Have you noticed kale going mainstream lately? Yep, while you’re picking up your milk and bread or coles or woollies you’ll find bagged kale in the salad greens section. Which is great news for us busy mums that might not be able to get to the markets each week (or fail to grow in QLD heat like me..)
It’s the dark colour in the leaves that tells us that it is chock full of nutrients..in fact it is one of the healthiest vegetables around yet so versatile to include it in meal, eat it steamed, raw or in a liquid form…it’s time to embrace the kale!
Here are some interesting facts about the kale
It’s a powerhouse
Gram for gram kale has more calcium than milk, more than double the vitamin C of an orange and more iron than beef!
Want to lower your cholesterol levels?
If you steam the kale for 5 minutes the fibre in kale binds together and teams with your bile acids to be easily excreted
It has good fats –
Not many vege’s can claim this but the healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids means it is a great anti-inflammatory, perfect for our skin, hair and nails
Antioxidants galore
Fight free radicals with this vegetable and you can’t go wrong.
So with many exciting ways to eat kale flooding the internet, from pesto’s, kale chips, smoothies, salads, quiche, soups, lasagne..you really can adapt it to any recipe and make it work.
One way we like to eat when teamed with another super healthy food is
Cheesy kale quinoa patties
1 cup chopped steamed kale
1 cup quinoa
3 eggs
1 cup rice cake crumb (about 5 rice cakes in food processor)
1/2 cup low-fat grated cheese
1/4 cup sesame seeds (optional)
mixed herbs, pepper
METHOD
1. Place quinoa in a hot fry pan and dry roast until you hear them ‘popping’. This brings out a lovely nutty taste before we cook it.
2. Place quinoa in a bowl and cook as you would rice
3. In another bowl whisk the eggs and add crumb, cheese, sesame seeds and kale.
4. Once the quinoa is cooked add this to the other ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Take tablespoon sized scoops and roll them into balls and form patties. Heat a frypan with a little olive oil and brown on each side, approx. 2 minutes each side.
6. These can be stored in the fridge for up to a day and will be just as good. ENJOY!
C’mon are you a kale fan..I must admit it took me a while…
