The 1st of April goes a-somethin like this

We had a busy day yesterday.  We had 4 families over for dinner.  Most of them had no idea we were setting them up for an April Fools Dinner.  Good times.  Here is what was on the menu:

It was embarassing, really.  Everyone got here and dinner was still in the oven and looked like it needed more time.  SO we started with dessert. It was April Fools Day after all…

Probably my worst decorated meatloaf and mashed potato cake ever as it was having some issues. You can see I did the same thing in a cupcake version in the background.  Those were more popular with the kids.  Here is a better looking cake from a few years ago. People kept asking me what kind of cake it was (still had no clue) and I just had to smile and grin and say that it is a very special recipe that we only do once a year!

 

Served with our signature punch.  Raspberry, Cherry, or Strawberry Banana Jell-O.  This one really got people.  Even when you carry it you don’t notice it right off.  I’ve read some where people will put just a tiny bit of juice on top after it has solidified to make it look more liquidy but it worked fine without.  We also served rolls and corn but I didn’t do anything weird special to them. Oh and Mac N Cheese for the kids, just in case they didn’t like the cake.

The kids loved eating the Jell-O with their straws.  They managed to keep their dessert conversation overflowing with jokes such as, “Hey, you have a monkey on your face…. APRIL FOOLS!”  I had to remind them to eat their dessert so they can have dinner….

… and I had to remind the adults to save room for dinner.  Because it was awesome.  We had roast turkey.

This is a turkey cake, complete with white and dark “meat” (vanilla cake and applesauce spice cake) and rice krispie drums and wings.  I put it in the oven before guests arrived so I could pull it out later.  I’m going to have to do a separate post for how I constructed this beast.  There weren’t a whole lot of helpful tutes online so my contribution to society will be a set of my own with tips on what I will do differently next time :) so look for the tutorial soon. BTW I found most people that made turkey cakes make them for Thanksgiving. It was insane cutting into the cake, I felt like I was carving a turkey.

And thanks to a fun idea from a friend we served peas and carrots on the side.  I got lazy and just made excess rice krispies into cupcakes and frosted them, topped with quartered orange Starbursts and green Sixlets. 

And the mashed potatoes, gravy and butter was a nice compliment to the cake.  Vanilla ice cream, yellow Starbursts, and caramel sauce.

Hope your April the 1st was just as silly!

Chinese New Year Giveaway

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and rest assured we will have several upcoming posts for the holiday. Since we are living in the States, this is largely a holiday celebrated with lots of food and not much else. This year in Kitchenland we will be sharing gift ideas, food adventures, kid fun, and cultural traditions with you.

To get the ball rolling, I wanted to invite all of you to participate in our Chinese New Year Blogtivity – Dim Sum Of All Fears. Not the most brilliant of titles I know but let me explain. I love to cook Chinese food of all kinds but I feel there is definitely room for improvement. There are things that I need to fine tune and there are other things that are flat out intimidating to me. I LOVE dim sum and if you’ve been to a dim sum eatery (versus one that merely serves dim sum on the side) you will know what I mean when I say that it is overwhelmingly awesome! They are both delicious and most often very beautifully presented and while I’ve made a couple types of dim sum, I’ve been too scared to really dive in and try making all of my favorites.

Traditional dim sum seems pretty loosely defined as “dishes … [of] small portions and may include meat, seafood, vegetables, as well as desserts and fruit.” (Wikipedia) The typical ways to cook dim sum are by steaming or frying the mini morsels but really anything goes here. I for one will be focusing on dim sum for the full 15 days, some will be savory, some will be sweet, dim sum for kids, a some non-food related etc. Be sure to check back often!

THE GIVEAWAY AND CHALLENGE

Let's conquer our fears together! For this challenge, we will be offering one (1) lucky winner an adorable pair of girl and boy chopstick trainers from Chopstick Kids. Really, they may seem like a kid item but I bet you know at least one adult that could benefit from these! To enter the drawing it really is too simple:

1. Leave one (1) comment below and tell me what food(s) you fear to make and why. Can be any type of food.
2. You must live in New Zealand, Hong Kong, or the US to qualify :)
3. Entry deadline is midnight February 9th.

