Hail to the kale!

A. and I first experienced eating kale when we made a gumbo recipe that called for a green (mustard, spinach, kale...).  Kale was on sale, so kale it was.  When we ran across kale seed we thought "Sure, why not," and thus kale was planted.   

It was a whim worth taking because kale has flourished in our garden for two seasons in a row.  We have sown the seeds directly into the garden in the late summer/early fall.  Doing this has provided us with kale in the fall/early winter, and it has over wintered, resulting in an abundance of kale at the end of winter and into spring. 

Kale shows itself just as the disappointment of nothing growing is about to turn into despair.  As you can see in the picture I am pleased with the harvest.  This kale was picked late February and was from plants that had already been harvested in the fall and cut back rather hard.  The root system was good and they flushed back out.  We are still eating from the same plants and only now starting to see signs of bolting. 

You may be thinking, "Wow, that's a hardy plant, but what do you do with all of that kale?" 
Here are a few ideas, courtesy of Real Simple magazine and tried in the A&K kitchen: 

 Quinoa with Mushrooms, Kale, and Sweet Potatoes

Kale and White Bean Soup

Vegetable Barley Soup

Kale also works well in stir frying and on its own as a chip.  We have probably eaten kale chips five times within the last three weeks.  I almost ate two baking sheets of the chips by myself.