Crispy Kale Chips - I Was a Non-Believer Too

Have you seen these around? Kale seems to be "the new spinach" as Iowa Girl pointed out recently, and although I love spinach, the BS-meter of the picky kid inside me kept ringing alarm bells whenever I would hear/read someone raving about kale.

I like to think that as my tastes have expanded and matured over the years, that I am willing to try just about anything. While I still believe this is true, I am certainly much more likely to try something that just sounds delicious to start with. Like red wine braised parsnips, or Mexican black beans with cornbread, or raspberry coconut macaroons (hated coconut macaroons as a kid, and raspberries. And anything with dried coconut. But have you tried the coconut pieces from Costco?! They discontinued them from the Halifax Costco and I nearly fainted right in the store when I found out. But I digress...)

Green things are very suspicious to a picky child. They look too much like... plants. Most other colourful veggies appear mildly artificial, and dare I say fun? So despite my now favourite vegetable being brussels sprouts (admittedly with copious amounts of chevre, pecans, and a healthy glug of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup), I retain a healthy distrust of anyone claiming that a very green vegetable is delicious all on its own. Stir-fried in rice, sure. But all by itself?

Right now you might be thinking "well of course you didn't believe that kale could replace delicious potato chips!" Well, I'm going to tell you something that might make us not friends anymore:

I don't care about potato chips.

Now before you freak out, I don't dislike them. I eat them when they're there, at parties and BBQs, or when Hubby unwisely buys a bag on a road trip. But I don't choose them. I see chips as merely dip carriers, and my least favourite at that. I much prefer a tortilla chip, or pita, something extremely neutral and not-so-salty.

Long story long, I don't really care if the kale tastes like chips exactly.

What finally won me over and made me want to try this was first the half-bunch of rapidly wilting kale in my fridge, leftover from various juicing recipes and that stir-fried rice I mentioned. Second, I do love nori, which is really just the same sort of thing, right?

Well I now humbly submit, crispy kale is pretty damn good, although much like when vegetarians try to make "fake-out" meat dishes and convince you they taste just as good, you are not going to love these as a replacement for potato chips, if you have a love on for potato chips. My friend Mike has a potato chip twitter-blog, and I think it extremely unlikely that kale chips will ever make an appearance. But they are a delicious and virtually guilt-free snack, despite the fact that I'm already planning ways to trash them up in my head, like brown butter and cheese...

Crispy Kale Chips

I make my own seasoned salt (recipe below), which I tend to use in (savoury) recipes as if it was table salt. If you don't have seasoned salt or prefer not to use it, reduce the salt by at least half and add 1/4 tsp of seasonings of your choice (paprika, garlic, and chili would be my choices).

Yield: 2-3 servings

Ingredients:

4 gently packed cups trimmed kale (remove stems and tear roughly)

about 2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F; toss kale leaves with olive oil and seasoned salt until well coated (an oil sprayer would help tremendously with this, and probably reduce the already minimal fat content even more. If you care about that kind of thing. I don't. The meaning of life is food.)
2. Lay kale leaves on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Try not to overlap or crowd them, you want good air circulation. If you have a baking rack, use it in place of the parchment.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crispy but not browning. If your oven has hot spots, make sure you rotate the sheet halfway through to prevent burning. It's a fine line friends...
4. Allow to cool completely before transferring to a bowl. Snack away!

Seasoned Salt

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons Sea Salt

1 ½ teaspoons Paprika

¾ teaspoons Turmeric

¾ teaspoons Onion Powder

¾ teaspoons Garlic Powder

½ teaspoon curry

¾ teaspoon mustard

¾ tsp coriander

½ teaspoons Arrowroot Powder or cornstarch

Directions:

Stir everything together in a small bowl and transfer to spice jar (preferably airtight) for storage. 

 

Mango Coconut Chicken

My deepest apologies invisible friends for the tardiness of this post. I haven't been so much busy as just extremely messy. Our baseboards required re-painting, therefore all the furniture was pulled into the middle of every room, and all nick-nacks and tchotchkes were relocated to all available stable flat surfaces (ie the kitchen island). And after I finished that (super fun, btw) I made ten litres of Thai coconut shrimp soup for a soup exchange I am participating in with some lovely ladies (recipe to come, after the said exchange has happened so I can tell you about it). Anyway, all these activities left my kitchen in a non-photographable state, and now I'm out of excuses.



I've repeatedly read a quote online (typically on Pinterest) that true friends are not necessarily the people you see and speak to often, but those that you can fall right back into the same place with, regardless of how long it's been since you've seen or spoken to one another.

