Kale pesto pasta. Heavy cream optional (but not really).

A short while back, I shared a recipe for salmon and kale quinoa and we learned all about those three fantastic superfoods with some fun videos!

But I found myself with half a bag of kale left, that needed tending to before it wilted/rotted in my fridge. I can't believe how fast it goes bad once you open that bag. So, I'm here to share with you a super recipe for using up all that leftover kale!

I took a recipe I found here and I've tweaked it (aka added heavy cream) into the deliciousness I share with you today.

Okay, that's actually a pretty glorified way of putting it. What really happened was that I made the pesto, but didn't make enough pasta, so it was a thick pesto mess. A couple days later I made more pasta to thin out the pesto, and went crazy and added a cup-ish of heavy cream. Then I felt guilty, so I diced up a tomato and threw that in there too. Never apologize for anything that happens in the kitchen, Eaters.

[pre-heavy cream and tomato additions. bad pesto-to-pasta ratio.]

Pasta with kale pesto cream sauce. and tomatoes.

2 lbs of pasta (yes, I realize that's a lot. I was going off of my leftover kale situation! i used whole wheat spirals.)
1/2 lb of kale, chopped and destemmed and all that jazz
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup deshelled pistachios
juice from 1 lemon
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
pinch of red pepper flakes for a little heat
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
1 cup(ish) heavy cream
1 tomato, diced

Salt a pot of water and bring to boil. Add kale and blanch for 2-4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop it out and onto some paper towels. Let em cool a sec then use more paper towels to pat/squeeze dry. 

Toast the pistachios in a small saucepan/skillet situation over medium-low for a couple minutes, stirring to toast evenly.

Cook your pasta somewhere around here-ish.

Grab your food processor, and add the garlic and toasted pistachios. Pulse until coarse. Add the kale and lemon juice and pulse until mixture is nearly smooth (but still has that pesto-y bits to it). Scrape the sides and add the parmesan, red pepper flakes and salt to taste. Pulse again, and while the processor is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

At this point, you can put it in a tupperware with a little olive oil to save, or spoon it over your pasta and give it a good stir.

To make it a pesto cream sauce, heat 1 cup or so (depending on how liquid-y you want it) of heavy cream in a small sauce pan over medium. Bring almost to a boil, then pour over your pasta along with the pesto. Chop up a tomato and toss that in there too.

Happy eating!

   

You put the lime in the coconut... olive oil greek yogurt cake.

Happy Monday, eaters!

I'm really excited about this cake. Like, really, really excited. 

I'm one of those strange birds who doesn't really like icing on cakes. It actually really used to stress me out when I was younger. My mom was typically a no-to-light-froster on birthday cakes and when I found myself at a friend's birthday party with a store-bought, icing covered cake, I would get really stressed out... What if some poor soul handed me an end piece? It doesn't sound like such a dilemma now, but when you're 8 years old and the highlight of the party is the cake, and you've been waiting for it the whole party... waiting for a middle, only-on-the-top frosting piece feels like eternity. 

As it turns out when you are 26 years old, waiting for this cake to bake feels like an eternity. Don't get me started on how long it takes for it to cool...

Anyways!

This cake is first and foremost delicious, without any frosting. And secondly, it's quite lovely without any frosting.

I combined two recipes (found here and here) to make this one. I'm a big fan of using both Greek yogurt and olive oil in cakes- the Greek yogurt keeps things light but the olive oil adds a certain je ne sais quoi. This cake turned out incredibly moist, light and super fresh- perfect for the end of a Memorial Day cook out.

Coconut Lime Greek Olive Oil Cake

3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup low-fat vanilla Greek yogurt
3/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons lime zest
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4  cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the topping:

Zest of one lime

1-2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

 

 

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease an 8-9" round pan. 

In one bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Add olive oil, yogurt, milk, zest and lime juice. It'll look like you're making a key lime pie at this point. Really pretty and really great smelling. Add your coconut and whisk gently or use a spatula to fold gently into the mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together your flours, baking powder and salt. 

Slowly add your flour mixture to your wet ingredients and stir gently with a spatula until there are no clumps (you'll be able to see the coconut, but no lumps aside from that). 

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. 

While the cake is baking, prepare the topping. Combine sugar and lime zest in one bowl and mix together with a fork. Keep your sugar zest separate from your coconut for the topping. Mixing together just creates for a soggy mess. 

Once the cake is done and cooled, sprinkle the sugar zest and coconut on top of the cake and garnish with lime wedges. 

Until next time,

Banana bread so good you'll slap yo mama

[spiced chocolate chip banana bread]

Happy Thursday, eaters! It's almost the weekend, which means you need to be thinking about what you're going to eat this weekend, right? ...Right?

Good thing we've been bringing you our favorite banana bread recipes all week so you can budget for some delicious banana-y goodness this weekend to impress your friends. What's your fancy: an extra kick in your morning muffin? What about a little sweet and buttery extra sumpin sumpin on top? Or is it all the chocolate chips? We three eaters just couldn't put enough chocolate chips in our banana bread this week.

Well, chocolate or no chocolate, this here recipe for banana bread is the absolute best I've found. I could make this in my sleep. This one's different for a few reasons: I use half whole wheat and half regular flour, but this recipe does NOT come out too dense, dry or cakey because of the whole wheat. I also use olive oil instead of oil and/or butter. It also has some added spices: ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Don't be afraid. Once you taste it, you'll be kicking yourself for not putting ginger in your banana bread before.

You'll need:

3-4 medium to large bananas

1/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

To be alone when you eat this otherwise you might slap somebody

 

Preheat your oven to 325 and grease a large bundt pan (or bread pan).

Peel and mash bananas in a large bowl. Add olive oil, brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and beat until everything is incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine the flours, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and baking soda and mix well. This is important. I know I'm always tempted to skip the "in a separate bowl" step, but don't. You want your baking soda to mix properly with the flour. I've found if you skip this step, there is some kind of dark magic about baking soda in banana bread (in particular)- if you don't mix it well in the flour prior to adding it to the bananas, you get disgusting pockets of bitter baking soda in your banana bread.

Once all your dry ingredients are mixed, slowly add and gently stir to your wet ingredients. I'd like to reiterate here something Laura said on Monday: don't over stir your batter. The worst thing banana bread can be is tough and dry. Now, add your chocolate chips at this point if that's what you fancy.

Pop that sucker in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour and it's done when you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

[no mamas were hurt in the baking of this banana bread]

Enjoy, eaters!

Until next time,