kale Archives - Page 2 of 2 - A Calculated Whisk

Galician Greens

August 11, 2014 By Becky 7 Comments

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My mom is from Texas, and I lived there for four years, so I am a bit of a Southern girl at heart. I like fried okra, really hot weather, and smiling at people I don’t know (not as much of a thing here in Boston, unfortunately).

As a true Texan, my mom gets really excited about greens, but I was never able to share in her excitement until now. When I was a kid she often worked to recreate the greens my grandmother used to make, which started with salt pork and reportedly ended up as a fabulous and memorable side dish. I never had the chance to try my grandmother’s greens, so I can’t really say how my mom’s versions compared, but as a child I felt exasperation and dread whenever my mother picked up those gargantuan leaves at the store. I just didn’t like collard greens.

Sweet Potato & Crispy Kale Breakfast Skillet

April 21, 2014 By Becky 14 Comments

It took me a really long time to jump on the kale bandwagon, but now I’m hooked. I see it at the grocery store and it’s so affordable, so curly, and so healthy looking that I have to buy it. The flavor of kale takes a little getting used to, but I’ve found that when it’s crispy and/or cooked with garlic, even haters will happily chomp on it. This recipe delivers on both counts, and also offsets the leafy kale with sweet potatoes and perfectly-cooked eggs. You start the breakfast skillet on the stove, pan-roasting the sweet potatoes with chopped red onion until they’re tender. The garlic and kale are tossed in and stir-fried just for a minute. Next, you make four little wells amongst the veggies, crack an egg into each one, and then pop the skillet into the broiler. In just a few minutes, the eggs cook and the kale crisps up just like kale chips. You are going to love it!

Bacon and Sweet Potato Chili

March 12, 2014 By Becky 16 Comments

This bacon and sweet potato chili is my go-to paleo dinner. The recipe makes a large batch, and it freezes well!

Do you have a really big skillet? If not, you are going to want to go buy one so you can make this bacon & sweet potato chili right away.

If you are not convinced that you need a 14-inch skillet, I understand. However, I intend to convince you to make this chili. It’s the best chili I’ve ever had, and it’s a complete and colorful one-pot meal. If you didn’t just go buy a huge skillet and/or don’t need to feed a bunch of people, you can halve the recipe and make it in a normal-sized pan.

Why is this the best chili ever? Well, because bacon. And sweet potatoes. And all the fresh things on top that make this the perfect comfort food to carry you from winter into spring.

This dish is for people like me, who don’t want beans or any tomato products or a lot of excess liquid in their chili. I just need salty bacon, sweet potatoes, some perfectly spiced meat, and what’s basically deconstructed guacamole for a topping. Using half pork and half beef gives the chili even better flavor. It’s amazing right away and it’s even more amazing the next day. My mother agreed that this is the best chili ever, and she is kind of hard to please. I haven’t heard her rave so much about a food I’ve made since this cranberry orange curd tart.

There is kale in this recipe. If you don’t want to put kale in your chili you obviously don’t have to, but I want to tell you that you can barely taste it. It’s just a nice way to sneak in some greens and start feeling a little more springy. I got the idea to put kale in chili from the cookbook Cooking with Coconut Oil, and now I’m hooked. It adds great color and texture, and makes me feel extra healthy when I eat it.

One more reason to make this bacon and sweet potato chili, and to put kale in it? Kale & sweet potato are really good friends. See proof here.

Sweet Potato & Kale Gratin (Whole30 Day 8)

January 9, 2014 By Becky 19 Comments

Looking for more Whole30 recipes? Check out my cookbook Paleo Planet (there are over 80 in there!) and the Whole30 section of my recipe index.

Phew! Posting every single day is starting to get very exhausting!

Don’t get me wrong–I love to dream up recipes, cook, take pictures, and then write about it. It’s just that somehow I find myself on the couch each evening around 11, realizing there is so much work left to do! Yesterday’s post went up at 11:59 pm. It always takes a little bit of pressure to actually get my nose to the grindstone.

I think that since it’s 10:58 right now, and I already have the photos and the recipe all set, I should be getting this one up a little earlier.

But before I hit “publish”, though, let me tell you about this good-looking gratin!

Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Kale Marinara (Whole30 Day 4)

January 4, 2014 By Becky 15 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Chicken Meatballs with Garlic Kale Marinara (Paleo, Whole30)

These deliciously moist paleo & gluten-free chicken meatballs with garlic kale marinara are Whole30 compliant and contain two hidden vegetables!

I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook, but I’m working hard to change that, especially since starting my Whole30. It’s exciting to try lots of different meats in lots of different forms. Yesterday I made pork belly (you can see the before & after pics on Instagram–it was good, but not quite good enough to share with you!). Today I used ground chicken to make meatballs. I am so happy with the way this dish turned out–it’s one of the best savory recipes I’ve made! The meatballs are moist and rich, and the sauce provides the perfect level of tart tomato and roasted garlic flavor.