Happy Sunday! I recently discovered our local CSA. For an incredibly reasonable price I got a huge bag of fruits and vegetables for our family from local farms. I love that in the bag there are tons of kinds of fruits and vegetables that I wouldn't normally buy. Here is a recipe using Kale. I have never bought Kale in my life, but my children not only ate it, they loved it in this dish! Plus, it's a great way to use leftover coleslaw. I used a vinegar and oil based coleslaw, but I think a mayo based one will work as well, it will just be creamier.
Kale with Bacon and Onions
4 Slices Bacon (ours was brown-sugar which added to the taste!)
1/2 Cup Chopped Red Onions
4 Cups Kale, torn and lightly packed
1 Cup Cole Slaw
1 Hard Boiled Egg
1 Large Pinch Sea Salt
Chop bacon into bite-sized pieces. Throw into a large skillet and start sauteing. Add chopped onions to the skillet. Cook bacon and onions while washing and tearing the kale. Add kale to the skillet and stir. Next add coleslaw and stir. Chop hard boiled egg and add it to the skillet. Sprinkle the sea salt on top and stir. Cover and continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes until bacon is finished cooking, onions are translucent and kale has wilted completely. Stir occasionally during this time. Serves 4 to 5.
My neighbor Mathilde made us some awesome, homemade Mexican rice. We weren't able to finish it all, so the next night, I used the leftovers to make Tropical Fried Rice. This is a fun dish for summertime. It's light and flavorful. The ingredients are surprising, but their tastes compliment each other perfectly. Enjoy!
Tropical Fried Rice
Ingredients:
1/2 Large Vidalia Onion, Chopped
1 & 1/2 Cups Fresh Pineapple, Chopped
1 Package Cooked Bacon, Cut up into bite-size pieces
1 Package Immitation Crab Meat
2 & 1/2 Cups Mexican Rice
1/2 Cup Pineapple Orange Juice (or use just Orange or Pineapple Juice)
1/3 Cup Harry & David's Pepper & Onion Relish
1. Pour a thin layer of olive oil in a large frying pan or wok and heat over medium heat. When hot, add onions and pineapple. Cook 5 minutes or until onions start to become softer.
2. Add bacon, crab meat, Mexican rice, relish and juice. Cook until thoroughly heated and onions are translucent.
You're probably asking yourself who has leftover blue cheese, well we do. And like so many other things in my life, it was given to me. My mom works as a secretary at a rectory. One of the priests had a party and served a cheese tray. The priest gave my mom all of the leftover cheeses, who in turn gave it to us. I've been meaning to use it and tonight was the night. We're having chilidogs with the leftover chili from last night, so I made coleslaw to go with it. While I initially set out to make Blue Cheese Coleslaw, it turned more into Blue Cheese/Ranch Cole Slaw when my little helper, Charlie, dumped half of the bottle of Ranch into the slaw when my back was turned. I've taken some of the ranch out of my recipe so it won't be so Ranchy (is that a word?).
Blue Cheese Cole Slaw
Ingredients
1/2 Cup Mayo
1/2 Cup Ranch
1/4 Cup Parmesean Cheese
1/3 Cup Blue Cheese
1/4 Cup Honey
3 Splashes White Wine Vinegar
1/8 tsp Celery Powder
1/8 Cup Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
Pinch of Salt
16 oz Bag of Cole Slaw Mix or 16 oz of Chopped up Cabbage
1/2 Cup of Bacon
1/4 Cup of Sunflower Seeds
Mix together the first 9 ingredients in a large bowl until creamy. Slowly pour cabbage into bowl, mixing as you go along. If your cole slaw is too dry, add a bit of milk until it reaches the consistency you like (I didn't have to do this because we have a ton of ranch mixed into ours! You might not have to do it either.). When finished, add bacon and mix in. Finally, sprinkle sunflower seeds on top for an extra crunchy treat.
