Grapefruit Kale Salad

What’s in it:

1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
celtic sea salt
1 lime
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 grapefruit, sliced and chopped

 How to make it:

Chop the kale into thin ribbons. Drizzle the olive oil onto the kale and then massage the kale with your hands. Sprinkle with salt, then add lime juice and vinegar. Add grapefruit to kale and toss salad. Allow to sit for 15 minutes so that kale softens and flavors integrate. Serve (Elana’s pantry)

Kale and Carmalized Onions

What’s in it:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 large sweet onions or white onions, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 pounds Lacinata kale, middle stems removed, leaves cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

How to make it:

 In a large saute pan, over medium heat add the olive oil; when hot add the onion and cook until the onion is lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and cook for another 4 minutes or until the onions are soft and caramelized. Add the kale to the pan, raise the heat to medium high. Add the chicken stock, salt and red pepper; cook, stirring until the kale begins to wilt, 4 minutes. Continue to cook until most of the chicken stock has evaporated and the kale is tender, another 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately. (food network)

 How to make it:

In a 4- to 5-qt. pan over medium heat, cook bacon, stirring, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Pour bacon and fat through a fine strainer into a bowl. Return 5 tbsp. fat to pan; discard the rest. Add onion, garlic, and bay leaves and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onion is pale golden, 5 minutes. Toss in kale; cook, stirring, until wilted. Add 1 cup water, half the bacon, 2 tbsp. each soy sauce and coconut vinegar, the pepper, and chile. Simmer, covered, adding water if pan gets dry, until kale is very tender, 60 minutes. Add soy and vinegar to taste. Serve sprinkled with remaining bacon.

Kale Chips
1 bunch of kale, curly works best to hold the coating
1 cup raw cashews soaked for at least 1 hour, up to overnight, then drained
1 bell pepper – red, yellow or orange
1 jalapeno pepper
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp pink himalayan salt

Clean the kale and try to get as much moisture off the leaves as you can. If you don’t then you’ll water down your coating. Cut out the large stem but don’t chop up the leaves if possible. When they dry out in the dehydrator they get a lot smaller. If you cut up the kale then you’ll end up with little little pieces rather than chip sizes. Put kale in a large bowl and set aside. Place remaining ingredients in a blender and blend until very smooth. Pour this mixture over your kale and mix. Your clean hands are really the best tool here. I’ve tried tongs, spoons, etc, but using your hands enables you to coat every crevice of the kale leaves. Now they’re ready for the dehydrator. They stay in for about 24 hours. I don’t have the awesome excalibur dehydrator yet because the one I bought was in haste to try some other raw recipe that I couldn’t wait to try. So I got a cheap circular one from Target. What that means is that I have to rotate my trays a couple of times during the drying time, and I also flip the chips over once. I’m not familiar with other dehydrators so not sure if rotating and flipping is necessary when using other brands. One last thing, I got lazy once and didn’t take them out of the dehydrator when they were done and they got stale – sort of chewy and lost their crispness. So when they are done put them in a container right away. Enjoy!

Lemon Kale Chips

What’s in it:

1 bunch kale (prepared and washed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt

 How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350°. Chop kale into ½ inch pieces. Place kale in a large bowl. With hands massage oil, lemon juice and salt into kale. Place kale on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes until kale is dark green and crispy. Cool and serve (Elana’s Pantry)