~Sunday, November 04, 2012
Kale chips, kale salads, kale
pizzas, kale smoothies—kale
is EVERYWHERE these days! When I learned
how well kale grows in the garden, and how
beneficial it is to your diet, I couldn’t wait to grow some for myself and my
husband. (Rather, I should confess, I
couldn’t wait to have my mom plant some in her
garden for us.) Packed with vitamin
K, vitamin C, and calcium, kale is known to be a powerful antioxidant and
anti-inflammatory—and is a boost for the immune system. When my parents planted some in their garden,
it grew so well my dad would show up at my workplace with grocery bags full of
kale leaves! For a while, my dinner
every night was an enormous kale salad, (most recipes have you remove the stem
and chiffonade the leaves), with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing, and
topped with a very generous amount of parmesan cheese shavings. My husband wasn’t a fan of my salads, but as you
may already know, he is a huge
advocate of juicing his vegetables; so this is his recipe for an afternoon
power-packed kale smoothie:
Ingredients:
Makes
4 Servings
2 ½ ounces organic baby kale,
organic baby chard, and organic baby spinach, rinsed
5 stalks organic celery, halved
and rinsed (you can substitute with apple
or carrots)
2 cups tangerine juice
Place all the ingredients into
the Vitamix, set machine on low (Variable 3), slowly increasing to a higher
setting (Variable 10), then to HIGH. Blend
on HIGH for approximately 1 minute.
Serve immediately.
