Crispy Kale Chips

I found Crispy Kale Chips at Whole Foods a few weeks ago...Kale Chips? The employee at Whole Foods told me she liked them and told me her favorite flavors. I opted for Cosmic's Cheesy Pizza Kale Chips. Normally anything "cheesy flavored" in snack aisles turns me off but after looking at the ingredients I decided to give them a try and they were really good! On my next trip to Whole Foods I bought Rhythm Superfoods "Zesty Nacho" flavored kale chips.  Here is the list of  ingredients: fresh kale, fresh red bell pepper, fresh zucchini, fresh carrots, cashews, fresh onion, fresh lemon juice, vegan nutritional yeast, garlic, apple cidar vinegar, and sea salt. Everything in the ingredient list is FRESH!
Whole Foods carries several brands - and I recommend you give them a try! Kale is a nutritional powerhouse - and an excellant source of Vitamins and nutrients!
I googled Kale chip recipes and to my delight found many recipes and methods to making Crispy Kale chips at home.

Here is the link to a recipe I used when I made them at home:
http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/03/recipe-for-roasted-kale-chips-with-sea.html
I plan to experiment when making them again and try different methods until I find one I like the best! This link will take you to Kalyn's Kitchen blog. Her kale chip recipe is very similar to the one I used, I share this link because her step by step photos and instructions ensure you'll have great tasting results.

Lemon Marmalade (Sunshine in a Jar)

My good friend, Allison gave me the most wonderful  lemon marmalade last year. She called it "sunshine in a jar". It is especially fresh and tart tasting with scarcely any bitterness. When Allison gave me a grocery bag full of meyer lemons this year I decided to try my hand at her wonderful marmalade and she was kind enough to share the recipe. She got it from an old Sunset canning book.
Lemon Marmalade

About 11 medium sized lemons
1/2 cup water
6 cups sugar
3 oz liquid fruit pectin (Ball makes a box that contains two-3 oz. pouches)

Use a small sharp knife to slice off all the thin outer yellow peel from lemons; cut the peel into slivers. (I used a zester I used to remove the peel.  The zester made lovely long thin strands of lemon peel which I sliced  into smaller sections). Then ream the juice from the lemons. You should have 1 3/4 cups peel and 2 cups lemon juice. Combine the peel, water, and 1/2 cup of the lemon juice in a 3-quart or larger saucepan. Bring to boiling; then cover and simmer until peel is tender when pierced (about 25 minutes)
Add remaining lemon juice and sugar to the pan; cook, stirring, until sugar dissolves. Then turn heat high and bring to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 18-24 hours.

Here is a link to Ball's website which has wonderful easy to follow tutorials. You'll want to prepare your jars and lids etc before you start the next step.
http://www.freshpreserving.com/
Prepare 6 half pint jars and lids for canning process.
Rapidly return marmalade to boiling, stirring to prevent sticking. Stir in the pectin and boil stirring constantly for exactly 1 minute. Quickly skim off any foam that forms. Fill jars to within 1/8 inch of top. Makes 4 half pints. (I made this 3 times and always got 6 half pints each time, which made me very happy!)
I do not have a larger canner anymore-I used a round rack that fit right inside my largest pot. I also used short canning jars so I could give the jars the required water bath and keep the water level two inches above the jars during the water bath process for 10 minutes).

Summers with Nana and Poppy

My parents used to ship us kids down two at a time to visit our Nana and Poppy every summer for a few weeks. Nana always had things lined up to keep us busy. Swimming at the Clubhouse nearly every day was a given! They lived in a golfing community and the house was right on the golf course. We often entertained ourselves with binoculars watching the golfers playing and we all learned to drive Poppy's golf cart.
My great aunt was a nurse in the army so we often got to shop at the BX! The prices were great! I remember finding thee cutest faux fur mini skirt. I had to have it but Nana had her eye on the pumpkin tweed skirt for me. It was very nice, but if I was going to have to pick the faux fur mini was going to win. She tried her best to convince get me to go for the tweed, but my heart was set. She finally relented and bought me both skirts, a win-win for both of us. Sure, I wore both skirts to school that year, but on days I donned the faux fur mini I strutted around like Twiggy on the catwalk.
One year, when I was 11 or 12 Nana had me start copying family recipes down on recipe cards. This was the beginning of my life long love of collecting recipes and cooking. Many afternoons it was on "my agenda" to write recipes down for about an hour. To keep things interesting she sometimes threw me curve balls like the recipes for Elephant stew or Scripture Cake. Below is the recipe for Elephant Stew. I don't think she told me it was a joke right off, she let me figure out that part of the recipe out on my own.
Elephant Stew

Ingredients

1 elephant (medium size)
1 rabbit (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cut elephant into bite sized pieces; this takes about 2 months. Add enough brown gravy to cover. Cook over kerosene fire at 465 degrees. Serves 3800 persons. For those who dislike elephant stew, the rabbit may be added -- but only if necessary because most people don't like hare in their stew.

Dorothy's Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

All of Poppyy and Nana's grandkids had the pleasure of getting to know their neighbors and dear friends in RB, Dorothy and Leigh. Do any of you remember how Leigh parted his hair down the center and always wore a suit with a bow tie? He was such a gentleman and always interested in good conversation with young people. They were such lovely people that it's easy to understand how they quickly became Nana and Poppy's best  friends! I still think of them both fondly. Dorothy made this Chicken and Wild Rice casserole for dinner one evening and was she happy to share her recipes with me when I asked. Often a day or two later I would receive the recipe typed on one of her personalized recipe cards.

Chicken and Wildrice Casserole
Serves 8
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 1/2 lbs chicken breasts and thighs or a 2 1/2 lb fryer cut up
3/4 cups uncooked wild rice (she used L&M white and wild combo) I use an organic Harvest Medley from Costco-a blend of four aromatic California rices (brown, wild rice,sweet brown rice and heirloom red rice)
1 - 3 oz can sliced mushrooms, undrained (or 1/2 cup sliced fresh crimini or button mushrooms)
1 tablespoon butter
Approx 1/2 cup flour to coat chicken before browning
1 tablespoon finely diced onion
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt

Coat chicken pieces in flour and brown in 1 Tablespoon oil.
While chicken is browning  put rice and salt in an ungreased 9x12 casserole dish or similar sized dutch oven and strew 1 T. diced onion over. Add mushrooms.  Arrange chicken pieces on top. Pour 1 3/4 cups chicken broth over all. Dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Note: If all the liquid is not absorbed after one hour recover and continue baking for 20-30 minutes longer.
Notes: If you are making this for two-use less chicken. I always use skinless these days. I remember that Dorothy's version used skin-on and the chicken looked very pretty sitting on top of the wild rice. So if you like skin on - go for it!
I prefer Swanson's chicken broth the best and I use that or Trader Joes's Savory Chicken broth that comes in a box with 12 little pouches in a liquid concentrate that you just add 8 oz of warm water to and stir. I love the flavor and it is reduced sodium!
Next week: A recipe from Nana's recipe collection!