UrbanMoms and California leafy greens
know that when you eat well you feel well. Discover new and delicious
ways to incorporate leafy greens in your diet. California leafy green
farmers recognize their responsibility to produce a safe product
and are committed to protecting public health. It is also important for
food preparers to take steps to maintain safety all the way to the
table. Practicing safe-handling methods in the home can reduce the risk
of foodborne illness and keep your family healthy!
Cayla from the UrbanMoms Kitchen and Jen from The Fit Housewife have reviewed another delicious recipe provided by California leafy greens. Check out what they had to say and their great photos. This is your opportunity to enter the contest for a second time. See details below.
Kale is a super healthy leafy green vegetable. Baking kale into a crunchy, chip-style snack will have you munching through bunch after bunch, guaranteed! Kale bunches vary in size and produce anywhere from 12 to 16 cups (3 to 4 L) of bite-sized kale pieces. This recipe is for 12 cups (3 L) of uncooked kale (serving size reduces when cooked).
Prep time: 15 to 20 minutes
Cooking time: 8 to 12 minutes
Makes 4 to 6 cups (1 to 1.5 L)
Ingredients:
1 medium bunch kale, washed and dried
1 tbsp garlic, finely minced 15 mL
½ tsp crushed chili flakes 2 mL
2 to 3tbsp olive oil 30 to 45 mL
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, finely grated 45 mL
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Tear off washed bite-sized kale leaves from hard stems and place in large plastic bag.
- Whisk together garlic, chili flakes and oil. Drizzle oil mixture over kale, hold bag closed and shake to coat kale leaves as evenly as possible. Do this in two batches if needed.
- Lightly spray a sheet pan with oil. Spread each kale leaf out flat on pan. Crowd leaves but do not overlap.
- Bake in oven for 8 to 12 minutes. Kale is done when leaves are dark green and crisp. Do not let kale turnbrown. Transfer kale to a rack to cool and repeat with remaining kale.
- Serve kale in a large bowl. If there are leftovers, store in a sealed container and keep at room temperature for up to a week.
Cayla’s from the UrbanMoms Kitchen Recipe Review:
For the past few summers, I have been systematically uprooting my flowers and replacing them with food. It started with a couple of potted herbs and has evolved into a full-blown urban farm with no fewer than 10 varieties of fruits, veggies, and herbs growing alongside our barbecue and pool. Out of all this edible goodness, my absolute favorite has to be the kale. I’m not sure what it is about that majestic green goddess, but I actually feel just a little bit more superwoman-like after eating it. And it tastes pretty good, too. That is why at the end of the summer, when my garden was put to rest, I was so sad to watch the last few leaves of my kale succumb to the cold. Fortunately, its always warm enough in California for my beloved kale to grow and I am able to enjoy it all year long.
One of my favorite ways to eat kale is kale chips. They are light and crispy and you barely remember that they’re good for you while consuming them….which is probably why my kids love them so much, too. Recently, I tried a great new recipe for them, provided by California Leafy Greens. And I’m glad I did. Not only did I find a new and exciting way to prepare Kale, I also learned a lot about the safe way to handle it, as well as other cooking greens. I always knew that it was important to wash and dry them, but what I didn’t know was that I also had to wash any knives, counters, cutting boards, and anything that had come in contact with the unwashed kale. It makes sense if you think about it.
Washing and drying the kale turned out to be the most difficult part of this recipe. Not that washing it was hard, it’s just that the rest of it was beyond easy. So easy, in fact, that after it was cut up, I let my 9-year-old daughter do the rest.
After putting it in the oven, I mixed it up every few minutes to make sure that each piece got an opportunity to crisp up. Less than 20 minutes later, it was a beautiful deep green and crispy, just like the recipe promised.
I tasted it and it was amazing! I chose to add a bit more salt to bring out the flavours a bit more, but that’s just me. Feel free to add as much or as little salt as you like. My family loved it just as much as I did. It was the perfect fun and delicious side dish next to our turkey burgers…one that I know I’ll be serving again and again.
Jen’s From The Fit Housewife Recipe Review:
Since starting my health and fitness journey over three ago, one of my goals has been to eat more vegetables. The usual carrots and cucumbers were an easy choice, but I have been wanting to add more leafy greens into my diet. This goal doesn’t come easy. Naturally, I’m not the type of person to pull out a bunch of spinach or kale from the fridge and just start snacking away.
Getting myself to eat more vegetables hasn’t been easy, but trying to get my kids to jump on the veggie train has been even harder. They turn their noses up at most vegetables. So in my attempt to get my kids to eat more of the green stuff, I’ve had to get creative, which is why I was thrilled to receive a recipe from California Leafy Greens for kale chips.
