Fast Friday: Smashed white bean & kale quesadillas

Happy Friday to you, yours, and everyone else's!  How was the week?

Ours was nice and chill.  After a busy weekend, largely spent away from the apartment, we laid low in the evenings and entertained ourselves at home.  We even hosted friends dinner twice.  Not surprisingly, those two dinners were the only two that went off exactly as I'd planned; the rest were delicious but waaaaaaaay off the beaten path original meal plan.

Recently, a friend was teasing me for planning all of our meals for the coming week.  I gave my spiel about how much easier it makes grocery shopping and ensures that I don't have to make return trips to the store later in the week.  (You know, except for those emergency baking errands.)

Harvest chicken quinoa stew

Looking back on 4 years of blogging and all that I've made, I've come across recipes that I loved so dearly and questioned why I don't cook more frequently.  I first posted this recipe a year ago in 2012 when kale and quinoa were relatively new to me.  If only I'd known then how much I would love kale now.  I made it last week and thought that everyone, everywhere (especially you West Coast folks who are dealing with unseasonably cold air!) would appreciate a recipe for a warming and stick-to-your-ribs kind of healthy stew.  Plus, it's just so gosh darn pretty!  And, yes, I still stand by what I said then: I'd take a bunch of kale over a bouquet of flowers any day of the week.

Here's the original post and how to make it:

You might have noticed that I'm on a few food kicks lately (i.e. pumpkin). Well, you can rest easy that this isn't another pumpkin recipe.  It's a kale recipe!

Things between kale and I have gotten really serious these past few weeks.  Spinach used to be my main squeeze, but kale is really coming on strong.  And I love it.

If I were in 6th grade (pre-cell phone era), I'd be stealthily passing kale folded pieces of notebook paper.  On it would be scribbled notes like, "Do you want to be my boyfriend?  Circle one of these: Yes  No  Maybe   Pass back before recess."

If we were in high school, I'd be lingering by kale's locker, batting my eyelashes as he returned from gym class.  (That kale, he's such a fitness nut.)

And, if we were working adults, I'd be in full swoon mode when a lovely bouquet of kale showed up at my office unannounced.  All of the other ladies would be jealous.  Flowers are so last season, boyfriends and husbands of the world.  Kale is in.

Chicken, sweet potato, and pecan salad

By now, I think I've made it pretty clear that I don't actually hate salads.  As it turns out, I actually love them, especially the mile-long salad bars at restaurants.  (I'm looking at you, Hello Bistro and Eat 'n Park.)

Make-your-own salad bars are totally my jam these days.  There's always something that appeals to me, regardless of my mood and appetite, like fresh peppers and mushrooms, avocados, a bajillion varieties of cheese, and so.many.crunchy.things.  It's enough to make you question the presence of any lettuce in your salad at all!  (I've done it, so there will be no judgement if you do the same.)

But, a produce buffet my kitchen is not.  Unless I plan ahead and raid the bulk bins at the grocery store (they are the best for just the right amount of various toppings, FYI!), a salad will most likely consist of spinach, chicken, and dressing.  Any produce in our fridge is likely there because it's meant for another recipe, something Matt complains about again and again, but that's neither here nor there.

Fast Friday: Kale salad

I think it's high time for some real talk, wouldn't you say?  Fridays tend to seem like the perfect time for it.  Heading into the weekend, we should shed ourselves of any worry and guilt and get ready to enjoy the next two days... possibly rife with guilty pleasures :)  Sounds like a fantastic plan to me!

This real talk isn't exactly heavy stuff, but it has been weighing on me for the last week, so here goes.  I've realized that over the past few years, I've painted myself as some kind of salad hater.  Sure, I'll occasionally post recipes for a creamy BLTA salad or a kickin' beef taco salad, but those recipes are months and months apart from one another.

Roughly once a month, I'll pack a salad for lunch: spinach, a chopped chicken breast, some black beans, and a little salsa is my pathetic go-to concoction.  My coworkers will see me retrieving it from the refrigerator and immediately chuckle while muttering something like, "Uh oh, Katy packed a salad.  You know what this means."  It means that I will grumble before and after every bite and wind up feeling incredibly unsatisfied when I'm finished.

The Birmingham ome with ham, kale & black eyed peas

Rise and shine, sugar bandits!  I hope all of you had a happy and healthy Easter.  (To those of the Jewish faith, I hope you are continuing to enjoy Passover.)  We spent the weekend at my parents' and totally chilled out.  Enjoyed everyone's company, watched some hockey, played with the animals, and indulged on Easter Sunday with our baskets and the brunch buffet at the country club.  Perfect lazy weekend!

