Kale and Mini Meatball Soup

Although it was around 60 degrees here the other day...
I do know that winter is officially here and here to stay until at least early April is my guess.
When it's cold outside, I naturally want hot, warm food whether it's a hot chai
or hot chocolate or of course some hot soup.
I only recently discovered Kale. I made a very easy soup that
I call kale and mini meatball soup.

Kale is in the cabbage family along with broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and brussel sprouts.

Kale is known to have a lot of vitamin C, vitamin K, Lutein, beta carotene and is rich in calcium.

I'm sure you've seen the flowering Kale as well- which is often seen in flower beds and it really 

does look like a head of cabbage.

As far as the Kale Soup with mini meatballs-

I started off with boiling some chicken broth. That was the base of my soup. 

 There really is not too much to this soup. It's chopping the vibrant green Kale.

After rinsing and cutting the Kale into about 1-2 inch pieces, I cut one potato into small squares.

I tossed the Kale and potatoes in the pot first so that they would get cooking. 

(You don't want a crunchy potato in your soup, well at least not this soup)

I then took some ground beef and added, salt, pepper, a sprinkle of bread crumbs and some dry basil

leaves and mushed them all together with my hands and then rolled very small mini meatballs.

                                   

You can see how each meatball is unique in its own way. (No two are the same)
I often hear teachers say: "You are unique, just like everyone else"   Did you get that?
You (individual) are unique (one of a kind) just like EVERYONE  ELSE!   haha

The meatballs don't take that long to cook especially because they are mini-sized so I toss the
meatballs in once the potatoes are completely cooked. I throw in some diced tomatoes
(1-2 tomatoes) once the meatballs turn the tan-brown color they turn once they are cooked.

I stir everything around to mix it all up and turn the stove off and put a lid on the pot
so they can all stay nice and hot until I decide which bowl to ladle it into.
I've also made the soup with sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes as well.
Both are good, the sweet potatoes or yams are healthier than the regular potatoes though! 
You can also add diced onions to the soup as well.
(If you're using onions- you only need half of a medium sized onion and you can throw the
onions in first so they cook all the way through. (The onions are merely to give the broth
a even better flavor- surely not the superstar in this soup)

Kale soup with mini meatballs, potatoes and tomatoes!
Good and healthy on a cold winters night.

Tumble.... Trip, I mean Tupperware

Everyone has an expression or even a phrase when they come to realize something,
something they probably might of even known but just never thought of and
that moment might be called... something.  For example, just like the way
Oprah Winfrey has her "Aha Moment"
I have a phrase that I use, called  "7 years".  It's basically the same as an "Aha Moment"
but I just say seven year-uhrs. It's not a question or a statement really.
It came about when my mom used to own a flower shop many, many years ago.

It was one year during Valentines season (yeah it was a season especially the prep part of it)
We realized we could hang pre-made ribbon from the ceiling rather than stacking them
in large bins where they would get smushed and just take up space...
(we're talking about making and storing about 300 pre-hand made ribbons)
Anyhow, we realized it and quite simply, it was into year 7.  So I then commented
with "7 year-uhrs"- seems quite uneventful I know, but it's totally one of those
you had to experience and be there--- kind of moments.

So I wanted to share something that was a 7 years moment for me over
the Christmas season. My sister-in-law Julia was in the process of wrapping
some left over Shrimp Mac and Cheese when I noticed she went over to the
side table that she has and took a tupper ware container out of a large plastic bin...
that's when it hit me. Here is the reason why- one of my bottom cabinets
in my kitchen looks like this---during a good week...

Something always falls over EVERY. SINGLE.  time I open this cabinet.
Even though it gets organized and stacked nice and neatly, it's only a matter of-
literally the next time when something falls over AGAIN!
So when I saw she took out a container from a large container...
it made sense and it would only be a matter of purchasing a large bin.
The other week I noticed there were bins on clearance for 75% off. Cha-ching!
So I cleaned out my cabinet and stacked all the lids in one bin and
the containers in a second bin.

After stacking them all snuggly into their new home, I felt nice and clean and knowing
I now have an entire extra cabinet... hmm, what to put in there!?!

P.S.  I love organization.   It runs in the family.

Fresh, Healthy Spinach and Mushroom Salad

Right before the 17 degree weather hit us here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-USA
I felt the urge to make a summery salad.  I know salads are not just for summer but
adding the blueberries, avocados and cherry tomatoes just gave it a summery feel.

 I simply used Spinach as the base of my salad rather than lettuce.
The other ingredients were mushrooms sliced thin and lots and lots of them!

I also added carrots for the crisp crunch factor. I sliced the carrots pretty thin as well and
the bright color makes it look appealing as well.  My brother is known for eating on nice
dinner plates almost every night because he says the food tastes even better
when it is plated nicely. It is quite true how they say a good portion of food is about
the way it looks, especially since we see with our eyes before eating it.
Then you have those people who literally smell every thing before eating
which I don't completely understand, but that's a whole another thing.

 

The fresh, plump blueberries were sweet and delicious to add to the salad.

 Cherry tomatoes are usually my... go-to for salads, I think because of the friendly bite-sized size.

 I also added little cubes of avocados and topped it with some steak that I flash fried
in the frying pan with just some salt & pepper for taste.

For the salad dressing, I simply mixed Olive Oil, Italian Seasonings
(the dried ones that literally say... Italian Seasonings) and a drop of white vinegar.
Very simple but easy and pretty tasty!
Now, that it's barely 20 degrees... I guess it's time for some soups maybe.

Pineapple Salsa Chicken Satays

Chicken Satays are one of my favorite apps...  apps- as in appetizers.

