a kitchen scale)
1 large handful raisins

Stir, then let soak for at least 15 minutes. (At this point I personally had a nap.)

Preheat the oven to 375*F.

Add:
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c butter, melted but no longer hot
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well.

Then stir in:
1 c whole wheat pastry flour (or white flour if that's your thing)

Spoon into a greased muffin tin or prepared silicone baking cups. Bake about 20 minutes, or until a test skewer comes out clean or with just a crumb or two clinging.

***

I tried these because I worry about sugar. It is so all-pervasive, especially for toddlers. It's not a good thing. I contemplate sugar fasts of various kinds, but I find that I need to go easy on myself, because in our food culture, eating truly sugar-free is incredibly ambitious. (Though I am making progress, relying more on trail mix and boiled eggs for snacks.) Our family has been really into muffins lately. It's one of the only ways I've found to give Tony a fighting chance of having a healthy breakfast (or any breakfast at all) (he leaves at 5:30-6:30 or so in the morning). The baby consistently will eat muffins. And for me, of course, ease of preparation is also valued when it comes to breakfast. Mornings require so much of you before you even get a sip of caffeine when you have kids... nursing, potty, diaper, tooth brushing; your own morning nose-powdering; get the baby dressed, get yourself dressed... having breakfast that requires no effort at all - and has no sugar! - is great. Really.

Nonetheless, I did wonder how these would turn out - while I have this sort of aversion to sugar-loading, I know it's so all-pervasive because we have a deep biological instinct to gravitate toward sweetness and calories - but they are really great! Moist and certainly sweet enough for me. Good for a baby's bedtime snack, easy for a mama to take outside when the baby feels he needs to play in the sandbox first thing in the morning when his feet hit the floor.

I am hoping to get a particular muffin book with like 600 recipes soon, including gluten-free, vegan, more-healthy, less-healthy, the works - I get so excited thinking about it. Hoping it has more sugar-free gems like this!

Sometimes fermentation goes badly...

Competing microbes gain foothold... It's gross and fascinating. This batch of wine was just discovered to be badly contaminated... The airlock should have nothing but clear water in it - notice the mold in the neck, general colored sludge, and fruitfly larvae...!