new ingredient: kale

this last week i finally got back to the 'seven best foods for women' series i've been making my way through. so far, i've cooked with tomatoes and flaxseed. next on the list was kale, another ingredient with which i've never cooked before.

here's what cooking light has to say about kale: An under-appreciated leafy green, kale is chock-full of a lot of good things for health in general, and some for women in particular. Antioxidants like lutein and zeazanthin protect the eye. Add to that a day's worth of vitamin C and small amounts of calcium. But tag its womanly superstar status to vitamin K, a potent bone builder. Researchers find that women who eat diets rich in vitamin K are at lower risk of hip fracture. Seems the body requires vitamin K to activate bone proteins needed to ward off osteoporosis, the crippling bone disease that strikes women four times more often than men. According to the website, at 36 calories per cup cooked, the sky's the limit.

the recipe that went with it was 'quick kale with bacon and onions.' it's got bacon, so it's got to be at least consumable, right? i wasn't too suspicious, as i like cooked spinach. but i was, just a little.

i started with two big bunches of kale, as the recipe called for 10 cups chopped, and i think i had more than that, but, like spinach, it really wilts and cooks down when put over heat, so two bunches wasn't too much.

after browning the onions you add the kale in two batches, the second time letting it simmer a while to tenderize the leafy green. while it was simmering i fried and chopped the bacon, throwing in a good amount of extra. the entire recipe only called for two strips, and that's just not enough in my kitchen.

looks ok, right? the healthy dose of bacon ended up being about right. not sure how many strips i ended up putting in the kale, after i'd finished snacking on several as they finished frying. :-)

it ended up being pretty good, but, to tell you the truth, i probably won't seek out kale to cook for this recipe again. i might give a different recipe a try, though. and, with the salt i added to the greens themselves, plus the bacon, it ended up over-salted. if i was to make it again, i'd leave out the straight salt, add in the extra bacon and it'd probably be ok. it didn't help that i used store-bought bacon, which tends to be way more salty than bacon from the local locker.

here's the link to the recipe: quick kale with bacon and onions.