Curly Kale Chips

I have a TON of kale, from our organic community farm share.  Not a huge fan of wilted kale (it reminds me of cooked spinach) I was looking for something else to do.  I've heard a lot about Kale Chips, and as I had the material and it takes little to no time to prepare, I figured I would try it out.

~10 kale leaves (it cooks down a lot, and is seriously addicting, so the amount you do really should depend on how much you will eat)
2 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea salt
Pepper
Shredded Locatelli Romano cheese

Tear the kale away from the purple stems in handfuls.  Larger chips tended to be harder for me to eat, so I would recommend pieces between 2 and 3 inches.
Toss the kale in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper until well coated.
Coat the baking sheets with cooking spray and spread out your kale pieces, so not very many of them are touching.

Bake your kale chips at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  At 10 minutes I tested one, and mine were done.

Put in a bowl and toss the chips with a little cheese and salt (I love salt...) and enjoy!

~Shae

Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

This recipe came from having lots of good ingredients and a little boredom on hand.  I had a bone-in venison roast from the crock pot made the day before that needed to be used, but this soup would be GREAT with sausage.  Frozen squash reduced down with the broth and made a very good base.  Fresh squash may do the same, but I think it would leave chunks of squash.  This is a seriously healthy soup that tured out really delicious too

Extra virgin olive oil (of course)
1/2 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb bone in roast chopped or 1 package hot Italian sausage, cut in small pieces
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots peeled and chopped
1 package frozen butternut squash (or fresh if ya got it- peeled, cleaned, and cut)
8 cups low sodium beef broth
1 bunch kale, sliced
1 TBS ground cumin
1 TBS paprika
1 dash cayenne
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp fresh basil
salt to taste
1 cup dry lentils
1/4 cup dry quinoa

Heat oil over medium heat.  Cook onions and garlic until turn transluscent (don't burn the garlic!).  Add celery, carrots, and meat (if using cooked roast or already browned anad drained sausage, cook the veggies till softened first).  Add squash, spices, broth, and lentils and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about an hour or until the lentils cook.  Return to a boil and add quinoa and kale then reduce and simmer for length of time it takes to cook whatever kind of quinoa you're using. 

Sweet and Spicy Pasta

1 package of quinoa pasta (or regular pasta)
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1+ cup chopped kale
4 cloves garlic
Chopped basil
1 pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
8 oz feta or other salty crumbly cheese

Boil the pasta. sauté onion in oil, add garlic, add chopped peppers, add kale and spices. Sauté until cooked to your preference (5-10 mins). Toss saucers veggies in pasta and add feta.

This is so easy, very healthy, sweet/spicy/ and a little salty from the feta. I served with baked lemon basil salmon.

Mexican Chocolate Almonds

Had most of a bar of Brix dark chocolate (Thanks Shae!) and a big bag of raw almonds...

Almonds
Dark chocolate (70% or higher)
1 tbs vanilla
1/3 shot espresso
1 tbs cinnamon
less than 1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp arrowroot starch (optional)

Roast almonds on 325F for 20 minutes.  Melt chocolate and stir in other additions. You can put the almonds in and remove them to dry on parchment OR add the arrowroot starch.  This will make the chocolate denser. Mix in the almonds and press combination into a baking dish.  Refrigerate and then chop chocolate and almonds as pictured.  I think it looks fancier this way, but both ways= delicious

Chicken Wing Sauce

This recipe is by a man from Buffalo NY, so you know it's got to be good.  My only change was cutting back the butter... A LOT

2 TBS butter (recipe called for half cup, I think you can completely cut it out)
1/3 cup hot sauce (Frank's, Tpete, I used portuguese pepper sauce called piri piri)
1/3 cup ketchup
2 TBS honey

mix, toss, (I tossed it on oven chicken tenders - chicken breast strips dipped in egg and dredged in breadcrumbs mixed with salt, pepper, garlic, and baked at 8 minutes each side on 400), enjoy!

Baked Banana Berry French Toast

Healthy breakfast is the best, but it still needs to taste good. The best part about this recipe is it took10 minutes to assemble before bed, then bake it in the morning while you're getting ready!

2 eggs + 3 egg whites beaten (or egg beaters)
1 cup soy milk
1 tbs Vanilla extract
1 dash Almond extract if you have it
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbs cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Bread (I used Arnold's Health Nut bread)
Bananas, blueberries, or other berries
light brown sugar
butter for baking dish

Combine first 7 ingredients. Lightly butter a baking dish. Soak the bread slices in the egg mixture.  Arrange a layer of drenched bread, a layer of fruit sprinkled with brown sugar, another layer of bread, then pour remainder of egg mixture on top of entire dish.  Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat oven to 350.  Sprinkle top a little brown sugar and bake covered for 20 minutes then uncovered for 25ish minutes (until top is golden brown and a little puffed).  Allow to cool.  Serving ideas- more fruit,  chopped nuts, honey, maple syrup

Beth and Annie were my taste testers.  I served it with venison sausage balls (equal parts sausage/ bisquick/ cheddar) and they seriously raved :) venison sausage courtesy of my Dad... SO good, organic, less fat. Boom.