Cooking with Kale

I don’t know about all of you but I don’t think kale looks very appetizing. I tried to juice it some time ago and quickly realized that the kale juicing trend just wasn’t for me. It was the smell of the kale that turned me off… or maybe it was the green juice?

In any case it just didn’t work me.

But I’m no fool and it has been obvious to me that kale is the new super food and anything considered a super food is worth trying. So after I had a very successful round of kale and orzo soup I wanted to figure out how I could do more.

So I looked in my fridge.

And to no surprise I found one of my favorite things… CHICKEN SAUSAGE! Further investigation of the fridge and pantry were successful when I found orzo and chicken broth and there it was. Staring at me. Daring me to eat it.

The kale.

Game on.

I love Google. Google has solved countless problems for me over the course of its life and I have no doubt it will continue to serve me in only the best way possible. So I simple typed into that wonderful Google search bar “chicken sausage, orzo, and kale” and THIS recipe popped up.

Gosh Google- I love you.

But I hate following recipes. Measuring just isn’t my thing. So I typically take recipe ideas and concepts and just make it my own. Sometimes I spice it up. Sometimes I make it.

So here is the recipe (u’ll notice I use some different measurement terms- for example why measure in cups for kale when they come in stalks?)

  • 3 pieces low fat chicken sausage (I used Italian flavor)
  • 1-2 orzo (I made the mistake of using the entire 1lb the recipe linked recommended and well I think that was an error because I will be eating Orzo for the rest of my life)
  • 4 stalks kale
  • 2 big tomatoes
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • Few shakes Red pepper flakes
  • 1tsp Minced garlic
  • ½ cup cheese (I used Parmesan but use whatever you would like)

And it was simple. Cooked sausage on George Foreman first. Cut up in chunks.  Boiled the orzo for about 4 minutes and then transferred over to the chicken broth to soak up that goodness which was another 10 minutes or so.  While that was going on I was sauteing garlic and red pepper flakes on the stove with some olive oil and then threw in the sausage kale and tomatoes. The original recipe said cherry tomatoes and I didn’t have those so I used big tomatoes and didn’t have to wait for them to “burst” so I think that was a win for me.

Eventually, throw it all together.

Add in your cheese.

Mix.

Eat. Love. Sleep.

Weekend Recap

If you are a guest of the wedding and you are looking to go straight to the wedding details you can click here!

For the rest of you that want to hear more about our crazy busy but fun filled life you can keep reading! I have some random all over the place topics to share today!

Dinner at 3-Point

If you live near the Akron, Oh area and you haven’t tried out 3-Point Restaurant I think you’re nuts. I’m reluctant to discuss my love for 3-Point because right now I think it is just kind of a hidden gem. We don’t have to wait to get a seat, the service is fast, and the servers are friendly and just great. It’s a diamond in the ruff of Akron but I suppose I should share.

We originally went to 3-point because we had a Groupon (or maybe it was Restaurant.com) gift certificate and it was around my birthday so we went with a few friends and ate some delicious burgers. Once again Tim and I found a restaurant.com gift certificate in our hands so we thought let’s go on a date! And so we did!

Photo Aug 03, 7 38 33 PM

This time around I enjoyed a root beer martini. Although pictures below I am holding Tim’s banana split martini because a) it matched my outfit better and b) it tasted better and I was trying to steal it from him. The matching outfit picture was a success but the stealing it part not so much. The root beer one was good but ended up tasting like licorice after about half of it. While I do  like licorice I wish they would have just made it with root beer vodka instead of throwing other stuff in for flavor- but still a good drink.

Photo Aug 03, 7 43 10 PM

Banana split martini is highly recommended.

I had the duck with some risotto on the side and it was DELICIOUS. Tim had the smothered chicken with mac and cheese on the side… delicious as well! We are never disappointed by 3-Point. Give it a try!

Photo Aug 03, 7 57 37 PM

Photo Aug 03, 7 57 42 PM

Juicing

So as you may know my mom got Tim and I (ok mostly me) a juicer for one of our showers. You may remember that I was trying to be really consistent with the Vitamix but at the end of the day the consistency of veggies being chopped up into little pieces didn’t do it for me.

Photo Aug 01, 7 50 15 PM

Although I have only really tried apples, carrots, oranges, and spinach in it thus far it has been working like a charm! Easier to clean than most juicers I have seen and it’s super easy to use. Shove the goods down the shoot and BAM.. like magic juice comes out!

Photo Aug 01, 7 52 37 PM

Eventually I am going to try to branch out a little more on the veggie selections.