I very much believe this is true (partly from necessity, since I'm lucky if I get to see 99% of my friends once a year).
My very best friends are well aware of who they are, and we really do fall right back into place. I do feel a bit sad when I think about them, because I tend to miss the simple day-to-day stuff that happens to them and isn't worth sharing later when we manage to get together, but I still know what's going on in their lives and we would all drop everything if we were needed to fly around the world to support one another. (Although the missing of the day-to-day stuff makes me inexplicably and monstrously jealous of their facebook friends. I know, sad sack right?)

While I could extol the virtues of each and every one of these friends in what would ultimately turn into an epic poem to rival The Odyssey, at the moment I'm planning to tell you about one in particular (because she, via her boyfriend's mom, was the source of this recipe; don't get jealous Jennifer!).

This is my beautiful friend Chelsea (photo courtesy of either her talented father, Kel, or friend and photographer, Karen McGregor. I can't remember which.):

I've also read that you are the combination of the five people you spend the most time with; this scares me because those people are my pets...

Chelsea and I went to high school together, so our particular brand of crazy really evolved and matured side by side. Chelsea is so many things to me: she has been my example of what true female strength is; she taught me what it means to have principles, and to defend them when necessary; she is unbelievably beautiful and I swear when I am with her I feel what it means to be truly, purely loved by another human being. In many ways Chelsea (along with a few other notables) taught me what love is, and is responsible for me knowing when I met the man who was right to marry.

For as long as I've known her, Chelsea has been a staunch promoter of animal rights and intended to become a veterinarian. This journey took her away from me to Scotland to the University of Glasgow. As a result, I have seen her even less than when we were at separate universities for our undergraduate degrees. We all hoped (and crossed fingers, and begged and pleaded!) she would come home once finished her degree, but alas she has been commandeered probably for good (not that I can much blame her, I would happily move to the UK tomorrow too). Chelsea now lives in Northern England with her two awesome Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Ellie and George Bailey.

This is the look you get while eating breakfast.

Everyone should sign the petitions circulating to end breed-specific legislation (especially in Ontario) because one of Chelsea's reasons for not returning home is that her dogs aren't allowed at home. I keep telling here they are in Nova Scotia, but this hasn't brought her back yet.

Luckily, every few years I seem to come up with a really great excuse for the expenditure of flying to the UK, which I then translate into a trip to visit Chelsea as well. This year it was Hubby coming into port in Southampton in April. Well, I've never seen London (and a port visit is basically the only way Steffan would ever allow himself to visit a city that big) so why not fly out? Let me tell you, London is expensive! But awesome. If the Canadian military wants to open a base there and post my husband, I will very happily tag along. And probably refuse to come home too...

After London, and visiting Chels at home, we decided to spend a night in Bath (posh!) since I had to get back to Heathrow, and she was on her way to Wales to work for the weekend. Of course, when you drive the kind of car that a young professional paying off five years of international student loans drives, not everything goes to plan. By the time we got to Bath the car was smoking heavily from under the bonnet and claimed to be on fire if the temperature gauge was to be believed. So rather than exploring the fancy pants Roman town, we spent several hours waiting for AA to arrive. We were lucky they ever came to be honest, since Chelsea's phone basically died mid-call while she was in fact purchasing a membership to AA, so that we could call them out in the first place. So in National Lampoon-style, my experience of Bath was the train station car park. And what's a pair of girls to do after such an experience but go back to the inn and get roaring drunk through dinner? During which, no joke, the ceiling started pouring water next to our table. Not dripping, pouring, in a steady stream. Our waiter was very apologetic and likely thought us completely insane when we couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell him it was a perfect end to the day.

Welcome to Bath!

Anyway, this year on my visit, Chelsea made me this mango chicken dish. Which is so painfully simple (even her boyfriend Chris can make it, according to Chelsea!) I feel like it doesn't even warrant a recipe, but it's very yummy and slightly sweet so I get a sugar fix out of it too. Chelsea made it with cream, but when I got home I thought it was worth a coconut try because I have an obsession with coconut. I made it with Peruvian rice but it could be served with whatever tickles your fancy. And if you want to be more healthy and aren't inappropriately satisfying a sugar fix with dinner like I was, you could add some veggies. Sugar snap peas would be delicious in here.

