Kale, Carrots and Kidney Beans

This meal was so beautiful that I just had to share it with you. It’s super healthy and also easy to make and it tastes great!

Kale is one of the healthiest foods on the planet and so I try to eat it everyday. Since my husband doesn’t like cooked kale, I usually end up eating it during lunch. My husband gets his in a smoothie.

Meg Wolf has been encouraging people to try and eat more kale on her blog recently and she gave a copy of the book “Greens, Glorious Greens” as a prize for a  comments contest she was having. Seeing the book on her website, reminded me that I already own that book and that maybe it was time to re-visit. The recipe below was inspired by a recipe that I saw in that book. If you’d like to incorporate more greens into your diet, I highly recommend this book.

Anyway, on to the recipe. This isn’t rocket science, I didn’t really measure my indredients, I just throw stuff in until it looks good. I also do alot of variations on this theme by using different beans and different veggie combinations, the indredients that remain the same are the garlic, raisins and nuts (although I use different ones, usually either pine nuts, almonds, or walnuts).

Kale, Carrots and Kidney Beans

2 cups chopped fresh kale

1 carrot

1 cup cubed turnip (1/2″ cubes)

2 tsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can kidney beans (drained)

2 tbls raisins

1-2  tbls slivered almonds

Salt to taste

I like to soak my raisins in hot water for about 10 minutes to make them tender and to plump them up, if you want to soak your raisins too…now is a good time. Remove the kale off of central stem, wash and chop or tear into smaller pieces, slice carrot on the diagonal, and cube turnips. Using a large pot, put a steamer basket inside, add water to bottom, then add the kale, carrots and turnips. I usually layer the veggies, first the kale, then carrots and turnips (no particular reason, it’s just the way I do it). Steam for approx. 10 minutes until tender but not mooshy. Set aside. Put oil in a deep non-stick skillet or pan. Heat oil, add garlic and saute for a minute or so, then add the beans and cook for 2 minutes. Add the raisins and the nuts and stir around for a minute or so, then add the steamed veggies and stir until blended, about 1 minute. Serve. This will feed 1-2 people depending on how hungry you are. This is really a meal all in itself so I don’t usually serve it with anything.