All Hail Kale, Queen of Greens!

Ah, the lovely kale, one of the many foods we'd never eaten before becoming vegan, and now a favorite. Available in several colorful varieties, it's been called the most nutrient-dense food on the planet, the "queen of greens," a food superstar. A powerhouse of phytonutrients, kale is especially high in vitamins A, C, and K, and rich in calcium, iron, folate, and manganese.

Unconscionably, kale currently ranks #8 on the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list of produce contaminated with residual pesticides, so buy organic whenever you can - or better yet, grow your own!

If you've never eaten kale, or know it only as a beautiful garnish or ornamental plant, here are some recipes and ideas so you too can hail the mighty kale!

Steamed Kale with Walnut Dressing & Brown Jasmine Rice

I was introduced to this walnut dressing (a recipe by Anne Esselstyn, Dr. Caldwell's wife) at "Camp McDougall" two years ago, and have to restrain myself from making (and snarfing) it too often! It's fantastic on kale and other raw or cooked veggies, delicious on tossed salads, and sublime on baked potatoes, especially when mixed with vegan sour cream.

Kale/Lemon Sandwiches

Another recipe from Dr. Caldwell and Anne Esselstyn, we just made this for the first time recently. It was messy but very good. I used my own hummus recipe (with tahini), because I think tahini really takes hummus to a higher level. I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used parsley, and whatever "Mestemacher bread" is, you can bet it's not something I can find in East Cowflop, Wyoming. So I used what we had on hand, organic oat bran bread, which was just dandy. BW and I agreed after making and eating these sandwiches that we would leave off the lemon slices next time, or at least peel them first. They really have to be sliced paper thin in order for the rind to not be too chewy to deal with, and with all the lemon juice and zest, we found them pretty, but somewhat redundant. We agreed these open faced sandwiches both taste and look very fresh and summery, though kale is generally a fall/winter crop. Good way to get a nice burst of Vitamin C during cold and flu season, along with all those other great nutrients in kale!

And here's Colleen Patrick-Goudreau of Compassionate Cooks, making a pot of Garlic and Greens Soup (kale is perfect for this dish!)...

Garlic and Greens Soup

I've made this soup and think it's great with cooked white beans and/or brown rice added to it. I made it with buckwheat groats once, too, which gave it an intriguing flavor.

Here are a few more ideas and recipes for kale...

What To Do With Kale from the VeganRD blog.

Kale Chips (This recipe is from VegWeb, but there are many others out there, all pretty similar and all with rave reviews).

Polenta Lasagna with Portabellos and Kale from the FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog (do a search for "kale" on Susan's wonderful site to find more delicious recipes!)

And though we haven't made this (and won't, it being too high in fat), I'm compelled to include it here because it's definitely one of the more creative and unusual uses of kale I've ever seen...

Mint Chip with Kale Ice Cream

(But I just might try throwing some kale leaves into a batch of mint banana ice cream next summer!)

There are so many ways to prepare kale, if you don't already I hope you'll include this nutritious, delicious regal queen of greens in your repertoire!

"Let your food be your medicine

and your medicine be your food."

~Hippocrates, 431 BCE