Kale is a very old food - they used to eat it 1000's of years ago - and is an ancestor of cabbage and chock full of vitamins and iron. It is very good fairly finely chopped and fried up with onion, garlic and bacon. It takes a little more cooking than cabbage but you shouldn't overcook. You can also throw it in stews. I don't much like it boiled by itself.
It took me a while to work out how the best way to eat Kale. I try to use it raw as that is the very best way to get the most from your greens, especially Kale. I do it with a Chiffonade cut A French culinary term for a cut of thin strips. Various leafy herbs and lettuce are prepared in this fashion. it is a very very fine cut, then I squeeze it, to help soften it and make it seem more like steamed, and put olive oil, mint, maybe some garlic and ginger..anything that you really like, lemon juice is a tenderiser as well so is salt, but i use very little of that...Kale is very heavy unlike lettuce.
I find these lovely greens go way further if you eat them raw and they are so much more filling, needless to say good for you, you do not kill the enzymes, it lasts in the fridge for days and days...unlike cooked veggies..I have even eaten egg plant raw. If you eat a lot of raw, either buy organic or wash the veggies very well...I wash mine in apple cider vinegar, and let them soak for a few min, I have read that helps neutralise the sprays and other evils.
Geez Shaz I reckon there's a big blue haze hanging around your rig - raw eggplant is pretty potent expecially mixed with all those other high octane greens. Seriously though I hadn't thought of eating kale raw and will try it.
I believe the best way to eat it is steamed, according to the Article in the Link I posted recently. Here are the first 2 Paragraphs. More info on the Link.
Kale can provide you with some special cholesterol-lowering benefits if you will cook it by steaming. The fiber-related components in kale do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract when they've been steamed. When this binding process takes place, it's easier for bile acids to be excreted, and the result is a lowering of your cholesterol levels. Raw kale still has cholesterol-lowering ability--just not as much.
Kale's risk-lowering benefits for cancer have recently been extended to at least five different types of cancer. These types include cancer of the bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) made from glucosinolates in kale play a primary role in achieving these risk-lowering benefits.
Cheers,
Sheba.
-- Edited by Sheba on Wednesday 26th of October 2011 12:41:37 AM
I must admit I do not eat egg plant raw too often, the preparation is so time consuming, I love it coated in virgin coconut oil and done on the George Forman. But Kale is very easy to prepare raw. I don't eat much meat....maybe once a month if that. But the raw veggies are wonderful..although just the plain old salad can be so boring. I do noodles using zucchini.
I really don't eat wheat or grain. I think Sheba talked about buckwheat..and it is much better for you.