That’s it! For a bonus entry you may do the following:

1. Make the food you fear to make.
2. Blog about it, or for non-bloggers email me (thekitchenpost{at}gmail{dot}com) between Jan 26th and Feb 9th. Include pictures and recipe if you can!

The winner will be chosen in a random drawing by judge Aedan and announced on February 10th. Best of luck and good fortune to all of you this new year!

Momma, Me A Pizzeria!

Daring Bakers October challenge! This month's challenge was hosted by Rosa's Yummy Yums and the challenge was to make some basic pizza dough (see her blog for recipe), toss it (with pics/video to document it), and top with any flavors we desired but had to consist of sauce and toppings. Oh sure, pizza may seem old-hat but in the past I didn't want to even attempt tossing it because I can be a spaz when it comes to these sort of things. But surely rolling the pizza dough works just as well right?

Aside from my poor stage presence and bad form, I'd have to say I fulfilled that part of the challenge. This recipe makes 6 small pizzas and it was a good thing because I needed to have extra dough just to account for my mistakes (I actually doubled the dough recipe to account for that..). My first try ended up on the floor. Ewww. I tried another bit of dough and rolled it out instead. I was so disappointed with the lack of stretching and good shaping that was occuring so I decided to try tossing it again. I will say that it works best with dough that has been relaxed and sitting for a while, meaning, if I made a mistake and tried to work it back into a ball, it wouldn't relax enough for me to toss it. But if I made a mistake (huge gaping holes were common) then I would just ball it up again and let it sit and come back to it later and it'd be just fine.

Problem is though, with this kind of challenge there are so many possibilities that I had a very hard time narrowing down my final choices. My sweet little baby niece just had some major surgery for her hip dysplasia and came home in a half body cast and we had some family coming by to see how she was doing. We wanted to help out by providing food and so we made a big family luncheon out of this challenge. I decided on making 6 pizzas (I know, a lot) and with an audience of varying tastes and preferences, I thought that should be enough to satisfy all.

How did we fare you ask? We had 6 tasty thin crusted pizzas that were almost completely devoured by all. For the kids we did the basic red sauce/pepperoni/mozzerella. We did some basic red sauce/italian sausage/olive and a low fat Penzey's recipe using ground turkey and sausage seasonings plus mushrooms for the folks who just wanted it simple.

Now for the foodies, a Canadian bacon/mango/yellow tomato/brie pizza seemed like a good choice (no sauce on this one, only drizzled with olive oil). I will admit, I had high expectations for this one but it didn't quite meet it. I guess I was thinking there would be some fabulous mango flavor, like how pineapple tastes great on pizza, but it ended up being pretty dull. I suppose if you are in an area with access to super mangoes then you might want to try this. I guess the Midwest is not the place to shop for tropical fruits...

Everyone seemed to like this one: Neal had the idea to do a bbq chicken pizza and I came up with this awesome version, Emeril's smoked chicken bbq pizza with red onion, mozzerella, and basil. This recipe was terrific - it is at least worth it for the sauce recipe. The bbq sauce tastes like regular bbq but with a slight asian touch (uses sesame oil and fresh ginger) and while this recipe makes a ton of sauce, it can certainly be used for many other meals or as a good dipping sauce for your homemade chicken nuggets... Ah. Really, the sauce is thick and yummy! The chicken itself was rubbed in the homemade Emeril Essence Creole Seasoning (also included in the pizza recipe) and we cooked it on the grill prior to adding it to the pizza. Next time I would like to try grilling this particular pizza. Mmmm...

And then finally we made a pesto pizza with baby spinach, artichoke, red tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and crumbled goat cheese on top. This one seemed to be the winner of the group, closely followed by the bbq one, but unfortunately we were too eager to dig in that I didn't even get a picture of it. But really, this one was very flavorful and a fun option for the vegetarian craving you know you all have at one point or another!

