Eat Your Kale!

I did not eat kale for the first five decades of my life.  I probably hadn’t even heard of it for the first four decades.   I didn’t have kale growing up; the only leafy thing I remember is iceberg lettuce.  The vegetables I remember eating when I was a child were beets (from a jar), peas (from a can), corn (from a can in winter, fresh on the cob in summer), and cucumbers.

Remember that spinach recall back in 2007?  I remember wondering who bought spinach, I never had.  But a couple of years ago I started reading about the benefits of dark leafy green vegetables, and there was talk in the blog world of “Green Smoothies”.  So I bought some spinach and starting making morning smoothies.  Then I progressed to kale and added it to my smoothies.  Not bad.  I thought I’d try cooking it, but I had no idea what to do with it.  I did a little research and found lots of uses for kale.

Now I eat kale steamed, sauteed, in stir fries, soups, and made into kale chips.  This week I made kale chips three times, using an entire bunch of kale each time.  And I eat the whole batch.

Here is how you make kale chips:

• Preheat the oven to 400.
• Cut the hard center stem out of the kale leaves.  Wash really really well, and spin dry in your salad spinner.
• Cut or tear kale into pieces and put into a big bowl.
• Pour in a little olive oil and stick your hands in there and mix it up so that all of the kale is glossy.  Don’t use too much oil.
• Put the kale pieces in a single layer on a big sheet pan and pop in the oven.
• Cook for 8 minutes.
• Squeeze some lime juice on them, and sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Don’t salt before you bake them – it makes them way too salty because the kale shrinks and gets concentrated.

I normally buy curly kale, but today at Safeway the only organic kale was this stuff:

It is called lacinato kale, also known as Tuscan or Dinosaur Kale.  It was pretty good made into chips, but I like my curly kale better.

So what is good about kale?

One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of the minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.

Kale’s health benefits are primarily linked to the high concentration and excellent source of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and K — and sulphur-containing phytonutrients.

Carotenoids and flavonoids are the specific types of antioxidants associated with many of the anti-cancer health benefits. Kale is also rich in the eye-health promoting lutein and zeaxanthin compounds.

Beyond antioxidants, the fiber content of cruciferous kale binds bile acids and helps lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, especially when kale is cooked instead of raw.

Eating a diet rich in the powerful antioxidant vitamin K can reduce the overall risk of developing or dying from cancer, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vitamin K is abundant in kale but also found in parsley, spinach, collard greens, and animal products such as cheese.

Vitamin K is necessary for a wide variety of bodily functions, including normal blood clotting, antioxidant activity, and bone health.

Here is a bunch of kale in my steamer basket:

And some kale chips:

Kale can also be decorative in the garden:

I love kale so much I ordered one of these:

Eat your kale!