Dark, Leafy Green - Part 1 ???

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been inspired to get more veggies on the table, in more creative ways. This, week, I decided to put Kale on the menu. Now, as far as I can remember, I have NEVER served kale since being married to Eli! One, I have been a little nervous tackling "greens" that I'm not very familiar with. Two, Eli has continually professed a dislike for most dark greens ... his experience with them has not been good, and he used to feed them to his pet iguana - that's what he believes greens are good for! So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I informed him we were going to have a kale salad when our friends came over for dinner Monday night - AND, that the salad had butternut squash in it. Two strikes again me.

But, he agreed to give it a whirl. So, why not?

According to Wikipedia , kale has strong antioxidant properties, and is very high in beta-carotene, vitamin K, and vitamin C. Closer to the cruciferous family (think broccoli), kale is also believed to stop the growth of some cancerous cells.

And this website lists the nutrition facts for one cup of chopped, raw kale as being 33 calories (4 from fat), with 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of protein. Pretty good if you ask me! The recipe I used came from a magazine article I had clipped asking three chefs to create a dish with peanut butter. I love all things with peanut butter ... so figured this might be a worthwhile first try!

Roasted Squash and Kale Salad

Peel, seed, and cut 1 butternut squash in 1 inch chunks. Toss with 2 T. olive oil, 3 T. brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. sale, and 1/2 tsp. pepper; bake for 25 min. Cool. Toss with 1 lbs. thinly sliced kale and 1/4 c. thinly sliced red onion. In a blender, puree 2 tsp. soy sauce, 1 T. fresh lime juice, 2 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. sugar, 2 T. peanut butter, 2 T. minced ginger, and 1 T. water. (I used my mini food processor). Drizzle salad with dressing and serve.

Overall, we really liked the salad. I mixed in some cut up lettuce - because kale is pretty bitter and I wanted our first try to be the best it could be! Also, the grocery store I shop at was out of butternut squash, so I substituted a sweet potato. I would eat it again! And our guests and Eli all claimed they enjoyed it! So, give it a try!

Now I might find another one to try next week ...