And lets not forget the little lady, who, inspite of being in a cast and in a perpetual squat for the next month or so, continues to have a sweet smile for everyone. What a pleasant baby! I picked up this My Little Pony stuffed doll to match her pink cast and Neal chuckled as he said, "At least she can straddle it!" Hopefully it provides some cushion for her, poor girl!

We love you!

Carve your pumpkin and eat it too!

A lot has been going on at the Kitchen home but first and foremost I will say there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking going on (relatively speaking) as we (I) have been busy getting our Halloween costumes ready. We're excited about that but you'll have to wait until tomorrow before I can even think about giving you a sneak peek at our costume shop. But we can't let October fly by without sharing our Halloweenish traditional meal.

There has been an awful lot of fabulous pumpkin recipes going around and I never tire of the pumpkinness. Every October we make Dinner In A Pumpkin and it is a meal that needs to be shared with others. Tonite we shared our pumpkin with our local Elder Missionaries and we still have leftovers so after scanning through this recipe and it looks like something you'd be interested in, come on over to our place and I'll give you some :)

I was introduced to this fun meal by an old roomie, Mel, and I would like to thank her, wherever you are! I've adjusted it a little for our tastes and past experiences - hope you enjoy it! It makes for a fun presentation and feeds a ravenous multitude so be prepared...

Dinner In A Pumpkin

1 pumpkin (on the small to mediumish size)

1 chopped onion

2 Tbsp oil

1-2 lb ground beef

3 tsp soy sauce

3 tsp brown sugar

4 oz can sliced mushrooms or roughly 8-10 sliced fresh mushrooms

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 cups uncooked rice

1 can sliced water chestnuts, coarsely chopped

1) Carve a lid out of the top of the pumpkin. I like to find a pumpkin with a good sturdy stem to use as a handle. Pumpkins that are squatty rather than tall and skinny are ideal, easier to scoop out the dinner. Gut out the pumpkin seeds and gooey flesh.

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a pizza pan or large cookie sheet with foil.

3) Cook rice per package instructions.

4) Heat oil in large pan. Cook meat until brown. Add onion and cook until tender. Combine with mushrooms, canned soup, soy sauce, brown sugar and simmer 10 minutes.

5) Add cooked rice and chestnuts and mix thoroughly. Scoop rice mixture into pumpkin, filling it up as much as possible, still allowing the lid top to fit back completely. Place pumpkin on lined pan. *If you are using a larger pumpkin it is okay to have some headspace. Just be prepared for it to sag a lot more after it is cooked.

6) Cook pumpkin for 2 1/2 hours or until pumpkin flesh is tender and the pumpkin has started sagging a little.

7) To serve: since the pumpkin will be tender and saggy, you would be best to not trasnfer it and just serve it on the pan that it was baked on. Place the lid on and guests can lift the lid and scoop out rice and scoop the sides for their pumpkin. The pumpkin will need a little salt to enhance the taste but I usually leave that up to the individual to do on their own. Place the lid back on the pumpkin to retain heat and moisture. Can also serve with toasted almonds or walnuts on top!Ghoulish grins go all around with this meal!

Nothing of Supreme Importance

I was hoping to sneak by without posting for a while (only a week, come on!) but it seems that you know me a little too well and some were beginning to get worried... Rest assured that we are doing relatively well! Actually, a whole lot of nothing has been going on for us. I just don't think I can bring myself to write about each little thing so I'll give you some big ol' pics and you can feel free to imagine the details.

If I'm feeling generous this week I might submit some of these recipes....

Ok the above movie posters are sized to our/my preferences: big = totally rocks, not so big = not sure if we will ever see again but not bad ... I should add that not all of these are new to us but these are all ones watched recently and/or abundantly.

Finding My Noodles

I've been keeping myself as busy as I can in the kitchen lately - the reason being that it is officially blueberry season and we are trying to use up as much as we can. However this post is not about my blueberries, as yummy as they are.