The only thing that could've made it better?  Leftovers!  Since we went out for the main meal, we weren't blessed with oodles of leftover glazed ham like we've been years that we cooked at home.

If you've got pounds of ham left in your fridge or if you can sneak to the grocery store to pick up a ham steak or two, this recipe is for you.  I've got a bright and delicious way to use it up: a Birmingham omelette!

(For other ham recipes, try a quiche, a frittata with asparagus, ham and potato hash, or split pea soup.)

What is a Birmingham omelette you ask?  An omelette made in Alabama, of course.  Ha ha ha!  I kid.

No no, don't leave!  I'll be serious. 

Roasted kale, tomatoes, and potatoes with chicken

For the most part, I've become a fairly disciplined cook when it comes to dinner.  It's only taken me a few years to learn that, if you sample the food nonstop while cooking it, you don't have much of an appetite when the final dish is plated.  Makes perfect sense, right?

I mean, as much as I love staring into Matt's dreamy eyes without distraction, sitting across the table as he dives into a plate of delicious food isn't much fun when I'm already full and sipping on water.

So, I've managed to curtail my snacking as dinner roasts, simmers, or sautes right before my eyes.  Instead, I only poke my head into the kitchen as soon as I get home from the gym to gulp a glass or two of water and occasionally nibble a handful of cheese balls. 

(And yes, they are amazing.  You can pick up a giant tub of them for around $6 at Sam's Club.  One serving is something like 32 balls and only 140 calories.  There's just something about that salty cheesy crunch of puffed air that's addictive and hits the spot after a sweat session!  No judging.)

Fast Friday: Farfalle with bacon, beans, and kale

Have you ever been so focused on one food that it's all you can think about?  That you start trying to add it other dishes that are traditionally mixed with aforementioned ingredient?

When I tell you this ingredient, you're not going to be shocked.  Or overwhelmed. Not even whelmed.  (Brownie points to the first person to correctly identify that pop culture reference!)

Drumroll please... it's bacon!

Are you yawning?  Are you thinking things like "Tell me something I didn't already know, Katy,"?  Have your socks have become more secured on your feet?

I guess it's no secret that I love bacon.

Fast Friday: Kale chips

As fate would have it, I'm late to the kale chips party.  Not 5 or 10 minutes,"Oh, I neeeeeever show up at an event on time.  I'm going fashionably late," late.

More like, "Crap, all of the cocktail shrimp and mini cupcakes are gone and half of the guests are a little tipsy," late.  In other words, almost too late. 

But, not so late that I missed all the fun.   And that's what counts.

Better late than never, right?

I'd heard of, read about, and been downright bombarded with the concept of kale chips for months.  They certainly intrigued me but never jumped out at me as something I needed right this minute.  Until after I'd tried them for myself, that is.

Harvest chicken quinoa stew

You might have noticed that I'm on a few food kicks lately (i.e. pumpkin). Well, you can rest easy that this isn't another pumpkin recipe.  It's a kale recipe!

Things between kale and I have gotten really serious these past few weeks.  Spinach used to be my main squeeze, but kale is really coming on strong.  And I love it.

If I were in 6th grade (pre-cell phone era), I'd be stealthily passing kale folded pieces of notebook paper.  On it would be scribbled notes like, "Do you want to be my boyfriend?  Circle one of these: Yes  No  Maybe   Pass back before recess."

If we were in high school, I'd be lingering by kale's locker, batting my eyelashes as he returned from gym class.  (That kale, he's such a fitness nut.)

And, if we were working adults, I'd be in full swoon mode when a lovely bouquet of kale showed up at my office unannounced.  All of the other ladies would be jealous.  Flowers are so last season, boyfriends and husbands of the world.  Kale is in.

Sausage kale bean soup

My mom always told my sister and me not to play with our food.  She also told us to actually eat said food rather than pushing it around the plate trying to make it look like we ate more than we actually did.  I employed that technique every time we had spinach of any kind, but that wise way-too-observational-for-my-own-good woman saw right through it.  Drat.

Wouldn't you know that I now love spinach.  So, so much!  Go figure.

What my mom didn't tell us was that we should be nice to our food.  After all, food is there to help you and make you happy!  Treat it with the same respect you would fine China.  Or that dry-clean only dress that you absolutely had to have and actually heed the care label's instructions.