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical at first. Could that thick leafy green called kale really taste like chips? I had to put this to the test to find out.
Wow! I was impressed. The kale chips actually tasted like chips. They were crispy, flavourful, and healthy! I couldn’t stop eating them. As for my kids, they were willing to try them. They did eat a few, but the garlic and chili flakes were a little too overwhelming for their tastes. Next time, I would make these kale chips without the added garlic and chili flakes.
The next time you’re looking to add some greens into your diet, I would highly recommend you try making these kale chips…you’ll be surprised at how addicting they can be!
To enter the contest, simply share your favourite salad using leafy greens.
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The contest ends on Tuesday, May 28, 2012.
The best salad comes right fresh from my garden with various lettuces, spinach, cherry tomatoes, fresh peas in the pod, and some peppers. Fresh cilantro and basil and a squeeze of lemon!
I love baby spinach, with pan fried almond slices, mandarin oranges, crunched up dry stir fried noodles, and Kraft asian sesame dressing.
I really love adding poppy seeds and spinach to my salad. I never makes the same salad twice. I tend to use whatever is on hand and just see what happens. It usually turns out really good!
Love adding toasted almonds, avocado and either orange slices or pomengrante to a mix of spring greens with a homemade olive oil/redwine vinegar and pepper dressing.
I like spinach salad with home-made bacon bits. I don’t know if it is very healthy but it sure tastes great!
I always serve potato salad on top of mixed greens.
My family loves spinach salad with a Greek taste lots of olives and feta.
i like a simple spinach salad with vinegrette and some fresh parm cheese
love to put manderin oranges and cranberries on a spinach salad
One of my family favourites is Baby spinach, a very well drained tin of mandarin oranges, about 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds ( toast til just starting to turn light brown) and dress with raspberry vinegrette. Awesome!
I LOVE your Butter Lettuce Bundles with Thai Avocado, Tomato and Mango Salad recipe! YUMMY 🙂
I love Butter lettuce with avocado, orange and red onion with a simple vinaigrette.
My fave salad with greens is spinach with strawberries…yum!
I just love Kale – great recipe.
My favourite salad is Fattoush. It is delicious!!!
pita pocket breads, cut into strips about 3/4 inch wide, then toasted and crumbled
chopped garlic
salt
fresh squeezed lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
Romaine lettuce, chopped
thinly sliced green onion
diced tomatoes
diced cucumber
coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
We are great lovers of Caesar salad using romaine lettuce. I also add spinach for the extra nutrients.
I make the Caesar dressing from scratch using such ingredients as anchovy paste, egg, fresh garlic, olive oil and spices. It is delicious.
We are big salad eaters in our house. We have a bowl of salad most nights with dinner and I usually have a salad for lunch.
Thanks for the great giveaway opportunity. ~Pauline
dod@rogers.com
I like buying a basic salad kit from the grocers, then adding cranberries, walnuts, blueberries and sometimes some chicken breast.
Arugula
Sun dried tomatoes
Shredded extra old cheddar cheese
red peppers
broccoli
homemade dressing – lemon, honey/REAL maple syrup, garlic, olive oil
ceaser salad..
romaine lettuce
croutons
bacon bits
parmesan cheee
ceaser dressing
My salad calls for a head of Romaine lettuce, a small onion sliced, a couple of ribs of celery sliced, 1/2 cup mushrooms sliced. a small tin of well drained mandarin oranges, a handful of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese. I serve it lightly tossed with Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette.
I make a simple salad that is always a hit. Use baby spinach and add slices of fresh strawberries. Toss salad with raspberry vinaigrette and garnish with sliced almonds and sprinkles of sesame seeds. Amazing.
I will add to the list our very favourite dressing recipe (which we serve over any combination of leafy greens, in sandwiches as a spread and also use as a dip). Can you tell we like it?
ONION DRESSING:
1 small onion, peeled and chopped in the blender
Add: 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
scant 1/2 c. of vinegar
After blending the above together, slowly add 1 c. salad oil (we use olive oil) while keeping the blender running. Add 1 tsp. poppy seeds.
Refrigerate and enjoy. Keeps indefinitely.
Our family favorite is a simple mix:
1 bunch Lettuce (Romaine Hearts)
1 bunch of Kale
1 Cucumber
1 can of black olives
Topped with a Creamy Italian Dressing.
We sometimes add: peppers or sliced a boiled egg on top, or apples, or grapes, goes really well with this simple and cheap salad.
The kids love it, my baby who just turned 1 a couple of days ago, actually eats as many olives, cucumbers and kale pieces as she can, its funny watching her try to eat the ‘leafy greens’, because she only has 3 tooth and the leaf sticks to her tongue, its funny to watch her. My other kids eliminates the dressing all together and eats everything as is. I thought my kids to eat healthy and they teach me a thing or two about making even healthier choices I guess….:-). I’ve been slowly trying to copy my kids because I love creamy Italian dressing.