No, I'm excited to tell you about my latest find at an asian grocery store. No matter which asian grocery store I turn to, in the States and out, they always feel the same. Oh sure, they have their differences but it is the subtle similarities that make me smile. From their overpacked shelves and aisles to the way they bag the groceries by tying the handles in a knot for you, it amazes me that there is so much continuity when it comes to customer care. When I was very young, my mom or grandma would take us kids to a Chinese grocery store called Chao's (not chaos as my baba would say) and the owner was (in my opinion) an old man who loved, and I mean loved, to pinch my cheeks and say, "Oh pretty girl!" I got pretty scared of him for a while there and would hide in my mom's overcoat whenever we'd go in just to avoid the pinchers. Later in life I would shop there on my own and the old owner would give me the same sly look and say the same sly thing but without the pinching (that would have been ackward). If ever I brought a guy in with me he would shout out, "Who's the lucky man?!?!" Well I'm glad to say that since then I've been able to bring in my husband to show who the "lucky man" is and have already exposed my child to the cheek pinching experience.

There is an asian/korean grocery store we go to every now and then when we are in St Louis . We used to go solely for their blueberry marshmallows but they no longer carry them and believe me when I say that it took great effort on my part to continue shopping there after our favorite treats were taken from us. However I am very glad we continued to go there as the lady who owns the store is very darling and she is always ready to share with me something new, and it turns out, something that's always delicious. This brings me to my finds...

Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce and Brown Rice Vermicelli

The lady at the store was so excited to tell me about her salad recipe involving these items. While soy sauce and vermicelli are not new to me, I have never even heard of citrus flavored soy sauce and was very excited about the brown rice option for rice noodles. She quickly told me what to throw in the salad, and as most good asian cooks will do she never had specific measurements to give me. Oh well. I don't suppose I could get away with doing that to you... If you have trouble finding the above items, you can do this with plain soy sauce and rice vermicelli.

Chicken and Brown Rice Vermicelli Salad with Citrus Soy Sauce Dressing

Salad:

1 chicken breast

1/2 package Brown Rice Vermicelli

1 bunch Romaine lettuce heart, chopped into bitesize pieces

1 small carrot, julliened

3-4 mushrooms, sliced (I prefer baby bella)

raw cashew pieces, toasted

toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

1/2 cup Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Sesame Oil

1) Grill or sautee chicken breast until cooked through. Slice into bitesize strips and set aside.

2) Soak vermicelli in hot water and let sit until noodles have softened through. Drain the noodles. Using kitchen shears, cut the noodles into smaller, more managable pieces (noodles in salad is strange enough without having to twirl it onto your fork so I just cut it smaller, less hassle).

3) Mix together the dressing - may need to put it in a shakeable container to ensure better mixing.

4) Lightly flavor the noodles with some of the dressing mix.

5) To assemble salad, place lettuce on the bottom, then the noodles, then chicken/carrots/mushrooms, then sprinkle cashews and sesame seeds on top. Pour dressing over salad and serve.

Serves 2 big salads. (noodles should be cool)

Chew On This

As moms of fairweather eaters, we will sometimes do anything to get them to eat healthy foods and snacks because, hey, we've got to make every bite count right? Now that Aedan is starting to communicate his opinions of "I like it" or "I don't want it" I am getting worried about the oh-so-embarrassing scenes yet to come where we will be out in public or worse, at a friends house for dinner, when he might exclaim, "This is yucky! I don't want to eat that, it looks gross!" Maybe this is the way I was brought up or maybe it is Chinese culture or both, but we were never to express those kind of comments at the dinner table for to do so would bring shame to the family tree, or just hurt my mom's feelings. I've noticed that I get that way too, even though it is nothing personal, you slave in the kitchen to prepare something you hold near and dear and to have it critiqued by a toddler mouth is, at times, far from uplifting.