Mango Coconut Chicken with Peruvian Rice

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Chicken:                                                        Rice:

1 1/2 lb chicken breast/thigh/a mixture        1 cup rice (I used a mix of red wild rice and white rice)

1/2 cup mango chutney                                         2 cups water

1/2 cup coconut cream*                                       1 tbsp olive oil

1 ripe mango, chopped                                         1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste                                         1 garlic clove, smashed

                                                                                         1/4 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Remove any excess fat from chicken; chop into small pieces and place in a baking dish.
2. Stir in coconut cream*, mango chutney, and salt and pepper; don't worry if it is very thick at this stage.
3. Bake chicken for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and stir in mango, then bake another 10 minutes**.
4. While chicken is cooking, rinse rice until water runs clear to remove starches. Combine all rice ingredients in a pot; bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook without stirring (it's hard, I know) until all water is absorbed and rice is tender***. Remove the garlic clove.
5. Spoon chicken and extra sauce over rice and serve.

* Coconut cream is the solid part of the coconut milk (yes, the fatty part = flavour); make sure your coconut milk is not low fat, and open the can from the bottom this way you can pour off the liquid and scoop out the cream. Save the remaining milk and cream, which you can freeze in an ice cube tray and store in a bag in the freezer until needed.
** Cooking times will vary depending on your oven and the size of dish you use. I have a convection oven and used an 8x8 Pyrex. However, in our house virtually all chicken is overcooked and rubbery because Hubby got salmonella in university and is now massively paranoid about the doneness of all poultry. Use your discretion and if the chicken is almost cooked through before the 30 minutes, toss in your mango and cook it just long enough to heat through.
*** Pay attention to the cooking times, especially if using different kinds of rice like I did. I had to start the red rice (which takes 30-40 minutes) then add the white rice when only about 20 minutes remained.

Buttermilk Biscuits

When I was a kid, there was this book my mom used to read me sometimes called Grover's Bad Awful Day.


Basically Grover has a day where nothing goes his way (full plot description here). Although it's a children's book, it really does amazingly capture that hopeless feeling when you have one of those days (luckily Grover's mom is there to turn his mood around at the end).












I'm having one of those days today.
A little back story: Hubby is posted on a ship in the Canadian navy. Said ship is away for ten weeks (argh) and was meant to be making port on a lovely Caribbean island, where I was going to meet him next week. Sun, sand, R&R with my husband... I was so looking forward to it. Then yesterday I get word that the port visit is no longer happening. Insert multiple expletives here.

SO on top of the fact that I now won't get to see Hubby until after both our birthdays and our anniversary (grumble, grumble), I had the lovely task of trying to cancel all the bookings that I made in preparation for this journey. And of course because no one gives a damn about the plight of the little people, and despite having travel insurance on our credit card, I'm left with $475 worth of cancellation fees. This is the most expensive non-vacation I've ever taken.

Oh, and did I mention hurricane Gabrielle rolled in today?

I'm seriously contemplating solo day-drinking...

I bet you're so happy you came to see me today! In my world a bad day = baking. And baking comfort food most importantly. So there was nothing to be done today but make some buttermilk biscuits.

I've been making biscuits for years, but I was never really happy with them. The ones made with buttermilk had great flavour, but always ended up a little dry as they often had no butter at all. Other biscuits would be filled with butter and cream and while amazingly flaky and melt-in-your-mouth, I always felt just a teensy bit guilty (but only a little).

So what is a girl to do but come up with her own recipe? The first time I made these, Hubby raved and ate like four, so I named them Steffan's biscuits (the astute readers will also notice that I changed the address of this blog, at his suggestion. Apparently I'll do anything for that man...)

Ed note: please excuse the photos in this post. Since the last time we talked my computer has been having continued blue-screen-related issues, and refuses to open any photo editing program, so they're all SOOC.

Steffan's Buttermilk Biscuits

These are the biscuits that I had with my Lemon Garlic Shrimps

Yield: 6-8 biscuits, depending on size

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (I usually also sub 1/2 whole wheat)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1 tbsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp (seasoned) salt*

4 tbsp cold unsalted butter

¾ cup buttermilk

Directions:

1.       Preheat oven to 400 °F and cover baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

2.       Using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until pea-sized chunks remain (this can also be done in a food processor if you have one; continue with remaining steps by pulsing everything in).

3.       Add buttermilk and stir until the dough just comes together. Knead with your hands briefly until it just holds together (don't over-knead or the biscuits become tough).

4.       Transfer dough to floured counter and pat out until 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick. Using a round cutter (I use one about 2 1/2 inches), press straight down (don't twist!) and transfer rounds to baking sheet (you can also drop 1/4-cup balls onto baking sheet for drop biscuits).

5.       Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm (generously slathered with jam and Devonshire cream if you're me).

6.       Do ahead: make the biscuit dough and form the individual biscuits, then freeze them until needed. They can be baked directly from the freezer, with just a couple more minutes baking time.

  

*As I mentioned before, unsalted butter is a unicorn in Nova Scotia. Since I developed this recipe using salted butter, you may actually find that you need a touch more salt in your biscuits.

