Kale Chips

This summer The Ballplayer went to work for a couple hours a week on a farm. Really, if I had my way he would have worked there every day because he came home smiling and talking about vegetables in a way I had never seen before. It inspired him to start a garden in our back yard even through I really didn't have time this summer for it. Through his working at the farm I was exposed to what the farm offered which was a weekly organic vegetable delivery service. If you know me, I love my vegetables. So to get them brought to me weekly is a treat. A treat that cost me pennies in comparison to going to the store.

The first week there was a huge bunch of kale in my delivery. I love some kale in the winter. Zuppa Toscana is a favorite of the family. But it was summer. I had heard of the diet world making Kale chips. To be honest I hadn't tried because that's just scary sounding. But ok, I'll anything once. And if I like it, I wont share. Alright, kale chips where have you been all of my life? These are amazing! Crazy crispy and you'll never know they are a veggie! I made one tray and ate the whole tray. Word to the wise, season lightly, the kale shrinks and the the seasoning becomes more than you think. I'm not sure that there will be any kale for sauteing up in the future!!

Kale Chips
bunch of kale washed and dried
tsp olive oil (or cooking spray)
your favorite seasoning

cut or tear the whole rib out of the kale and tear or cut into chip size. They will shrink so dont make too small

I am going to wash and spin in my salad spinner. I love this tool

place on a tray

drizzle very little oil. Rub it all over the leaves. You could use a cooking spray for this and I didn't think of this until after I made them.

Season. I used a creole seasoning and used a little too much so go easy

Bake 375 for about 15 minutes

They are paper thin and crispy

These are all mine!!

Oven Roasted Artichokes

I am always looking for a new way to make artichokes. Our favorite has been all summer grilling them. I get bored easily and wanted to see if there was another way to make them. I have steamed them, boiled them but I have never roasted them before. The recipe is very simple. The only thing I would change is use less oil. They were tasty but oily.

Oven Roasted Artichokes
recipe adapted by
http://allrecipes.com/video/443/simply-roasted-artichokes/
here's what you need
artichokes
olive oil
garlic
lemon
salt and pepper

 ok so these artichokes have seen better days, but regardless they need to be cleaned up, cut off the sharp edges of every leaf

 You are going to need some garlic cloves, whole

 you will not be needing the steaming pot this time

 you will need large sheets of foil for each artichoke, and I like to tear them before I start pouring oil

 these artichokes need to stand on their own so cut off the stem

 I like to use a serrated knife for my artichokes

 next cut off the top

 take a lemon and rub it along all the cuts. It will keep it from turning brown and make it pretty for the end result

 you could squeeze the lemon too but we are going to do this later. I have a lemon tree so I can do both

 so take your fingers and stretch out the artichoke. I cant do it and take pictures but once I put the camera down I went to town on the artichoke

 you can take a knife to it to dig the center too. You need to fit a couple garlic cloves in there

 ok so now the lemon really matters so I get the foil down to catch the extra and squeeze a lemon half on the artichoke

 put a little drizzle of oil on the artichoke. Go easy. The video says to down it. I disagree.

 Stuff some garlic in the center, salt and pepper

 wrap up tight. It should look like a hershey kiss

 there is no chocolate inside this kiss

 Since I am roasting artichokes I figured I would roast some some garlic too. With a knife take the head off of a head of garlic

 Put on some foil and drizzle some olive oil on it

 Roast in the oven for 1 hour to hour and half at 425. These are rather small so an hour is when I will check them

 I still made a little dip with some light mayo, dijon mustard and soy sauce

 DINNER!!!

Strawberry Chocolate Banana Bread

On my last post I made Strawberry Waffles. I had way too much strawberries leftover and the boys were bugging me all weekend to make some banana bread with some browning bananas we had so I had this wild idea to make some Strawberry Chocolate Banana Bread. But I had one problem, no recipe. And when I searched online I came up pretty blank. So I went on my own and hoped for the best.

Strawberry Chocolate Banana Bread
2 large ripe smashed bananas
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup smashed strawberries (mine happen to be a little sweetened from breakfast)
3 TB oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2 2/3 cups Original Bisquick
1/2 cup chocolate chips


begin with mashing up a couple bananas. I use two. Three works too if you like it to overpower the bread.

Take 1/2 cup of mashed strawberry mixture.

Add to the bananas

Add sugar

And Eggs, all three which oddly you only see two

to the wet ingredients add the bisquick.

and chocolate chips. I love chocolate chips...chocolate of sort for that matter

Put into either one big greased loaf pan or as I like to do, two mini loaf pans (I feel like I am splurging more when I eat two pieces of bread as opposed to two) bake 350 degrees for roughly an hour. Make sure to check it as my oven is a dinosaur

You really should let them cool before cutting but The Fireman couldn't wait to try them

So good with a pat of butter

Strawberry Waffles

Quite some time ago it was National Waffle Day. Yes I am late posting this. Shocking! I know! But even with me on my diet I had one little waffle while the boys scarfed down. Now I took the easy way out and used a box mix. My Gram would be disappointed I am sure, Waffles are only a couple ingredients but still I was a little lazy.

I like to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the mix into the waffle maker. I recently taught The Ballplayer to make pancakes and this little tip amazed him. Put the measuring cup on a plate so you don't make your counters dirty

I quickly defrosted some frozen strawberries and added a couple of TBs of sugar

mashed with a potato masher.

I love crunchy waffles

This one is mine..all mine!!