I was just at the doctor's office and read an article entitled Stealth Vegetable Smackdown by Catherine Newman. It was a pretty fun read and while a lot of it seemed sort of common sense to me I still came away with a fresh outlook on mealtime. I've read a lot of wonderful ideas from other sources on how to hide veggies in just about anything to add that extra bit of nutrition. However this article argues that "sneaking wholesome purées into your children's food may acquaint their bodies with valuable vitamins, fiber, and phytonutrients, but it does not acquaint their palates with vegetables', well, vegetableness. How will they ever learn to like vegetables if the vegetables are always — to quote The Godfather — disappeared?" Don't get me wrong, I am all for adding nutrition to a meal whenever I can. I especially enjoy hiding veggies in desserts to add goodness and to take away guilt. I am a sucker for zucchini bread, I crave the carrot cake, and I never refuse a fabulous chocolate beet cake.

But to get my little "no"-machine to try a veggie to develop the appreciation for vegetableness? That is the real challenge, one that may take many many years to conquer. This article brings up a point about communication being an essential ingredient - helping the child find more polite ways to pass if they are particular, or complimenting them when they do try something. I do like the idea that we (and I say we because I think parents need to set an example) have to try everything offered at least once. Sure there are lines we wont cross there - if something smells way too fishy, I am better to pass than to attempt a bite only to throw it all up. I must say this is a work-in-progress for us as Aedan will often refuse food based on look. Maybe he was traumatized by our April fools food from current and past years...

Neal tries new ways to get Aedan to eat his veggie baby food. Aedan 8 months old (pic taken Mar 2007)

Oh and something about seafood for me: my mom used to hide fish (I didn't like fish) in meals and called it chicken. When I found out it was really fish I got all upset and never wanted to eat fish ever again and I always had to question what I was eating (until I knew better, that is). Something to think about when you are hiding foods the kids already dislike, it surely can backfire. I am getting better but I still gag on the really strong stuff.

So I would love any fun ideas you might have to get your kids to eat vegetables that look like vegetables or at least ways to help them not embarrass me too much when we are out to eat :) Please, no veggie tales, I can't stand them (and this is no secret either). The article mentioned earlier came with some recipes so I may try them sometime.

My Big Fat Greek Meatball

Greek mythology has always been somewhat humorous to me - I mean no disrespect to the culture or beliefs but I think I mostly get a chuckle that the gods and goddesses seem more human-like than god-like. Maybe that was the whole point. They had just as many tantrums or love affairs as did the mortals they served and I suppose that growing up LDS I have gained a testimony that we learn and grow and repent of our mistakes, ultimately so we can become like God and the Son, Jesus Christ. I can't think of one Greek/Roman god/goddess that I would want to be like as an end product.


Take this lady pictured top left. This is Demeter, Greek Goddess of the Bountiful Harvest and the Nurturing Spirit or in Roman mythology, her name is Ceres. I suppose if I were to choose one as a role model it would be her. She was believed to bring fertility to the land, a teacher to mankind on how to cultivate the soil. She was also a very devoted mother. Demeter wasn't without flaw but she seemed far less temperamental than the other gods.

I haven't had very many opportunities to have good Greek food in my life. I used to work for a company called Isotech Laboratories, Inc. and one of the head guys working there has a wife with Grecian heritage and, oh my, she is a fabulous cook! I've had this recipe she passed on a few years ago and my herb garden is indeed bountiful this year so I thought I'd give it a shot. And now I'm wondering why I waited so long to try it as it is food surely fit for the gods (so to speak)! Just a note for future posts: you might see a lot of recipes coming up that use fresh herbs because I've got to do some major experimenting if I am going to keep up with it all.

Greek Meatballs (Keftethes)

by Terry Benson

and minor modifications by me (I sure hate to add my two bits to an old time recipe...)

2 lbs. beef, may use part lamb or pork if you like. (I did part pork)
2 cups moist bread crumbs
1 cup chopped onions
2-3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4 Tbsp chopped fresh curly parsley
3 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
2-4 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp oregano (fresh worked great)
Salt and pepper
Tomato sauce thinned with water (I used one 28oz can)

Saute onion and garlic in a little butter until lightly browned and place in mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except tomato sauce and water, and mix well (this is much easier if you put it all in a food processor). Form into small balls (use a small meatballer scoop) and roll in flour.