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmm...

Blue Screen of Death!!

Source

I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about: you're halfway through your facebook news feed working on something really important when out of nowhere everything stops. All you see is blue. Which according to colour "experts" is meant to be all soothing and calming, and other lovely words that you really don't feel in this moment. I'm sure if you're like me the first thought to pop into your head is "well thank goodness I'm so diligent about backing up my hard drive!".

What?!

Stop laughing!

Anyway, this happened to me last night. And alright, I wasn't being particularly productive right that second, but I was planning to tell you about this recipe. My evening was instead de-railed into a frantic attempt to get the darn thing running again, then back-up, please oh please, back-up before it dies again and I lose everything. Full disclosure: "everything" in my digital world amounts to pictures and recipes. I have no other important files.

Because Heaven forbid I should lose this gem...

Twenty-four hours later and all my files are safely, externally stored, tucked in safe and sound in their digital beds. Miraculously the computer itself is still working, even more surprising considering this month marks four years of dutiful service from it, and shameless mistreatment from me.

Somewhat ironically, I wouldn't have needed the computer to share this recipe with you. It's so incredibly simple, but people are inexplicably so impressed with it that it's hard not to let them believe you slaaaved over it! It's perfect to have out anytime company comes (although dangerous if you live in our house, it will never make it until company arrives), even better to take as a hostess gift, and makes for fantastic holiday gift baskets with a bottle of wine and some nice bread and cheese.

Spiced Candied Nuts

Yield: 3 cups (double the recipe if you'll be travelling any significant distance with these in the car, or if you're having my husband over)

Ingredients:

1 egg white*

1 tbsp cool water

1 cup brown sugar

1-2 tbsp spices of your choice (I used 1 1/4 tsp each curry and cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp each chili powder and cayenne pepper)

pinch salt

3 cups unsalted nuts (anything works here - I used pecans and almonds)

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 250F; line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I actually skip parchment and just use an old baking sheet - sugar is fantastically easy to clean up, just soak in water until it releases).
2. In a bowl mix together sugar, spices, and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired. (Optional: if you would prefer a slightly smoother texture, combine these ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over medium stirring frequently until the sugar is melted. Be very careful! Melted sugar gives really awful burns. I skip the melting because I'm lazy, and Hubby prefers the rougher texture.)
3. In a separate bowl quickly whisk together egg white and water until just foamy. Add in nuts and stir until they are all well coated.
4. While stirring the nuts, toss in the sugar mixture (or drizzle in slowly if you've melted it) until all coated. Spread on the baking sheet in an even layer.
5. Bake for about 45min-1hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Use your discretion on the length of time; softer nuts (ie cashews) usually need less time than harder ones (ie almonds). You're looking for the texture of the sugar to become sort of "dry".
6. Allow to cool to room temp before serving (or eat them hot if you live in my house and they barely make it off the pan).

*Note for separated eggs: both leftover egg whites and yolks can be frozen and used later. Whites you can simply freeze in an ice cube tray then transfer to a freezer bag. For yolks you need to stir in either 1/8tsp salt or 1 1/2 tsp sugar (depending if they will be used in savoury or sweet dishes) per 4 egg yolks for them to freeze and thaw properly. When ready to use, thaw overnight in the fridge and use immediately. And trust friends, I will be sharing other ways to use them ;)

Introduction to Insanity... and Lemon Garlic Shrimp

What happens when a should-have-been-a-chef dentist can't find a job? Absolute stir crazy, cabin fever induced boredom!

Having been told for the past forever few years that I should start a blog, sell my wares, and do "this" professionally, apparently not having a job is how it finally happens. A little background for those who don't necessarily know me yet:

I have been cooking and baking for seriously as long as I can remember. Having grown up in a household half, shall we say Western-, and half Eastern European, I developed an appreciation for all types of food (especially shortbread). Now let me be clear: I was probably the pickiest child on the face of the earth. I can see you in the back there disagreeing with me, but I assure you I win. I literally survived the first four years of my life on air and Cream of Wheat - most people (especially Hubby) respond to this with a shudder and "ewwww", but to me cream of wheat remains my #1 comfort food, especially when I'm sick. I also loved milk and chicken; so basically white food. Although my choices did expand through the years, I remained very picky through to my 20s.

My grandmother, born and raised in Yugoslavia, always has food everywhere ready. We could literally show up anytime, any day and there would be enough to feed an army. She taught me how to make crepes (palachinka in Serbo-Croatian), which I still do purely by feel rather than measurement, because she never measures anything. And she still to this day (despite all my pickiness being gone and my demonstrated willingness to try pretty much anything because I just love food so much!) offers to make me plain pan-fried chicken breast every time I'm at her house ("Julia, what would you like? Do you want me to make you chicken breast?").

