Simple Kale Salad with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette

This recipe is an original recipe but it was inspired by a friend who told me if you massaged kale with citrus juice it would soften it. I only can stomach kale cooked when chopped into very small pieces so I was hopeful I could learn to enjoy kale in abundance and raw. This salad did it for me. It's very simple so you are free to add whatever you like to it or eat it alone as a side. You could easily add some grilled chicken or fish with an assortment of fruit and other veggies.

This salad was so good I was even able to get my dog to eat kale!

Ingredients:
1 head of curly kale, washed and chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced, or 2 heaping tsp of garlic from a jar
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 tsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning
3 heaping tbsp of parmesan or romano cheese, finely grated
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Wash and tear the kale leaves off of the stems and discard the stems.
2. Chop the leaves into bite size pieces. Place in a large bowl.
3. Add lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper in a seperate bowl. Mix well with a fork or whisk until the ingredients are relatively combined.
4. Pour over the kale leaves and toss and massage the kale in the vinaigrette for 1 minute or so.
5. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to let the lemon juice tenderize the leaves.
6. When ready to eat, sprinkle parmesan over the kale and toss again. Enjoy!

Crispy spicy kale chips

Made these a few times and I'm learning this is the only way I like curly kale. I enjoy dinosaur kale in soups but curly kale is too bitter for me, unless it is in chip form!

This recipe is tweaked a bit from this food network recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/crispy-kale-chips-recipe/index.html

Ingredients:
1 head of curly kale
1.5 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of red chili flakes
1 tsp chipotle spice
Sea salt to taste

Directions:
1. Wash and pat dry kale. Tear the leaves from the stem and discard the stems.
2. Chop kale leaves so they are in 1 to 1.5 inch pieces.
3. Toss the kale in 1.5 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of red chili flakes, 1 tsp of chipotle spice, and sprinkling of sea salt.
4. Place kale evenly on a cooking sheet. I often cover mine with foil to help with clean up.
5. Put in the oven at 270 F for 15-20 minutes.
6. Shake the pan half way through cooking or use a spatula to mix the leaves up to brown all sides.

Lentil, sweet potato, and kale soup

This recipe turned out to be better than I expected, highly recommended! Though, I actually could have done without the sweet potato. It made the soup a little starchy and grainy. This is great for leftovers and to have for a few days. It makes about 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:
1 cup of dried brown lentils
1.5 cups of kale
1 large sweet potato, diced and peeled
4 cups of vegetable stock
3 cups of water
Salt to taste
1/4 cup of fresh lime juice
2 tomatoes, diced
2 tsp fresh, grated ginger
Shitake Mushrooms (optional)
1 large onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
Cilantro as a garnish
2 Tbsp of curry powder
2 tsp of all spice
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp all spice
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp garlic powder
Pepper to taste

Add spices to liking if more or less is needed.

Preparation:
1. Dice onion
2. Dice tomatoes
3. Peel, mince, and finely chop fresh ginger
4. Peel and chop sweet potato, I microwaved my diced sweet potato on a plate for 2-3 minutes to soften before putting in the soup.
5. Wash and shred kale
6. Wash and slice mushrooms

Directions:
1. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large soup pot
2. Add diced onion into the oil, let cook for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Stirring occasionally.
3. Add ginger, tomatoes, and mushrooms and continue to saute for 5 minutes.
6. After the onions are translucent and the tomatoes softened, add the curry powder, all spice, salt, cinnamon, and garlic powder and continue to saute for 3 minutes.
7. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock and water to the pot
8. Add the 1 cup of dried lentils and the cubed sweet potato.
9. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes
10. Add kale, lime juice, pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste to the soup.
11. Let simmer for about 20 more minutes until sweet potato is soft and lentils are cooked.
12. Add cilantro as a garnish when soup is ready.

This recipe was modified from the one from this blog...http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2013/01/vegan-sweet-potato-and-lentil-soup.html