Cook when you can...

[CJB]

Sometimes I can cook and sometimes I can't. When I can cook, my favorite recipes are for the crock pot. I get the cooking part done in the morning when I have more energy. I have found one or two recipes that work well and this is one of them.

I feel better when I eat home-cooked food. After a year of strict macrobiotics, different allergy diets, low-carb, etc. That's really the only conclusion I've been able to reach. I know greens are good for you, but don't care for them unadorned, so this recipe sneaks in the greens.

Crock Bean Soup with Kale

Serves 6 (freezes beautifully)

3T olive oil
3 onions - chopped
1 carrot - chopped
3 cloves garlic - pressed
1 bunch kale - trimmed and sliced (cut it small if you want it to disappear)
1 pound dried cannellini beans - soaked overnight (or any white bean)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 qt chicken or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet heat olive oil over med high heat. Add onions, carrot and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Add kale and cook til wilted, about 3 minutes.

In a crock pot, place soaked beans, red pepper flakes, contents of skillet and cover with broth (if you need more liquid, add either more broth or water til contents are covered by 1/8").

Cook on high 8 hours or until beans are tender. Once beans are tender, add the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Per Serving: 349 Calories; 8g Fat; 19g Protein; 54g Carb; 13g Dietary Fiber; 0 mg Cholesterol; 85mg Sodium

I proofread carefully, but you know how it goes. It is 8 hours on high. Obviously, this is a very forgiving recipe and hard to screw up if the beans get cooked well enough.

From flylady.com

 

[MEKoan]

Hi CJ,

This looks like a great recipe. I love beans and I adore kale as only a vegetarian can. This looks totally delish! Makes me hungry!

Because I can't stand to chop or saute or deal with veggies needing washing, etc., I cook similar dishes to this except I use frozen veg and pre-made sauces for flavour.

I have a range of sauces in my fridge at any given time and, while it does mean I eat some things that some people either cannot tolerate or choose not to eat, it works well for me.

Like your delicious sounding soup, my diet is based on dried beans, dried chick peas, dried lentils, split peas... and brown rice. Since rediscovering dried beans, pulses, etc. I eat much better on my tiny budget.

Thanks again,
Koan

 

[MEKoan]

Truly!

I always have rice but switch up the beans and chick peas which I also love and which are a little less gassy than beans, I think, maybe

I'm 50% Brennan, by the by.

 

[_Kim_]

Hi cjbrennan

I absolutely L-O-V-E kale. Tastes like butter to me and tastes even better with butter on it

I wish I could try your soup. It really sounds so yummy, but my belly doesn't like beans or onions or garlic or tomato sauce. Oh well, I still enjoyed reading the recipe.

There is a favourite recipes/foods/menus thread over in the Community Lounge that you might enjoy contributing to.

 

[MEKoan]

For the Love of Kale

The ubiquitous home food in Kenya is ugali, a starch, and Sukuma wiki which is some kind of very kale like, if not kale itself, green simmered, with a tiny bit of onion and a teeny bit of tomato, in oil or, if I were making it , butter.

I ate it every single day for weeks unless I was forced to stay in a shmancy hotel where they did not make it. In villages, cooked in the open, it was heaven! HEAVEN!

My mouth is having memories!

Koan

PS: "Sukuma wiki" means to stretch or push the week. I wish I could afford kale to stretch the week here!

 

[_Kim_]

Sorry - I didn't know about the other thread.

Oh cjbrennan, I only posted that link so that you could find recipes or add recipes to it. It's totally fine that you posted here in the Lifestyle Management section. Now anyone that reads your recipe knows where to look for more.

Got any more crockpot recipes that you like?

 

[_Kim_]

I hope you can make some soon. I've made lots of pots of lentil soup over the years, but this is the first time I added the balsalmic vinegar and it was really good.

Vinegars are the secret ingredient in my soups. I have quite a vinegar collection: white and red wine, balsamic, rice wine, umiboshi, fig, pear, apple cider and good ol' white. However, my newest and current favorite is balsamic sludge. I took 2 bottles of cheap balsamic and simmered it on low until it reduced down to a half a bottle's worth. I use a few drops of this on veggies before grilling or a tiny splash in a soup. My apartment stunk of vinegar for days, but that only reminded me of dyeing Easter Eggs

 

[Marylib]

Collards

Collard greens are a form of kale. I grew some back when I could manage my veggie garden (it was fantastic) and it was huge. Greens forever. Kale, too, there are all kinds of kale...
okay too hungry gotta go.

 

[MEKoan]

Oh! I'm so excited that I might be able to grow kale!!!

My window (first floor) faces east but there is another 4 story apt. building about 20 feet away so there is not much in the way of sunlight. I must google to see how much it needs.

Darnation! I finally let go of tens of cans!!! I finally, after saving cans for a couple of years in anticipation of some kind of $ making crafty thingy I could make - recycled them! Not a problem, getting a grip! Quite excited!

Many thanks everyone!!!



ETA Who knew the world had so many kale lovers?! Makes me unaccountably happy to find that out. No idea why!

 

[Marylib]

Koan and kale

Is there possibly a roof to your building that you could drag yourself to in order to do kale care? Lots of light is always advantageous.

 

[sarahg]

Planted in the ground, even in Maine it was perennial...if you felt like digging into the snow piles, it grew throughout the winter under the snow, but in a pot might be a different story.


Also on Kale, there were a ton of bumper stickers floating around in Maine that simply said

" I heart kale"

(it was a picture of a heart, but you get the point)
I have no idea where they came from, but they were cute!

 

[leelaplay]

I found some, rather discouraging I'm sorry to say, info re growing kale inside. This is a good gardening link on growing kale inside. Basically I think it's sprouts and maybe herbs and some lettuce inside unless you've got lights.

It loves the outside and can survive the cold. A friend up near North Bay grew it all winter long in a not very well sealed, home-built greenhouse.

But don't give up hope - there may be a site where someone found a way to do it just waiting to show itself.

if

 

[leelaplay]

crock pot cooking

A friend sent me this link to "Crockery Pot Cooking"

Imagine that for many of us a crock pot, or just a big pot on a burner, to make the "one pot meal" (ok - maybe rice, barley, quinoa, millet.... on the side) is how we manage to feed ourselves.

I haven't tried all the links, but love the variety! When I get tired, my mind can somehow make every dish almost the same -blehh - this helps keep my creativity alive.

If you scroll down the page, you'll find charts of recipes. It starts off with meats (which of course you can do meat-free and add beans or tofu), then there's a soup/stew one, side dishes and even desserts.

if

 

[MEKoan]

I found some, rather discouraging I'm sorry to say, info re growing kale inside. This is a good gardening link on growing kale inside. Basically I think it's sprouts and maybe herbs and some lettuce inside unless you've got lights.

It loves the outside and can survive the cold. A friend up near North Bay grew it all winter long in a not very well sealed, home-built greenhouse.

If, ah well, while I'm disappointed, I'm not surprised. My apt. is worse as a farm than I have said. Not only is it very dark because of the closeness of the building next door but it is also exceedingly dry in here in the winter. It seem most inhospitable for all plant life.

Thanks much, If, for your lovely efforts on my behalf!

 

[_Kim_]

A friend sent me this link to "Crockery Pot Cooking"

I scanned through - it looks like a great resource.

Here's a tip for the gluten-free cooks out there. If the recipe called for a few tablespoons of flour, you can toss in some tapioca pearls instead. By the time the whole shebang is done, the tapioca pretty much dissolves and thickens things up nicely.

 

[MEKoan]

sing with me:

shebang shebang, yadadayadada yadadayadada