My beautiful grandmother Stana

My mother on the other hand was a bit more utilitarian about food when I was young. She is also an amazing cook and has become very adventurous now (much to my sister's chagrin), but having a child who won't eat anything, and a meat-and-potatoes kind of husband (I obviously came by it honestly) tends to suck a lot of your creativity. Most of the time I think she was happy if she found anything I would touch; once when I was very young she actually took me to a paediatrician, worried about my eating habits. The doctor's advice: "she'll eat when she's hungry". Word up doc!
My mom is where I learned baking; every Christmas involved the ubiquitous cookies to be taken to every party, and unbelievable gingerbread houses, one of which was the only thing I could keep down during a particularly vicious New Year stomach bug when I was about nine (full disclosure). Baking with my mom is also how I leaned that the delicious result of combining ingredients does not necessarily mean that each individual ingredient tastes good - case in point powdered ginger...

My mom, Rose; the poor woman had no idea how difficult this child would be

These influences, combined with living alone in Montreal for four years during dental school (a very long and boring story for another time), created a feeling of entertainment for me while cooking and baking (it also made me a crazy person who talks to her cat, but I'm OK with that). My husband Steffan has even gone so far as to claim that baking is foreplay - nice try! Nowadays I love cooking for people; but when Hubby leaves for long periods (he works on a Canadian Navy ship) I tend to eat cereal for dinner with a side of veggie juice from my juicer. It's not worth the clean-up when there's no one to make yummy noises! In part this is my attempt to change that, force myself to cook more for just me (and all of you), and also to continue recipe developing.

Most of my cooking in the past has been straight from recipes I find (Smitten Kitchen and How Sweet It Is are my current favourites - I highly recommend Deb's cookbook - but I also have gotten a lot from All Recipes, Food.com, and Pioneer Woman/Tasty Kitchen) but lately I have started developing some of my own recipes and combining multiple recipes that are almost but not quite there. I have every respect for food bloggers, recipe developers, and cookbook authors and would never intentionally re-use something that is theirs without proper acknowledgement; that being said, I can't really remember where all of my older recipes have come from, but I will never claim that a recipe is my own unless I really did develop it from the ground up (and if anyone does know the sources I would love to hear from you!).

So on to the Lemon Garlic Shrimp!

I make these shrimp all the time; they're really great with just about everything... And really easy to whip up. I decided for fun this time to use the fancy pants spaghettis from PC (squid ink and garlic pepper) and only realised once I opened the packages that it made for a very Hallowe'en-esque plate. This was unintentional, I'm all for prolonging summer as long as possible...

Any pasta works here, or just about any side you want. Just remember to have bread to sop up all the delicious extra sauce!

Lemon Garlic Shrimp with Pasta

Credit: Simplified (very slightly) from The Pioneer Woman
Serves: 4-6 depending on portion size

Ingredients:

2 pounds raw shrimp, deveined (can be frozen or fresh)

1 cup cold unsalted butter*

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

4 large cloves Garlic, Peeled

½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper

1 whole Lemon, Juiced

1 pound spaghetti (optional)

Buttermilk biscuits or crusty bread (optional, recipe for biscuits to come)

Fresh grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse frozen shrimp to separate, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet or casserole. Put on a large pot of water to boil.
2. In the bowl of a food processor combine cold butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt, parsley, and red pepper. Pulse until combined. Sprinkle cold butter crumbles over the shrimp.
• If you don't own a food processor, chop the cold butter as small as possible, or grate frozen butter with a cheese grater. Sprinkle butter pieces, chopped garlic, pepper flakes, salt, and lemon juice over all the shrimp in the pan.
3. Bake until shrimp is opaque and butter is hot and bubbly (this can take anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes depending on the size of your shrimp and whether they were frozen or fresh. I like to err ever so slightly on the undercooked side as they will continue to cook after you remove them from the oven). 
4. When shrimp are about 10 minutes from finished, salt the boiling water and cook pasta al dente according to package directions.
5. Drain pasta and toss with a bit of the liquid from the shrimp; arrange shrimp on top and serve with grated cheese and bread to dip in remaining sauce.

*You can also use any combination of butter, olive oil, or any other oil/fat you like; coconut could be really interesting, but I haven't tried it yet (butter just tastes soooo good). You can also sub salted butter, just omit the sea salt - I have to do this because for some inexplicable reason it is impossible to find unsalted butter in Halifax. But we do have extra salt... you know, for all of us out there who have to increase our blood pressure.

Happy Eating!