Yes, There Is More Than One Type Of Kale...Isn't That Exciting?

Being involved in nutrition has everyone believing I am super food savvy. In some ways, this is true, but I do not know everything about all foods, that’s for sure. Case in point- cooking with kale. I always thought there was just one kale. One bitter, tough kale, that tastes best sautéed with olive oil and garlic or cooked in a steamer and covered with Braggs Liquid Amino Acids. Eating kale raw is something I have heard of, but never attempted to do at home. I have eaten raw kale salads at restaurants before, but I figured they had some magical sauce, or way of cooking that took the bitterness away that I would never figure out on my own.

Recently, a girlfriend of mine gave me a challenge to create one of her favorite kale salads from the restaurant True Food Kitchen, which has locations in Arizona and California. When I firt saw her post the recipe on my page, I shuddered at what kind of bitter, chewy concoction I would end up with. I did notice that the recipe did not call for just any type of kale. It asked for Black kale.

Wait…so the bag of pre-chopped green kale from Trader Joe’s is not good enough? Well, sure enough, that kale is called curly kale. Although pre chopped at Trader Joe’s, that particular kale, when bought whole, has ruffled leaves and a fibrous stalk and is a very deep green color. This kale has a very pungent flavor and bitter, peppery qualities that have always made me cringe at the thought of eating it raw.

Curly Kale

Ornamental kale is a more recently cultivated species that is oftentimes referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may either be green, white, or purple and its stalks blend to form a loosely knit head. If you want to eat any of the ornamental kale varieties, just make sure that they have not been treated with pesticides or other harmful chemicals since they are raised for decoration rather than human consumption. Ornamental kale has a more tender texture and mellower flavor.

Ornamental Kale

There is also a Red kale, which I also saw at Whole Foods when I went on a search for this Black kale I never knew existed. Red Kale a type of Russian kale that is super high in vitamins K, A, and C and may even help prevent cancer. Unlike other members of the brassica family, such as green dinosaur kale and mustard greens, red kale's flavor is more sweet than bitter, and its leaves are more tender. Red kale can be eaten raw in salads or it can be steamed, boiled, or sautéed. Perhaps I could have used a red kale for this salad, but I picked the black because that is what the recipe called for.

 Red Kale

Black/Lacinato Kale

Immediately upon seeing the Black kale (also called Lacinato or Dinosaur), I knew there was something different about it. It was softer in texture, more lush and darker in color, like a dark blue/green color. When I got home and washed it, I pulled one of the leaves to taste and took note of the sweeter texture. I could definitely understand now how kale could be eaten raw, it just depends on the type of kale. Also, the dressing for this dish included olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, all which when added to the kale, tossed around and left to sit for about 5 minutes, did take a lot of the bitterness out of the salad.

Tuscan Black Kale Salad (recipe is at www.drweil.com)

So, the lesson is, experiment with food. You never know what delicious new healthy recipe you might be able to create. Also, you might learn a thing or two in the process!

Let's Have Some Fun In The Kitchen-Cooking Healthy Chicken "Fried" Rice

Hey there folks,
Yes, I know it's been a few weeks since you've heard from me. Personally, I have been taking some time to try to start studying again for the Registered Dietitian Exam. Also, quite frankly, I haven't really seen anything in the news nutritionally that has given me an urge to write anything. Soooo...yesterday, I was browsing the internet in search of some new recipes to make here at home and I came across a chicken "fried" rice that I found interesting and thought I would share the play by play with you. The reason "fried" is in quotations, is because the "fried" part involves one, yes ONE...tablespoon of olive oil...not necessarily the way a restaurant would make fried rice, right?

So, let's start off with the oh-so-gratuitous shot of all the ingredients used in this recipe. I forgot to put the bottle of ground ginger out there, so you know that is a key part of making the dish taste delicious, so don't forget it! Once again, all of these ingredients, except the Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids and the ground ginger, are from Trader Joe's! I think they are going to owe me something at some point for all this publicity.

Just incase you cannot see everything in the recipe...here we have two kosher organic chicken breasts. You do not have to use kosher organic, that is just a personal preference. Two cups of brown rice, two eggs, a half an onion, one roma tomato, diced garlic (obviously it hasn't been diced yet in this picture), half a cup of broccoli, half a cup of edamame, half a can of garbanzo beans, a handful of spinach, and for seasoning, a lime, Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids (a low sodium soy sauce substitute that I swear by!) and two tablespoons of agave nectar.

So the next step (and the easiest by far), is cooking the brown rice. Feel free to use quinoa as a substitute. The recipe I saw did and it looked just as tasty. I used Trader Joe's Microwavable Brown Rice, because honestly, it tastes just as good, if not better than rice that is cooked in a rice cooker, but each bag takes three minutes to make and has two and a half servings. It's just easier and quicker.

Yay!! I love pictures of the inside of my microwave. Anyhow, moving onward...while the rice does its thing, go ahead and chop up the garlic, tomato and onions. 

Lovely. Now by this time, the rice is done cooking. So you can go ahead and and cook the edamame. It is possible to buy fresh edamame, or to buy the frozen edamame from Trader Joe's as I have done and boil it on the stove, but for time's sake, I take my half cup of frozen edamame and put it in a Pyrex measuring cup with some water and let it cook for two minutes, drain the water, and then you have your half cup of cooked edamame.

Also at this time, assuming you use canned garbanzo beans as I do for this recipe, open the can, pour out approximately half a cup and drain them in a strainer. I like to do this because this way I am reassured they are clean and residue free.

Ok, so now we are going to start all the major cooking. Let's assume at this point you chopped the chicken. For this recipe I used only one chicken breast, but you are more than welcome to use two. So fire up the stir-fry pan to HI, and put one tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. You may use more if you'd like, but one seems to be more than adequate. Then add your chopped chicken breast and let it cook for a minute before adding the other ingredients.

After the chicken cooks alone for about a minute, wash off a half a cup of the broccoli florets and add them to the stir fry. Again, you can go buy big heads of broccoli at the grocery store and cut them up if you would like, but buying the pre-chopped bag cuts back on time, which can be crucial for some people. I add broccoli first before the other ingredients because aside from the chicken, I believe it takes the longest to cook. Next, I add in the garbanzo beans and the edamame. Then the garlic, onions and tomatoes.

And now it's starting to look pretty...

Next to go in this dish is a generous handful of pre-rinsed, bagged spinach. I like to save the spinach and the eggs for last because they only need to be cooked a few minutes, especially the spinach. You do not have to use eggs if you don't want to, but the point is that it is "fried" rice...and we all know from going to Chinese food restaurants that usually fried rice has egg in it.

The last solid food item you will add to this dish is the brown rice you cooked in the microwave.

So after you have added the rice and stirred the dish around a bit, now it's time for the seasonings. I did not take pictures of this, but it is pretty simple. I don't measure my seasonings, but I would say I can estimate I use two tablespoons of Braggs Liquid Aminos (you can use low sodium soy sauce if you prefer it), one half of a squeezed lime, two tablespoons of agave nectar and one teaspoon of ground ginger. I know the agave nectar sounds weird, but trust me, it makes this dish taste amazing. Actually, ALL the seasonings make the dish amazing! 

So below is the FINAL DISH...how does it look? I think it looks amazing! And tastes amazing as well. How can you go wrong? You are getting a ton of protein from the chicken and egg, vitamins and minerals from all those veggies, fiber from the brown rice, edamame, garbanzo beans (AND of course the veggies!), and some fat from the chicken, egg yolk and olive oil.

Enjoy your Sunday...more recipes and blogs to come!