Day Three Hundred and Ten - Kale

Dear all,

I was feeling like a health-kick today so decided to pick up a large tuft of 'Curly Kale' to add a dose of powerful anti-oxidants to our dinner.

I also found a 'mammoth' piece of ginger root that made Darren gasp when I started to open up the shopping bags on arrival home. Seems that I am still having a few problems with portion control, at home and in the super market.

Curly Kale originates way before the middle ages and has a vast array of properties, all of which are extremely beneficial for us to eat. Along with its famous friend, Broccoli, Kale contains sulforaphane which is believed to have potent anti-carcinogenic powers.

I decided to up the flavor stakes ( and make it more user-friendly) by adding bacon ( this always works) so fried up a load in our cast iron pan.

I then fried up some onions, garlic and (the magic ingredient) brussel sprouts ( we eat a lot of sprouts) and then chucked in some sliced kale ( it starts big but soon reduces down) and some chopped cashews and almonds.

And there you have it! A very healthy (Bacon is good for the soul) dish packed full of vitamins and minerals; perfect for a cold winter's day! Darren loved it. Hurray!

And in other news:

1. I have been making muffins again, today I tried 'Jam Buster' muffins as I had just purchased a jar of Smuckers, Black Berry Jam.

To make them more interesting, I added some of our favorite, Black Raspberry liquor to the jam.


And here is the finished article: A little hard.. but the jam gives good moisture throughout and all in all they get a 7/10. Another triumph from Mary Lou's recipe book!