Kale Pesto

Hi Y'all!

 

So the other day we made a pizza with cauliflower crust. Instead of the usual tomato based sauce I decided to try a kale pesto. We have gotten kale in both of our produce baskets do far. The first bunch of kale we got, we made kale chips. This time I wanted to try something a little bit different.. Don't get me wrong, the kale chips are awesome, and I made sure I left enough kale so we could make more, but I wanted to be able to use the kale in a meal or something, ya know?

 

I saw this recipe on Food Buzz and had to try it! Originally I had a pasta dish or some sort of sandwich in mind, but when I decided on making a pizza, I thought the kale pesto would be a nice change. It was really good, and there is enough left to make a pasta dish!

 

 

 

 

Kale Pesto:

 

4 cups torn kale, (about 6 large stems, stalks removed)

3 Tablespoons chopped walnuts

Juice from 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic paste or 2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

4-5 Tablespoons water (optional)

Place kale, lemon juice, salt, garlic and Parmesan in the food processor.

Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped. If it is too thick and it does not blend well, add a few tablespoons of water, one at a time.

Once everything is chopped, with food processor running, slowly drizzle olive oil over the ingredients until incorporated.

Put pesto in a glass jar, or plastic container.

Eat and Enjoy! 

 

Sorry for the not so great picture.. I don't know why its the only one I took..

 

Whats your favorite way to use pesto?

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Hi Y'all!

 

In the spring, the hubs had planted a garden. We had all kinds of wonderful things growing, and it inspired us to start eating better and trying our best to know where our food comes from. He grew corn, kale, two types of lettuce, several types of beans, squash, zucchini, and of course basil.  Once the Texas heat hit, our pretty little garden died.. We are still all about eating fresh organic fruits and veggies, but growing our own will have to wait till it cools off some.

 

Luckily for us we found this awesome place that does co-op style produce baskets. Urban Acres not only has a store in the DFW area, but they deliver produce baskets every two weeks to a little organic market in our area. We just got our second basket from them this past Friday, and got some kale, butternut squash, cauliflower and lots of other goodies.

 

The hubs and I both agree that we do not like cauliflower that much, but do not want to be wasteful. I had seen cauliflower pizza crust going around on pinterest awhile back and thought that would be the perfect solution for our cauliflower!

 

I made a kale pesto sauce for our pizza (look for that recipe soon!), and our toppings included: red onion, tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, kalamata olives and arugula.

You can put whatever you want on your pizza though! =)

 

 

Cauliflower Pizza Crust:

1 cup cauliflower crumbs

2 egg whites

1 cup cheese (I used cheddar)

1 tsp cilantro or oregano

1 tsp. minced garlic or garlic powder

Parmesan cheese, if desired

pizza toppings of your choice

I used a whole head of cauliflower. Wash your cauliflower and pat it dry. Be sure to have it dried completely; otherwise your crust will be mushy. Chop the cauliflower into small pieces and tossed them into your food processor and processed it until it is crumb like.

 

 

Once you are done, place the cauliflower in a microwave safe dish and put it in the microwave for about 7-8 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees

Grab a pizza pan and spray it with a non-stick spray. If you don’t have a pizza pan, you can use a cookie sheet like I did, just line it with wax paper and spray it lightly with a non-stick spray..

It will stick if you don’t!

 

In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, egg whites, cheese, oregano and garlic.

Press evenly in the pan. Make sure you get it mushed down real well on all sides. If you are using a cookie sheet, make the best circle you can... It does not have to be pretty to still taste good!

Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top of your crust.

 

 

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Check it after 15 min, if it still seems a little dough like in the middle, put it in for another 3-5 min.

Remove the pan from the oven. Add your sauce, toppings and cheese.

Place under a broiler for about 30-60 seconds, just until the cheese is melted.

 

Eat and Enjoy!

What is your least favorite veggie?

Rum Cake Cupcakes

Hi Y'all!

 

I don't know about you, but I had a pretty amazing summer! Okay, so most of my summer was spent working, but it's where I work that made it amazing! I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I had gotten a job at Six Flags Over Texas, but that's where I work!

 

 This summer was pretty busy for me, I did do some baking but didn't have the chance to write up blog posts for everything.. I even got way behind on my reading! A couple weeks ago we had a private event for Frito-Lay at work and I got to have my picture taken with Chester Cheetah! How cool is that?!

 

(That's me in the blue jacket..)

 

Sadly the season is coming to an end, but that means good news for y'all!

 

 I'm back and I've got tons of recipes to share!!

I'm going to start with a recipe my friend, Syd gave me.  This recipe was handed down to her by her grandmother. I had some pictures, but I can't seem to find them.. Sorry.. Y'all will just have to trust me that  the look awesome and taste amazing!



Rum Cake Cupcakes:

1 yellow cake mix

1 (4-serving size) instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup spiced rum

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients in large bowl for 2-3 minutes. When batter is smooth, fill cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. Top with powdered sugar while hot, or if you want an alcoholic topping...

Optional glaze:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup rum

 

Eat and Enjoy!

 

What did you do over summer?