My favorite is romaine lettuce, baby tomatoes, cubes of cheese with peanut oil
Baby spinach, mandarins, red onions and poppyseed dressing. Love spinach salads!
My favorite leafy green salad is a baby spinach salad.
I use baby spinach, sliced white mushrooms, thinly sliced red onion, mandarin orange slices, and top with a raspberry vinagrette. SO TASTY!!!
i love a plain ceaser salad. rennes dressing is my favourite. i could probably eat a ceasar salad with just about anything!
I love an asian salad which I make with napa cabbage, yellow and green bell peppers topped with bean sprouts , cashews and scallions the dressing I love is a ginger soy sauce mixture.
Our favourite is a classic caesar salad recipe that I have been making for about 25 years or so, we still love it, and have it about once a week, as a main course or a side dish
My favorite salad is a combo of:
mixed spring greens
toasted pecans or walnuts
dried cranberries
crumbled feta cheese
a little bit of thinly sliced red onion
homemade balsamic vinagrette
we love sweet and sour cucumber salad ,equal parts vinegar sugar and water ,salt 8 pepper to taste ,pour over thinly sliced cucumbers,marinated for a few hours
Love Spinach Salad
i like just a basic chef salad, with these santa fee tortia chip crutons that i get at walmart!
YUM!!!
I like to purchase a package of mixed greens. To that I add tomatoes, cucumbers, green and red peppers and mushrooms. I drizzle oil and vinegar over it.
I’m a sucker for caeser salad.
I do a simple mixed green and spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, grapes and a creamy dressing. It is very good.
Last night we had a great salad, I think it will become a favourite:
Arugula topped with french lentils, grapes, sugared & toasted walnuts and a vinaigrette dressing. Great combination of flavours!
Right now, I am on a Waldorf salad craving! At least once a week! But I love my spinach salad, Thai salads are fantastic and always ful, of surprises! I also enjoy wrap salads, it’s a different way of eating your salad.
Love a good Caesar Salad with fresh Parm and chicken
Caesar Salad with Croutons fresh Parmesan and real bacon bits.
Baby spinach is my leafy green of choice. It combines perfectly with cucumber, peppers, red onions and sliced almonds, or whatever combination you prefer.
My favorite salad is romaine lettuce with tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. I like a raspberry salad dressing to pour over it.
My favourite salad is made with romaine, adding any fresh veggies I have on hand and candied walnuts. Mix in a homemade Italian dressing and top with grilled chicken – a meal in itself.
My favourite green salad is with mixed greens, tomato, english cucumber, green pepper, and red onions with a ranch dressing. Mmm.
spinach salad & clear out the crisper!
In our household we mix together spinach, romaine, croutons, sliced almonds, walnuts, raisies and 3 cheese ranch dressing.
I love a ‘spring mix’ of lettuce with a lot of arugala. I crumble bits of goat cheese into the salad, add cashew nuts, sunflower seeds, and light balsamic or asian vinigrette. Delicious!! for protein i sometimes add a baked chicken breast and allow the vinegrette to coat the chicken…im salavating just thinking about it!!! Looks like thats whats for dinner tonight 🙂
toss clean raddicchio, dandelion, spinach, romaine , baby leaf and any and all of the other great leafy greens add a good amount of dried cranberries and candied walnuts ( you can use regular walnuts ) afew mandarin oranges with a rasberry vinagrette dressing . If you like you can subsitute the mandarin oranges for a few grape tomatoes Enjoy !
It all started with a small container of salad that a co-worker gave me to taste. One taste and I decided to take the rest home for my children. `Wow mom` they said. They loved it. It was the first time we ever tried raw kale in a salad. I have now planted it in my garden. It has wheat berries, chopped kale, chopped onion, chopped pepper (yellow or orange), dried cranberries and a balsamic vinagraite. Yummm…
I like mixed greens with whatever I’ve got handy – quite often any of craisins, avocado, cold salmon, tamari almonds, crumbled goat cheese, cucumbers, red or yellow pepper chunks…..even bean salad on top!
i love salad made with lettuce, carrots, pickles and cheese slices (cut up in tiny pieces)…and salad dressing, most likely Ranch 🙂
I’ve become a big fan of mixed up salads with whatever veggies are on hand! I’ve just come to enjoy avocado in my salads. I also really love sunflower seeds, craisins or mandarins in my salads! We do a salad club at work on Wednesdays, and there are always a wide variety of ingredients like a salad bar (each week someone is responsible for a different ingredient), so I’ve come to enjoy piling on a variety of things to a mixed greens lettuce base! Oh, oh, I’m really loving bocconcini cheese in my salads, too!
