Side Dish Recipe: Sauteed Kale

I love to cook, but the hardest part I find is that I know exactly what kind of meat or main dish I want for dinner, but what would go best with it?

Before I started this diet, I didn't know what kale was.

Didn't know what it looked like.

Didn't know how it tasted.

Didn't even know my grocery store carried it.

That's all in the past now. It was on the list of foods I can eat as much as I want of in my diet. Then while shopping Ben noticed it in the produce section. Kinda looks like lettuce, kinda dark like spinach, so I put on my big girl pants (and trust me at the time they were in more ways than one!), thought we'd be adventurous and give it a try.

Immediately I went home to look up recipes. I now have this "thing" in my fridge, I have to find something to do with it, so online I went. Found an easy recipe for sauteing it. Alrighty, big girl pants still on - I gave it a try and I LOVE IT! Best of all so does Ben! I make this at least once a week now. So worth a try if you haven't yet.

Now that you know my courageous story behind this "stuff" (not sure really what category it falls into, it's not a lettuce, but it's part of the cauliflower family, but it's not cauliflower - I'm sooo off topic, sorry I'll focus now) here's what you need to make a quick, simple and delicious side dish:

 Start out with a bunch of kale (or I have found it recently prewashed and already chopped in a bag), 1 medium shallot, and whatever else you may like (we add mushrooms sometimes too)

 Wash the kale and tear the leaves into bite size pieces

 Discard the woody stems.

 Chop the shallot, I like to slice mine into thin but long strips. That way it doesn't all sink to the bottom of the pan during cooking.

 Heat a pan on high heat with some olive oil. Add the shallots and mushrooms (if you're adding those too) and cook until both are softened.

 Add the kale. At first it will seem like a ton of kale, but cook it stirring constantly until it wilts down. It should only take a minute or two.

 This is what it should look like (For this batch we used the bagged kale, it does have some of the stem pieces in it, but if it's cooked enough, they are fine to eat)

To finish off the dish, sprinkle in some red wine vinegar (just a little, about a tablespoon) and add your favorite seasoning. I like to add a little poultry seasoning. Stir in the vinegar and seasoning well and pull the pan off the heat. Serve immediately.

It makes a wonderful, quick & easy side dish that is sure to please. Best of all - it's healthy! This was our dinner last night, a turkey breast Ben smoked on the grill, baked potatoes and a heap of kale. And there's enough for left overs today - Hooray!

It tastes like a spinach, but it's a little different, so I'm sure you can cook it all sorts of ways. This is the only one I have tried so far and I don't think it'll change much soon since Ben asks for it all the time. Maybe with a little lemon and citrus it would be good with fish, maybe dice it more and add it into stuffing - I am SO trying that next Thanksgiving! See lots of things to try. I hope you like it!