NOTE: Traditionally , Greek meatballs are fried in hot oil. However, her preference is oven baked and this is how it is done:

Place a little corn oil in a baking pan and line up the floured meatballs in the pan. Bake in a 375 degree oven until browned on one side, then turn and bake until second side is nearly done. Mix tomato sauce and water (only enough to come to about 1/3 of the way up the meatballs) and finish baking until meatballs are fully cooked and sauce is heated through (about 5-10 minutes).

Makes approx. 4.5 dozen meatballs

NOTE: Also traditionally, Greek meatballs are served without tomato sauce although their family prefers it with the sauce as it keeps them moist it adds to the taste. Try some without the sauce and decide for yourself how you want to serve them. I have also seen recipes that serve them with a cucumber/yogurt/mint sauce (tsatziki) on the side in place of red sauce. I'm going to try this next time.

These were served to us as an appetizer all on its own however I made a meal out of mine by serving over a bed of couscous tossed with olive oil and Tuscan Sunset spice blend from Penzey’s (a salt-free Italian mix). I know, Italian mixed with Greek. How dare I!

Next Greek food on my list of things to make is Greek Dolmades but if you have any suggestions on things I should try send them my way. I'd even take samples....

Flashbacks

I am realizing that Memorial Day weekend is a lot bigger deal in my family than in other families. We would always go up to grandma's house over the weekend and Monday morning we would wake up early to cut down flowers (iris, peonies, etc) from the backyard and hall them up to the cemetery, being sure to pick some lilacs that grew along the perimeter. We would go from one family site to another arranging beautiful sprays of fresh flowers and when we were done we would climb a big twisted tree that shades what is now my grandfather's grave site. We would all gather round to get a good laugh at what my great aunt Ruth would bring for us to eat - every year it would be brownies but every year she had some new twist in her recipe. I think I remember carrots being the new add-in one year... I think another she forgot sugar... Then there was great uncle Ralph who would tell groaner jokes and on occasion there would be a bagpipe player in the distance to drone him out, if we were lucky. And I actually miss those days!

Well, we don't do things quite the same way here. I do have a bunch of pictures to share from events from this last weekend and while things didn't go down like they used to back in the day, I still loved it all! After all, it'll be our kids looking back at crazy aunt Jackie who cooked enough meat to feed a small fraternity or silly uncle Neal who got stuck with all the leftovers...

I forgot to post this a few days ago with our temple trip blog but here is Aedan at the fountain near the front entrance. He did get wet and it was a semi-cold day.

We made a fabulous ham for Sunday dinner and used some of the leftovers for our family Memorial Day feast. I made a Penzey's ham and used some freezer raspberry/blackberry jam in place of the Raspberry Enlightenment that is used in the glaze part of the recipe (btw, I would make this again). Aedan had to sample some jam and said, "Mmmm! I like it!"

We had a lot of family over to our place for Memorial Day dinner. We had some great BBQ - we grilled hot dogs for the munchkins, and kabobs and dry rub ribs for us big kids. We are kind of converting to dry rub ribs and I tried two rub recipes from this site although this was by far the favorite recipe. The kids (Aedan with cousin H, A, and M) had fun at their table....

... while the adults had fun at theirs! I can't believe how big our family is getting!

Cousin A and M are loads of fun!

We had many other fabulous contributions to the dinner (thank you everyone!) and for dessert we had ice cream treats. I am so glad the weather allowed us to have this outdoors because Aedan was gooey with chocolate fudgesicle from head to toe (literally).

The other day cousin A came to visit and the two of them had some fun times playing!

Out of the bus, and into the food chain!

I had this post's title said to me as I was being dropped off in the wild bear/moose/caribou populated back country of Denali National Park, Alaska. We owed this thoughtful bus driver a nervous laugh.

