I wanted to write a blog post about how awesome kale is but then I realized just how much information was already here about kale. Therefore, I thought I’d bring some of the great kale recipes on the blog together and add a new one of my own.

If you’re new to the blog and/or kale you can find out a little bit about this vegetable’s health benefits here.

Luckily for us in Nova Scotia, Kale is really easy to grow! Kale can be purchased from local farmers at farmer’s markets and is likely to show up in your CSA box at some point through the year. You can also grow kale yourself. Kale does best if planted from seed early in the spring and/or late in the summer. Kale can even be grown through the winter with the use of season extenders like cold frames. Local gardener and author Niki Jabbour often writes about season extending tips and tricks on her blog. Kale actually tastes sweeter after a frost. Whether you are purchasing kale from your local farmer or growing it yourself, it’s a great addition to any diet.

So… you’re fridge is fully stocked up on kale, what now? Kale has an array of culinary uses! You can blend it into a kale pesto. You could bake it into kale chips. It would make a great salad. You could even turn it into a yummy soup. My favorite way to eat kale doesn’t include any of these. I like my kale in my morning smoothie! If you’re thinking that this sounds terrible, that is exactly what I thought when I first heard of this idea. I was perfectly fine with my regular, non-green smoothies. However, the more I thought about it, the healthier it sounded. I decided that if I were drinking kale smoothies I would be the epitome of health. So I gave it a whirl, and it was delicious! The kale doesn’t lend a whole lot of flavor to the smoothie so you really just need to get over the color, if that’s a barrier for you. It definitely does provide lots of energy to start the day with.

Kale smoothies have been a staple of my morning routine for a while now so I just throw things into my blender and trust that it will turn out. For this post I figured I would try to create the perfect smoothie recipe. I used purple kale instead of green but any type works.

Blueberry and Kale Smoothie
Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped kale, lightly packed

1 small apple
¼ cup of frozen cranberries
½ cup of frozen blueberries
1 tbsp chia seeds or ground flax
½ cup cranberry juice (or your favorite type of juice)

 

Directions:

Chop kale into small pieces and add to the blender. Add fruit, juice, and chia seeds and blend on highest setting. This will likely take at least thirty seconds but it will depend on what type of blender you have. You may want to add a little more juice depending on how thick you want it to be. When everything seems to be blended to perfection, pour and enjoy! This quantity is good for one large serving or two smaller servings. It will fit nicely into a mason jar to take with you on the go.

What did you think? Do you or your family enjoy kale smoothies? If you want to try something different check out this recipe. The great thing about smoothies is that you  can mix and match ingredients to your liking. You could even try swapping out kale for another leafy green like spinach or chard. 

Written by Meghan Doucette, Food Action Intern, Ecology Action Centre