kale veggie stirfry

This is the perfect time of year to wax poetic about kale.

Still with me? (You're a hardcore bunch of readers and I LOVE you for it!) Allow me to 'splain. We all know that kale is a superstar veggie, ridiculously chockfull of vitamins and minerals and sooooooo good for ya. It's one of the world's healthiest foods. But it's not all that celebrated in its raw form, most notoriously known as salad bar garnish because of the rigidity of its leaves.

nagoya kale seedlings

Well, I'm excited to be growing several kinds of kale in the garden this year. So I did a bit of research and found some fabulous recipes befitting this fabulous vegetable. One particular recipe, a sausage & kale soup I found in an organic seed company's newsletter, has become my new favorite food and I've been singing its praises every chance I get. The recipe is pretty simple -- spicy turkey sausage, fat-free chicken broth, a ton of kale & garlic, and some cannelini beans, with a dash of your favorite spices to kick it up a notch -- and is really easy to make. It freezes well too. Everytime I eat this soup, I feel like Popeye! It's been a truly awesome tool to battle the nasty colds going around in this season of transition. And the massive amounts of garlic have helped keep vampires away. :)

lacinato kale seedlings

We'll see how my two types of kale -- a purplish nagoya and an heirloom lacinato -- do in the garden. So far the seedlings seem to be pretty robust, and I've been hardening them off for a few hours outside each day, but I haven't had the chance to actually put them in the ground yet. They'll definitely go in soon, as kale (like fellow brassicas broccoli and cauliflower) flourishes in cool spring weather. I am *so* stoked about the possibility of lots and lots of fresh kale coming straight from my front yard! BTW, the pic at the top is from a kale-barley casserole recipe. It was a bit bland the first time around, so I'm going to experiment with it some more. The stirfry was just gorgeous, though.

If you have any favorite kale recipes, send 'em my way!

Hop on over to Wanderlust & Lipstick's WanderFood Wednesday for more mouth-watering pics.

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