Sauteed Kale with Craisins & Pine Nuts

Sauteed Kale with Craisins & Pine Nuts

I can say with certainty that my grandmother's cast iron skillet has never seen kale.  I think she would be proud!  This was easy, sweet, nutritious, and delicious!  The combination of coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, dried fruits etc. is wonderful. Give this one a try for a healthy side dish or a vegetarian main dish.  

Sauteed Kale with Craisins & Toasted Pine Nuts

The Chef In My Head

Serves 4 as a main dish

1 medium onion, sliced thin
2 bunches of Kale, stalks removed and chopped 
2+ T coconut oil (always amazing with kale)
1/4 c craisins or mixed dried fruits
2 T cider vinegar
salt to taste 

1 tsp. dried pepper flakes (optional)

3 T pine nuts, toasted in dry skillet

Heat a large cast iron pot on medium heat and add coconut oil. Add onions and saute for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add kale - pile it up - pour on the vinegar and then put a lid on the pan. Keep the heat low and stir often to soften up all the kale/make the onions translucent. The coconut oil should coat the leaves and help moisten things, but you can add a few teaspoons of water if it seem a little dry. After 5 minutes or so, add the craisins and some salt. Continue cooking another 5-10 minutes until kale, onions, and craisins are soft.  Toss in dried pepper flakes, if using.  Serve with toasted pine nuts on top as garnish!

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Indian Spiced Quinoa

Indian Spiced Quinoa

Just arrived home from our Annual Spring Break Trip to St. George Island Florida and started rummaging around the pantry for something to whip up (detox).

All those jars of healthy goodness!

  

What's she talkin about???

We have hops and barley, that's healthy!

All that pre-planning in my pantry is paying off!  This super tasty and quick recipe was perfect!

Indian Spiced Quinoa

The Chef In My Head, adapted from All recipes

Makes approx. 2 cups

 1 tablespoon olive oil

 1 lagre shallot, chopped

 1 large clove garlic, minced

 3/4 cup quinoa

 2 teaspoons curry powder

 1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

 1 teaspoon cumin

 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

 1 dash cayenne pepper

 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

 1 (14 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in hot water and drained

 1/4 cup dried cranberries,  soaked in hot water and drained

Directions

1. Stir together the olive oil, onion, and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the shallot has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the quinoa, curry powder, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes until the quinoa is tender.

2. Once the quinoa has finished cooking, stir in the drained garbanzo beans, toasted pine nuts, raisins, and cranberries.  Serve warm or cold.

Surprisingly filling!  Can be served over a bed of rocket/arugula.  I molded mine in rings just to make it pretty!

Enjoy!

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Goat Cheese, Pesto, Dried Fruits, and Pine Nuts OH MY!

YUM!

This is delicious and the world's easiest and fastest appetizer to put together!  The original recipe came from my sweet friend Janet in North Carolina which she served as a starter before a fabulous dinner at her home(full dinner on  later post).  I switched things up just a bit.  The original recipe called for dried cranberries, to that I also added chopped dried apricots.  This is a winner Janet, thank you!

Goat Cheese, Pesto, Dried Fruits and Pine Nuts

2-4 oz packages soft goat cheese

4 - 6 T. Pesto

1/2 C dried Cranberries

1/4 C dried Apricots, diced

1/3 C Pine Nuts, toasted

Your favorite crackers

Spread goat cheese in the bottom of low profile serving dish or plate.  Spoon pesto on top and spread to cover goat cheese.  Sprinkle mixture of dried fruits on top of pesto.  Sprinkle toasted pine nuts over dried fruits.  Serve with crackers or toasted baguette slices.  

Takes less than 5 minutes to prepare!  Goat cheese is a breeze to spread if you remove it from the refrigerator a few minutes before you assemble this.

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Tagliatelle with Chicken, Pine Nuts & Sultanas

We LOVED this pasta!!! I took it on faith and tried this recipe. Faith, and I'm not kidding. Rosemary is not my favorite herb, chicken I can take or leave, and who ever heard of raisins (sultanas) in pasta?? So here is how this oddity arrived in our pasta bowls.... I was addicted to "Tyler Florence Fridays" (not just because he looks good in a sweater) and now since that site is basically over, it has been replaced with "I Heart Cooking Clubs" (see button in my blog). This week is Nigella Lawson's Potluck. Basically, you cook one of her recipes and submit it. Since I have never tried any of her recipes, this seems like a good time, what the heck? It was delicious! I'm not kidding, REALLY delicious!! The combination of the sweet and savory was divine. Super quick (and cheap) to put together. The fresh flavors really popped!

Tagliatelle with Chicken adapted from Nigella Lawson

1 (3-1/2 pound) chicken, (I used 3 large chicken breasts)

2 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Leaves from 3 rosemary sprigs, finely minced

1/3 C sultanas (raisins), soaked in warm water for 30 minutes

1/2 C pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 pound tagliatelle

2 to 3 Tbls chopped parsley leaves

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.

Rub the chicken with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper, then place it in roasting pan and for about 1 hour, or until well browned (if using whole chicken, adjust cooking time accordingly). It's done with the juices run clear, not pink, when you cut into it. When the chicken is nearly ready, put abundant water on for the pasta, salting it when it boils.

Take the chicken out of the oven and roughly cut into small pieces. If you can take the heat, try just pulling it apart, without a knife. Nigella stresses here to keep and serve the pieces with the beautiful crisp brown skin attached!

For the sauce, pour all the juices from the roasting pan into a small saucepan. Add the rosemary, the drained sultanas and the pine nuts. Begin to simmer the sauce when you are ready to cook the pasta. (I added a little more olive oil and a small pat of butter since I didn't have the amount of pan juices I would have, had I used a whole chicken cut up). This sauces smells amazing!

Cook and drain the pasta, and toss it with the sauce, chicken pieces, and parsley in a large warmed bowl.

Serves 4 (or 2, with me going back for seconds) Shockingly good!

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