at the tail end of mac's b'day party thingymabob. We were late for the intended movie, so we had to improvise and get tix to HtTYD in IMAX 3D instead of reg 3-D, then kill an hour. It took us a while to find a McDs, but once we did it was all smooth sailing. Only 2 of his friends were able to make it. Honestly am happy about that, 5 boys would have been tough to wrangle all by myself. We got ice cream afterwards and they are now playing until the parents show up.

Steam kale in a basket till tender, serve with mustard sauce (brown mustard, a dash of horseradish, water to your preferred consistency). Remove ribs of larger leaves if you find them tough or objectionable. Nom!

In the vegetable vein, what's a good thing to do with kale? This should be pretty mild (mostly from my garden and picked small) - I'm thinking saute with garlic and olive oil?

My coworker swears by roasting them into kale chips.

My friend's dad makes a garlicky kale and bean casserole that I adored.

Sauteed Tuscan Kale with Garlicky White Beans
   
A recipe from Tuscany
 
12 	small to medium leaves Tuscan Kale (4 oz.)
  	 
2 	tbs. extra-virgin Tuscan olive oil plus more for garnish
  	 
1 	clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
  	 
1/2 	cup cooking liquor from the beans 
 
	  	
1 1/2 	cups cooked white beans 
  	 
3 	cloves cooked garlic, peeled and halved
  	 
  	salt
  	 
  	freshly ground black pepper
 
Remove the center rib from each leaf and if the leaves are long, tear each into
 4- or 5-inch lengths. Wash and pat dry. In a 10-inch straight-sided skillet heat the 2 tbs. 
 olive oil, gradually add the leaves, and cook, stirring, 
 until they wilt and sizzle in the hot oil, 2 minutes. 
 Reduce the heat. Add the sliced garlic, cover, 
 and cook the leaves until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the 
 bean broth by the tablespoon, as needed, 
 to keep the leaves from drying out.


Push the leaves to one side in the skillet; add the beans,
  salt, pepper, cooked garlic halves, and enough bean liquor 
 to keep the dish juicy; cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.
 



White Beans
1 	cup dried white beans
 
	  	
4 to 5 	cloves garlic, unpeeled
 
  	  	 
  	  	 
Aromatics Tied In Cheesecloth 	  	 
  	  	 
1 	spring thyme
  	 
2 	slices onion
  	 
1 	carrot
  	 
1 	small celery sprig
 
	  	
3 	sprigs parsley
  	 
1 	bay leaf
  	 
12 	Peppercorns
  	 
1/2 	tsp. salt
 
 


Pick over the beans and discard any foreign matter. 
 Soak in water to cover overnight.
   Drain; place in a deep pan or clay pot with the garlic,
 and cover with at least 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil, 
 skim carefully, and add the bag of aromatics, pushing it into 
 the beans. If you are sure the beans are fresh, add the salt now. 
 Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, 
 then add the salt and continue cooking until the beans are tender. 
 (The time needed will vary, depending on the age of the beans. 
 You can tell when they are almost done by removing one or two beans with a 
 spoon and blowing gently on them--the skin will burst). 
 Simmer another 2 to 3 minutes, then remove from the heat. 
 Allow beans to cool in the cooking liquid. 
 Discard aromatics but not the garlic.  

Baked kale chips are pretty good, too. Garlic, olive oil, salt, 10 minutes in the oven. (ETA: inevitable kale x-post!)

I still have all the savings bonds I got when I was wee. I used the Treasury's savings bond calculator to figure out their final maturity.

That sounds really good, Sue.

My soup is done. Good, but it could be better. It's semi-pureed, because my immersion blender isn't strong enough to puree even cooked kale, it seems, and I didn't feel like messing around with transferring it to the regular food processor.

Okay, you asked for it. I finally sat down and started trying to distill my thoughts about the past year and all the changes.

It turned out to be a more massive brain dump than anticipated, because I found I really couldn't tell the story without putting it into some of the context of what was happening to me at that time. But I promised someone just this morning to try to stop living in my own head so much and keeping so much inside, so I guess the timing was right. Because it went a little long, I decided to throw it up on my somewhat abortive attempt at a food blog. (Maybe this will inspire me to start doing that again!)

How we got here.

Part two, now with less depressing.

The second part is really the food stuff, so you're all more than welcome to skip to that if you want. And comments or questions here or there - I'm not shy.

Also, kale! I second the crispy kale rec - I do it with all kinds of greens. I also like to sautee various greens with garlic and onion, then throw in some salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar, and some cider vinegar or sherry (or both!) and let steam for a few minutes. Nom.

Thanks for sharing that Brenda.

brenda, I'm so sorry you went through that. Thanks for sharing, though -- that's really an inspiration for me to start eating some new and different vegetables.

Wow, Brenda, you're my hero when it comes to vegetables. I eat far more of them than I ever have, and I've cut my sugar, fat, and protein intake by half or more.

It's odd--even whole grains like cereal or oatmeal send my blood sugar up, while bacon and eggs keeps it level. But then my cholesterol aims for the sky. It's always a balancing act.

I've always felt vegetables were basically a waste of time and energy. To me they're not "food", not really. Food is protein and fat, not much of either, but it's the basis of my concept of "food". Carbs are next, in complex whole grains, but I have to be careful because they convert quickly to glucose. Fruits and all other sweets are used only sparingly. They're not really necessary, and do more harm than good. And vegetables are just filler.

I've always had the (completely wrong!) notion that veg have no food value. They're certainly not filling. They take an enormous boring amount of time to shop for, store, use before they rot on you, and prepare. And after all that trouble what have you got? Vegetables, yay (not). It takes too much time and energy to bite chew and swallow something that rewards that effort so little.

So basically, I've always been: I can eat less of what I like. I can eat none of what I like, as long as I don't have to also eat what I hate. It's just always felt so punitive to have to give up every single thing that ever tasted "good" to me, and force myself to chew and swallow things that don't taste good, things that bore me, things that turn eating into a chore I'd rather not have to think about or bother with.

I have always had--and still have--a reallyreally bad adversarial relationship with food. And reading your blog posts are encouraging and inspirational. Maybe there's hope for me. So thank you.

To rescue this from being a completely mememe post, I do want to say that I'm impressed with the determination and courage with which you attacked the things in your life that you felt were wrong. And the inspiration and willingness to listen to and follow your intuition you used to find a path that works for you. I'm happy that you feel better, and I'm glad you're healthier, in more ways than one. You're a fantastic role model.