I'll get back to Alaska in a little bit. Many times I have overlooked this pretty frilly vegetable in the produce section, never knowing its full potential. Truth be told, I actually like cabbage - I love cold slaw, love cabbage rolls, and LOVE to use cabbage in making spring rolls. But then there is kale, a form of cabbage that looks like it stuck a finger in the socket and frizzed the edges to no end. There are ruffles within ruffles. What does one do with kale?

Wikipedia is my hero today in learning me in the way of kale. Check it out (my thoughts in green):

• Kale freezes well and actually tastes sweeter and more flavorful after being exposed to a frost. Good to know as they don't sell small bunches at the store.
• Tender kale greens can provide an intense addition to salads, particularly when combined with other such strongly-flavored ingredients as dry-roasted peanuts, tamari-roasted almonds, or red pepper flakes.
• In the Netherlands it is very frequently used in the winter dish stamppot and seen as one of the country's traditional dishes, called Boerenkool.
• A traditional Portuguese soup, caldo verde, combines pureed potatoes, diced kale, olive oil, broth, and, generally, sliced cooked spicy sausage. (sounds strangely like what I made today, see below) Under the name of couve, kale is also popular in the former Portuguese colony of Brazil, in caldo verde, or as a vegetable dish, often cooked with carne seca (shredded dried beef). When chopped and stir-fried, couve accompanies Brazil's national dish, feijoada.
• Kale is eaten throughout southeastern Africa, typically boiled with coconut milk and ground peanut and served with rice or boiled cornmeal.
• This part is pretty neat: A whole culture around kale has developed in north-western Germany around the towns of Bremen and Oldenburg as well as in the land of Schleswig-Holstein. There, most social clubs of any kind will have a "Grünkohlfahrt" ("kale tour") sometime in January, visiting a country inn to consume large quantities of kale, sausage and schnapps. Sign me up. Most communities in the area have a yearly kale festival which includes naming a "kale king". What, no kale queen? Curly kale is used in Denmark and Halland, Sweden, to make (grøn-)långkål, an obligatory dish on the julbord in the region, and is commonly served together with the christmas ham (Sweden, Halland). The kale is used to make a stew of minced boiled kale, stock, cream, pepper and salt that is simmered together slowly for a few hours. The traditional Irish dish Colcannon is made from kale and potatoes. In Scotland, kale provided such a base for a traditional diet that the word in dialect Scots is synonymous with food. To be "off one's kail" is to feel too ill to eat. I've never used this phrase and now I'll have to just to confuse all around me.
• Kale is a very good source of iron, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin K and Carotenoids (which provide vitamin A). Kapow! In Japan, kale juice (known as aojiru) is a popular dietary supplement.

Apparently, I've known kale before I knew it was kale. In the late summer of '99 I went on a Geotrek Alaska trip and I saw these "ornamental cabbages" at the Anchorage LDS Temple grounds. I thought they were so funny. Yes they are pretty, but cabbages? Well they are really flowering kales which are just as edible as the ones you get at the stores. Anyway, I found them in Alaska so they must be pretty hearty plants right?

These aren't kales but check out the size of these cabbages!! The ladies are real lookers too, especially since they hadn't showered in a week when this was taken. This is in down town Anchorage.

Well now that I've filled your minds with cabbages, it is time to fill your bellies. This one is from my mom who got it from who knows where and it is a remake of the Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup. Be warned, the kale is oh-so-healthy but I am guessing the soup as a whole is not for the dieters... It is really good though. I served it with some toasted focaccia bread I got at the store but I just now drooled over la fuji mama's bread so next time I might make hers.

Grab yourself some kale and let me know what you do with it!

OLIVE GARDEN ZUPPA TOSCANA

1 lb ground Italian sausage, sweet
1 ½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
¼ of a bunch of kale

Sautee Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients. In the same pan, sautee bacon, onions, and garlic for approx 15 mins. or until the onion is soft. Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onion, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling. Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. Add heavy cream and cook until thouroughly heated. Stir in the sausage. Add kale just before serving. Delicious!