Kale

A 2 pound bag of chopped, pre-washed kale jumped into my hands during a quick stop at the grocery store. It just looked so good! And it was only $3.29. It's use-by date was April 10, so my challenge was to use it up by then without getting tired of it. But who could get tired of dark, leafy greens?

I did pretty well. It is now April 13, and I used the last of it for supper (it was fine despite being past the date).

Here's what I did with it:

1. For Warm Lentil Salad with kale, I multiplied the dressing recipe by 1.5. It didn't have quite the kick that the original I made a couple weeks ago did, but I also ran out of red wine vinegar and had to sub with white vinegar, so that could easily account for it. I added the kale (several large handfuls) in with the lentils and dressing, and cooked it until wilted. Very yummy.

2. Scrambled eggs with kale- several times

3. Kale sauteed with garlic in a little olive oil as a side for pasta with chicken, feta, olives and tomatoes.

4. Mediterranean Kale- lemony but good.

5. Pasta with Philadelphia Cooking Creme (I had a coupon) pesto flavored, a big bunch of chopped asparagus, diced leftover ham, salt/pepper and thinned out with a little pasta water- very good. It reminds me of the few times I've eaten at Noodles and Co. (I wish there was one local, but it's probably just as well there isn't). I probably won't be buying the cooking creme much, if at all, in future, but it was really good.

I'm not going to rush out and buy another bag now, but I will certainly be buying it again at some point. It's fun experimenting with new recipes and newish ingredients.