Cranberry Pecan Kale Salad

Here is the story of how I ended up getting Dino Kale home. I usually buy just a bunch of regular kale. You know, the curly leaves kind! So I was at Whole Foods one day and when I went by the greens, there was an old man stocking up. He was blocking the kale that I wanted. Before I could open my mouth, he asked me if I wanted Dino Kale. I said, no just regular. Curiously I told him that I have never tried dino kale. He got excited to explain to me all about Dino Kale. So pretty much what I write below is what I heard from him. Now Dino Kale is the kale that I buy regularly.

Dino Kale or Lacinato Kale are wide leaves and not curly but flat. They are less tart than the original ones. When you want to use them, trim the bottom stem part and place it in water, like you would do with flowers or cilantro or parsley. These leaves perk up and looks as fresh as out of farm in about half an hour.
The best part of these kale is my kids love it too. Dino name gave them a kick in the first place. Since they are less tart they happily finished it off. Pecans well they pick them and give it to us.

Prep Time: 15 min | Serves: 4
* Serving Size: 1 Heaping Cup | Calories: 160 | Carbs: 20 | Fat: 10 | Protein: 3 | Sugar: 10 | Sodium: 31

Ingredients:
Lacinato/ Dino Kale - 1 big bunch
Dried Cranberries - 1/2 Cup
Pecans - 1/3 Cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp.
Pepper (freshly grounded) - 1/4 tsp.
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp.
Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp.
Olive Oil - 1 tbsp.


Method of Preparation:

~ Wash the Kale under running water for few minutes. Fill a large bowl with water and let the kale soak in there for few more minutes. Any dirt in the will settle below.
~ Take them out and dry it out in salad spinner or just lay them out on towel for few minutes.
~ Chop them coarsely and put it in a serving bowl.
~ In another small bowl, mix cranberries with lemon juice and it's zest.
~ Mix this with the chopped greens, along with all other ingredients, salt, pepper and pecans. Lastly pour olive oil and mix them all gently.
~ To serve this cold, cover and chill for half an hour in the refrigerator.

Notes:
~ You can use any kinds of greens you like.
~ Parmesan or Feta Cheese works wonderfully with this combination. I tend to skip coz not all are cheese lovers at our home. So we put as much as we individually want.

* Disclaimer: Nutrition fact is based on ingredients that I have used and is an approximate. It is calculated using Recipe Nutrition Calculator from a health website.

Mashed Sweet Potato

Mashed potatoes are a staple food over here in US. We like mashed sweet potatoes or yams better than the white potatoes. It's much more flavorful I think. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE potatoes, ask anyone in my family. But somehow mashed potatoes never interested me enough. Potatoes need some more perking up with added butter or cheese or sour cream. Sweet potatoes, just boiled also tastes so good and they are high in fiber and Vitamin A. So here is a simple recipe for mashed sweet potato that I do.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 6

Ingredients:

Cubed Sweet Potatoes - About heaped 3 cups
Milk - 2 Cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Pepper - 1 tsp.
Cayenne Pepper (optional) - 1/2 tsp.
Paprika - 1 tsp.
Dry Parsley - 1 tsp.


Method of Preparation:
~ Add milk and sweet potatoes in a wide pan and bring the milk to boil. Keep a check, so it doesn't burn the bottom.
~ Check with a fork if sweet potatoes are done after about 10 min. Once the sweet potatoes are cooked add all other remaining ingredients. Using a potato masher, slowly mash all the sweet potatoes to combine.
~ Serve it warm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy Valentines Day Everyone! We are snowed in today. Had more than a foot of snow. And we are expecting more tonight. Spring seems to be too far out! Well to keep the kids busy we did many activities with them. One of them was preparing Valentine's day card for exchange at my son's school. I had gold coin chocolates and wanted to see if we can do something with it. I found this link, about making cute Valentine card and was thrilled coz it was pretty simple. Isn't it neat. So apt for the ongoing Olympic fever going around in his school too.

Anyways, then came the baking part. I prepare these chocolate chip cookies many times, it's very simple, fool proof recipe. It's already there on my blog here. But thought will re-post with some new clicks.

Prep Time: 15 min | Baking Time: About 10 min each batch | Makes: About 3 to 4 dozen.

Ingredients:
Multi-grain Flour + AP-Flour - 2 1/4 Cup
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Unsalted Butter - 1 Cup
Brown Sugar - 1 Cup
White Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp.
Eggs - 2
Dark chocolate chips - 1 1/2 to 2 Cup

Method of Preparation:
~ Preheat the oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.
~ In a small bowl sieve flour, baking soda and salt and keep it aside.
~ In another bowl beat melted butter and sugar until combined.
~ Now add the eggs and vanilla extract, beat until it becomes fluffy.
~ Add the dry ingredients in batches. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips using a spatula.
~ On a cookie sheet, set a parchment paper. Scoop out cookie dough and drop them onto it. Keep them about 2 to 3 inches apart.
~ Bake for 10 minutes, take out leave it for few minutes to cool and then place them on wire rack to cool them completely.

Chicken Kabob Bites

These Chicken Kabob Bites are very easy compared to any appetizers I make in terms of cooking method and time. But my only complain about this is when I really have to make those little balls of the chicken mixture. It takes easily about 15 to 20 minutes. Still nothing compared to some of the other appetizers right. To top it, not only it's protein packed, it has hidden goodies.

I came up with these little kabob bites a while ago, when experimenting with what all dishes I could come out with ground chicken. My kids literally live on this one dish if they could. Even when I make these for parties or families who come over, most of them fill themselves with this. So whenever I plan on having kabob bites for appetizer, I tend to keep rest of the menu very simple. Because there will be not many takers. And whoever had asked if this recipe was on my blog, I would wonder why haven't I put it up for so long. Even when I tell them the recipe they wanted me to put it up on the blog to share their love for these. I at last overcame from pure laziness of clicking pictures and eventually here it is.

Prep Time: 30 min | Cooking Time: 10 min *

Ingredients:

Ground Chicken - 1 pound (About 1/2 kg)
Grated Zuchini/ Carrot - 1 Cup
Spinach (or any greens) - 1 Cup (Chopped fine)

Bread Crumbs - 1 cup bread crumbs

Egg - 2 large

Parsley/ Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

Shredded cheese - 3/4 cup

Chili Powder - 1 tsp.

Ginger - 1 lemon size, grated
Garlic - 3 pods - grated

Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ In a wide mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients except ground meat.
~ Lastly add chicken and GENTLY combine the mixture.
~ Line two baking sheets with foil and spray them.
~ Now make small balls of the mixture (gently please) and arrange them with an inch of distance, on the foil.
~ Broil** them for 10 minutes, turning them once in-between. Time depends upon how close or far you are from broiler. I keep it at first level
~ Serve them with once hot sauce/ ketchup/ green chutney.

Note:

~ Do not add meat until all other ingredients are combined. Mix only until combine once meat is added. That's the secret to getting juicy meatballs.
~ Any other kind of ground meat can be used. I often use lean turkey meat.
~ * Cooking time is dependent upon the size of the meat balls.

~ ** If you don't have oven with broiler, you can always pan fry these.