Even in the winter, when it's WAAY too cold brrrr to grill outdoors...
you can grill on your Foreman Grill- or you can always broil in the oven as well!
For the peanut sauce...  click on Chicken Satay Peanut Sauce.
Once you've got your sauce ready to go- you can cut your chicken into bite
size inches and skewer them on your (already soaked in water bamboo wooden sticks-
you want to soak them for at least 30 minutes so that the sticks don't
turn black and worse... burn.) Once the skewers are ready, carefully place them
on your Foreman Grill or lay them on a pan ready to broil in the oven.

 While your chicken satays are grilling away and getting their tan on- you can take s
ome pineapple chunks and give them a quick chop. As we know, pineapples have that
mixture of slight tartness with sweetness mixed together which is an awesome combination.
Add a sprinkle of fresh black pepper and it will give the pineapple a slight pepper spice KICK!
It's best if the pineapple is chilled in the refrigerator before spooning it onto the satays before eating.

Satays are great to eat as a snack, appetizer or as a meal with some rice or buttered pasta.
Meat on a stick- better yet, meat on a stick with good sauce topped with pineapple!
It's pretty good and that pineapple salsa is probably the easiest salsa EVER to make.

Alton Brown

Alton Brown...

Alton Brown's interest in cooking budded early with guidance from his mother
and grandmother. He admits that his culinary talents were used to get dates in college.
After college he spent many years working as a video director and cinematographer but,
he realized that most of his down time was spent watching cooking shows but they s
seemed to be on the dull side. He was convinced that he could do better- so he left the
film business and decided to study at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont.

He blended his film knowledge and food knowledge together to
create the show "Good Eats", an entertaining food show that gives quite interesting facts,
thrown in with experience, wisdom, wit and history of the food, techniques and ingredients.
I always find it interesting to learn where food or anything for that matter came from
or how or why it was started. Alton has wrote several food reference books
that have won awards for all of them. Alton is the food historian and commentator
on Food Network's Iron Chef America as well as his show "Good Eats"
along with commercials like the one for Welch's Grape Juice.
Alton Brown was most recently recognized for winning the James Beard award
for TV Food Personality and Host for Good Eats. Alton lives in Georgia with
his wife and their daughter.

Alton Brown is a great cultivator because he is so into learning/teaching all
about the food not just- here's a recipe... do this and then when it's done, eat it.
It really helps to know different things about food so we can stay healthy and
learn what's good and not good. Here are a few Good Eats trivia facts that
have been on the show.

---- Cows that graze in pastures (grass) tend to produce cream-colored
milk whereas grain-fed cows produce a white milk.

---- Milk is good for putting out the fire in your tongue when you have eaten
something too spicy for you thanks to "casein".... casein being a protein found in
milk from mammals that cleanses our taste buds along in being used as a
binding agent as well... (it is typically found in tempera paint)

----More than 130 distinct chemical compounds have been identified
in TRUE vanilla extract... is that why it tastes so good and is so rich...?

----Cocoa butter and avocados are used to make many different cosmetic products.

---- Distilled water is usually boiled into steam and then condensed
back into liquid form and collected to make it truly pure.

Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is overrated...

Red Velvet Cake is the one that has the dark reddish color.
It's associated with being a little more...  shall we say ga-ga fancy?
It's typically made with cream cheese icing/frosting.
Originally, the color of the batter changed to a red-brown color from
the reaction of the cocoa powder to the buttermilk, buttermilk having an acidic quality.
However, these days the reddish color just comes from red food coloring.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news if you didn't already know...
but red velvet cake batter is just chocolate cake batter with
red food coloring/dye in it. The ones with dye in it traditionally tend to
have a more moisture from the use of juice from boiling beets.
The deep red beet juice enhances the color but also helps retain the moisture as well.
Many gourmet eateries and bakeries are starting to make red-velvet pancakes.
hmmm a red pancake?

A Few HORRIBLE ones...

I would like to award these worst awards for these items for 2011.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bad mouth these establishments as a whole.
I'm just awarding worst awards to these specific items.

Michael's Deli in KOP has the worst cheese fries EVER!

Now, I feel I can judge these fries because I've had/tried these a hand full of times.
I've ordered than more than once because I figured it was just a bad day,
BUT the fries are always soggy hands down, always!  The cheese isn't so attractive either.
I'm not sure what I was thinking ordering these more than a few times- I guess
I was assuming you can't screw up fries unless you were having one bad day....?

Next is the salad from Kildare's Pub..... let me tell you, this salad was so bad,
I don't even remember which one it was. The lettuce was not only brown on a
few of the edges but there were actual pieces of lettuce that were completely
brown and spoiled. The vinaigrette dressing was also so tart that I seriously
couldn't eat the salad. Once again, I never knew a salad could be that SO bad.
Worst salad EVER!

The next award goes for worst Calamari..... given to Bahama Breeze.
I've had other food at Bahama Breeze and have enjoyed it very much but the calamari....

The calamari was on the soggy side and SO chewy it was like chewing
on leather, seriously! There are actually red bell peppers underneath the calamari
and they certainly didn't help the app in any shape or form!
(Don't let the picture fool you!)


The worst coffee EVER goes to Gloria Jeane's coffee at the Franklin Mills Mall.

Now, this is just a regular hot coffee....  you probably are asking... what are the brown
spotted spots! Excellent question! I couldn't tell you and neither could the girl and her sister
behind the counter. The coffee was barely luke warm also. It certainly didn't help that they
charged me incorrectly for the coffee and then on top of that they tried to charge me a
re-stocking fee!!! I'm not exaggerating. REALLY? re-stocking? What are you re-stocking?
If I remember correctly... they DID go out of business. Now, I'm giving them the worst
hot coffee award based strictly on the coffee alone and not the horrible customer service!