Kidding Around

I have been really blessed since I made the choice to leave my corporate life and enter the world of cooking.  I have met some wonderful people along the way.  There are the people in my cooking classes who bring laughter and joy into my home; the "culinary guru" that I was lucky to spend some time with, who inspired the "intuitive" cook in me to look at the "science" side of cooking; the students at Bauman who teach me as much as (if not more than) I try to teach them; my social media "whiz kid" who refuses to let me believe "I'm too old for that stuff," and then there's Lisa, of Farm Girl Nursery.

Last summer a woman named Karen Pavone, came to one of my cooking classes and asked if I minded her taking pictures, interviewing me a little bit and writing about my class.  Wishing I had spent a little more time doing my hair and makeup, I sheepishly agreed.   I began following her wonderful blog (and not just the post about me!) highlighting the farm to table movement in Marin & Sonoma County.  After a story she did on school gardens, we chatted about how I wanted to get involved in teaching kids not just about growing fresh veggies, but how to cook them in a way that they would actually eat them.  And she introduced me to Lisa Marvier, who at the time was just fixin' to open a farm/nursery.

Lisa and I met for the first time on a sunny April afternoon.  We walked through the farm, her sweet store where she sells books, starters and seeds, and I met all the farm animals: horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, goats, pigs.  My favorite remains the two little pigs that think they're dogs - they come when she calls them, just like her three pups. Although the new baby goats do tug at my heart.  Then she and I sat down to talk....and talk and talk.  We were kindred spirits from the get-go (so lucky when you find people like that in your life) and shared the same vision of teaching people how to eat and be healthy.  And we agreed that a great place to start was with kids.  And The Farm Girl Nursery Kids' Camp was formalized.  Lisa had been thinking about it for a while (she's got so many ideas jumping around in that head of hers!), but we decided to add a cooking class to the mix.

Today was our second camp together, possibly the last of the summer (though I think she's trying to figure out how to squeeze one more in while the weather's good).  The kids started the day learning from a bee keeper and a woman who raises chickens, and then after a bit of zip lining (yes, zip lining!) I take them into the gardens and we harvest fruit and veggies for lunch.  The little ones stay out on the porch to whip up a batch of ice cream (old-school style...with the ice, rock salt and a good old fashioned crank handle!), and the bigger kids come into the kitchen with me to cook.

My older little helpers, after a lesson on knife safety and under close supervision, chopped cucumbers, squash, tomatoes and basil for our quinoa pasta salad.  The younger ones, stripped rosemary sprigs to create skewers and scooped melon balls to create kebabs of watermelon and berries from the farm (great with the ice cream).  After showing them all how to quickly and easily to strip the kale leaves off the stem, I took on the task of making kale chips (big hit with my Kitchen Crew!).

Then it was time to eat!  It's so wonderful to see kids eat good stuff!  It's much easier to do it if they have a hand in growing it, picking it, and cooking it.  Give it a try.  My nephews aren't huge vegetable fans, and I never knew them to eat zucchini in their lives......until they grew some one year.  They were so proud that they couldn't wait to learn how to cook it.  No matter if you have a big yard or a balcony, you can grow something to eat.  Just look at these happy faces..... that's all the inspiration you need.

 

Cheezie Kale Chips
Serve 6-8

2 bunches dino (aka Lacinato) kale, rinsed, stemmed and ripped into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt

• Preheat oven to 325°.
• Place kale on 2 parchment paper lined baking sheets.
• Divide olive oil between the two sheets, and toss to coat.
• Sprinkle with nutritional yeast and salt.
• Bake 15-20 minutes until crispy.  Check occasionally to be sure they don't burn.

Yum It up! 
And see, no cheese; I used nutritional yeast to give the cheesy flavor.  Well, yes that was a little feta on the quinoa pasta salad, but Lisa made me do it!! :)

Bring on the Kale!

I never paid attention to kale until a couple years ago. It suffered from"guilt by association" because it was a little too close to Swiss chard, and my childhood memories of Swiss chard were not happy ones.  I think my Irish grandmother used to boil the heck out of it, until it lost all of its flavor (and color).  But a couple years ago I was introduced to homemade kale chips, and I decided to give kale a second look.


If you're not very familiar with kale, take advantage of it in these coming winter months when it's at its best and sweetest.  Kale is full of B vitamins, C, E, K, beta-carotene, iron, calcium, zinc and fiber.  It's one of the best immunity-boosting vegetables around, but it gets better than that....it helps protect your eyes, lungs, and skin and boosts brain power, memory and energy.  What more could you ask for  in a veg???


I love to stir fry it, mix it into soups and chili, roast it sprinkled with smoked paprika for tasty, crunchy chips, or "massage" the leaves with olive oil and salt to wilt them for a new twist on your usual salad.

But my latest kale creation is.....LASAGNA!

One note: alternative lasagna noodles are not as readily available as "enriched pasta" noodles, and I must confess that I used Barilla No-Boil Lasagna Noodles for this recipe test, but you can find gluten-free noodles on Amazon, and I intend to play with this recipe some more using some of the ones they offer. 

I started out by sauteeing mushrooms and onions. 

When softened, I added a couple cloves of garlic and the kale, and continued to saute until the kale wilts.

When done, pull the skillet off the heat and let it cool slightly.  Meanwhile mix ricotta with a teaspoon each of dried basil and organo in a bowl. Next is the marinara sauce...to make things easy, I recommend Trader Joe's Tomato-Basil Sauce; it has all natural ingredients (and very few), and it tastes great.  If you would like to make your own marinara sauce, it's super easy, and you can finds lots of recipes online.

Cover the bottom of your 8X8 pan with a thin layer of sauce, then 2 lasagna noodles.  Cover with half the ricotta mixture, and half the mushroom/kale mixture and 1/3 cup of sauce.  Top with another 2 noodles, the rest of the cheese and kale and 2 more noodles.  Top with remaining sauce and 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese. 

Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 35-45 minutes until bubbly and heated through.

And then try not to eat the whole thing!