Our June vegetable is kale. Kale has become the darling leafy green of healthy eating in recent years, and there are many delicious kale recipes. Selecting only two was difficult.

Kale is a cruciferous vegetable. It’s a leaf cabbage with purple or green leaves. Unlike most domesticated varieties of cabbage, the leaves of kale plants don’t form a head. It originated in the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor. Russian kale was introduced to North America in the nineteenth  century because it was easy to grow, inexpensive and could desalinate the soil. For most of the twentieth century, kale was used primarily for ornamental purposes in the United States. In the 1990’s, it gained popularity as a food source because of its nutritional value

Kale is 84% water, 9% carbohydrates, 4% protein, and 1% fat. It’s low in calories and rich in vitamins K, A, C, B6, folate and manganese. It’s also a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, vitamin  E, and the dietary minerals, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorous. Kale is a source of the carotenoids,  lutein and zeaxanthin. Boiling raw kale can diminish many of its nutrients, but values for vitamins A,C, K, and manganese remain intact.

Kale is versatile. It can be eaten raw, fried, boiled, roasted, or for snacks (kale chips). It’s popular as a raw ingredient in smoothies. It can be mixed with other vegetables to create side dishes, soups, or main dishes.

I searched several websites and found this link for 33 kale recipes,  https://www.loveandlemons.com/kale-recipes/ and selected two recipes to prepare.

The first recipe is for Sweet Potato Noodles and Garlic with Kale. Here is the link, https://www.loveandlemons.com/sweet-potato-noodles-garlic-kale/

The recipe is simple and quick. I like this food blog because all the recipes are vegetarian, with options to make them vegan and/or gluten free. You can also adapt them to include meat or seafood. For this recipe, I sauteed red onion with the garlic and I added cannellini beans for more protein to make this a main dish. You could also add shrimp or chicken in place of the cannellini beans. I recommend adding the onion because it really adds flavor. I used hemp hearts and Plant-based grated Parmesan cheese for a tasty garnish.

The second recipe I selected is Tuscan White Bean Soup. I made my own broth from leftover vegetable scraps, water, and spices. The vegetable mix contained jalapeno pepper tops and seeds, so my broth had a peppery flavor. Instead of adding white wine, I used one tablespoon of champagne vinegar and a tablespoon of water. I also used green onions and diced red onion in place of one yellow onion. I had them in the freezer, and I like the combination of the different onion flavors. I garnished the soup with coarsely grated plant-based Parmesan cheese.

Both recipes were winners and I really like this food blog https://www.loveandlemons.com/, so be sure to check it out.

33 Kale recipes: https://www.loveandlemons.com/ribollita-tuscan-white-bean-soup/

Next month we will be featuring broccoli.

The Twelve Months of Vegetables

January               Cabbage              Mahi Mahi Soft Tacos

February             Zucchini               Chocolate Zucchini Bread

March                  Leeks                    Colcannon

April                     Carrots                 Gingered Carrots & Kale Ribbons and Carrot Cake

May                      Beets                    Quinoa Burgers & Vegan Poke Bowl with Beets

June                     Kale                      Tuscan White Bean Soup & Sweet Potato Noodles & Garlic w/Kale

July                       Broccoli

August                 Potatoes

September         Green Beans     

October               Spinach

November          Corn

December          Asparagus