I like to keep it simple with whatever is in season and on hand. My favourite greens are baby spinach, which I love to mix with almonds, strawberries, grape tomatoes, green onions, whatever vegetables I happen to have (ie: sweet bell peppers – orange or yellow are nice if you want added colour, julienned (is that a word?) carrots, cauliflower or anything that strikes your fancy). I usually just make my own simple dressing with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little garlic, and fresh herbs if I have some, but store bought vinegrette is fine. Add a little sea salt and pepper, toss and enjoy.
My favourite is a Caesar salad, with garlic flavoured croutons
I love spinach, mandarin oranges, onion, mushrooms, bacon and a nice creamy poppyseed dressing
spinach
romaine
croutons
sliced almonds
craisins
3 cheese ranch dressing
🙂
My favorite salad:
Uncooked baby spinach
Romaine lettuce
Iceberg lettuce
Salad dressing;
Orange mandarin dressing
Toppings!(My favorite)
Chia seeds + Hulled hemp seeds.
I like the different tastes of the greens and I LOVE the dressing and seeds
red leaf lettuce smoothie
6 leaves of red leaf lettuce
1/4 bunch of fresh basil
1/2 lime (juiced)
1/2 red onion
2 celery sticks
1/4 avocado
2 cups of water
My favorite green salad is caesar salad with lots of dressing and cheese YUMMMMMM
Any mix of leafy greens, I especially like to include beet greens & an orange vinaigrette with pine nuts a bit of shaved cheese (parmesan,romano, asiago or whatever’s in the fridge) and a few dried cranberries for good measure.
I have to say kale chips is a winner otherwise fresh spinach or lettuce have always added as a topping in pasta or in sandwiches otherthan as a salad only
Spinach and strawberry salad
2 bunches spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
4 cups sliced strawberries
Thinly sliced red onion (optional)
Feta cheese (optional)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
I’ve never liked the one made with raw egg as it makes me sick but this one is lovely.
We are not usually big fans of “green salads” but instead prefer veggies that can be dipped. (I know I know – What’s the difference right?). I have found that by taking the greens and rolling them tight I can get everyone to gobble them up. I works really well with a mix of colours. Just put them out on a plate with some sweet peppers and mushrooms, a nice low fat salad dressing for dip and they are gone in no time. Works great for picnics, BBQ’s and the beach too.
My favorite is leafy greens, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms and a great creamy dressing.
Spinach and strawberry salad with a maple dressing. Says summer all the way 🙂
I like spinach salad with red onions, mushrooms and dressing
I love salads and have 1 or 2 every day. My favorite is to wait until the farmers market starts up (in less than 2 weeks now) and make a big salad from whatever I found that week and use it during the week (I also make a soup the same way, with the same abandon using fresh local ingredients).
The salad always has a green of sometime and then I like to experiment with new things. I’m a bit odd in that I don’t like dressings on my salads.
I love leafy greens, cubes of cheddar cheese, cold chicken chunks,
radishes, cucumbers, raisins/or cranberries and a Poppyseed dressing
yourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
My favourite green salad recipe:
*Any green salad (lettuce, baby lettuce, baby spinach i.e. any green you like)
*Chopped cucumber, tomatato, onions and finely grated carrotts
*Cooked kidney beans or chickpeas or any other cooked beans (you could use a mixture of beans if you prefer)
*home made dressing (a bit of mustard, mustard seeds, couple of tbsp of olive oil or more if you prefer, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar)
Toss all the vegetables and beans, pour prepared salad dressing, toss well and serve.
My favourite salad using leafy greens is to use every possible mix of baby lettuces, mustards, Asian greens like bok choy, and all sorts of fresh herbs you can find like cilantro, basil, chives, tarragon, green onions. Mix them all up and then add toppings like fresh tomato slices, cucumber, grated carrots, and pickles, pickled beets. ?Drizzle all of that with a homemade vinaigrette using aged balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with freshly ground pepper. Now, that’s my favourite salad!
We eat spinach salad by the ton. Our current favourite is spinach with creamy poppyseed dressing, slivered almonds, and craisins. 🙂
I love a mixed greens salad with tons of vegs in it.
We have 2 favorites around here, the classic Caesar with Renee’s Creamy Garlic Caesar dressing, croutons and homemade bacon bits! And I love a Greek Salad! Though I have been known to just toss together a salad with whatever veggies are in the fridge at the time. My husband likes more exotic salads that feature seeds and craisins 🙂
I love fresh summer salads with inspiration pulled directly from what is available that day at farmers market and my own garden. Fresh garden tomatos are a must! A vinigret with fresh herbs.