Bridal Showers

I realized I never really included any pictures or any details about the bridal showers! Tim and I are just so humbled by the amount of love and support we had over the course of 3 bridal showers! Everyone was so gracious and supportive and we couldn’t ask for better family or friends! I included some pictures below for you to enjoy!

Going Out to Eat Pros and Cons oh and GBD

Operational Beautiful

And I also got to thinking today, wow it is one of my best friends birthday and I consider her to be one of the most beautiful women I know both inside and out… So Happy Birthday Erin! I <3 you!

Juice Day 6

This mornings juice was not so good.

  • 2 Mangos
  • No apples- even though you see one pictures, I changed my name
  • 1/2 Pomegranate (did you know that these things will dye the color of your skin red)
  • 1 piece Kale
  • 1 Celery Stick
  • Almond Butter Almond Milk
  • Ice
  • Kumquats

Honestly, I think it is the ice that throws this off a little. I like to use the ice because this blender is so fast and so powerful that it actually heats up the juice inside and well, that taste gross. The ice makes it cold but I don’t want to heat it up so I never end up chopping enough and then it comes out chunky.

Chunky juice is just nasty.

Keep trying right? One day I’ll find a mix I like!

Going Out To Eat

So going out to eat has a lot of pros and cons and I know it is hard to find the balance between the 2. So a few people have asked me when I do go out to eat (which has been more than I would like lately) what do I get? Do I make healthy choices? Do I splurge? Do I miss out on things?

Well here is my list of the top 5 pros

  1. It is a fun social thing to do with friends
  2. I don’t have to cook
  3. Tim and I can eat different things without left overs taking over our fridge 
  4. It is usually delicious
  5. I can eat different foods that I don’t like to/don’t know how to prepare

And here is my list of the top 5 cons

  1. It is expensive
  2. In my mind is is not healthy, so mentally I feel bad afterward
  3. I tend to make excuses for my eating poorly at restaurants
  4. I don’t have control over what I make and what I put in it
  5. I can’t wear my yoga pants (most of the time- I still find some places where it is borderline accepted)

So what do I get when I go out to eat? Well, here are a few examples of how I try to make healthier choices

I don’t eat the bun

We had a work dinner at The Rail the other night, one of my favorite places to go, and I love burgers so I knew I what I wanted the moment I walked in. Mr. Mariola please (who is apparently the owner of the place and yes if I owned a restaurant I would name a burger Ms. Laney or Mrs. Stiller). This burger has mozzarella cheese, pesto spread, and tomato and well it is just my kind of burger. So when I realized it is the burger I like and not the bun, I made a choice.

I took the top half of my bun off and just set it aside… it was useless to my taste buds and I dug in with a fork and knife and essentially killed Mr. Mariola. I only ate about a handful of the fries (which were freaking delic by the way) and then sat back and enjoyed a vodka tonic.

Oh, we also had appetizers.

I really wanted to fried jalapeños because I just wanted to taste them and that is exactly what I did. I took just a few off the plate and passed it around the table. The other (fried burger ravioli things) looked delic as well and I wanted a taste so I took one off of the plate didn’t eat the edges that were just empty and not flavoring at all anyway and ate the center ravioli piece.

It wasn’t the healthiest meal I’ve ever had but I was proud of the choices I made when I left.

I skip the pasta

Tim’s family belongs to a Country Club that has AMAZING pasta bar Wednesdays. So when we were invited the other night I was happy to accept the invitation.

So I got to thinking about what I like most about pasta bar and it hit me.. it’s not the pasta. Sure, the fact that it is a free meal is in my top 3 but it was the freshness of the food and how I had the control to pick out what I want. Pasta bar is essentially designed for you to go up and tell the nice Chef man (who has a very deep voice btw) what you would like in your pasta and I always choose…

  • Tomatoes
  • Green peppers
  • Mushrooms
  • Shrimp
  • Chicken

But there are lots of other options like sausage, onions, mixed veggies, and just goodness all around so I decided to leave out the pasta.. get all of the add ins and just eat it like stir fry. It was delicious! They also had these stuffed shells.. and since I consider myself to be a professional stuffed shell taster I got one but it didn’t compare to Tim’s mom’s shells so I just pushed it aside.

A healthier choice!

Happy GBD (Green Beer Day for you Non-Miami ppl)

Have you ever heard of Green Beer Day? Started in 1952 and is well, it is the Thursday before Spring Break at Miami University (or historically has been, seems a little early this year) and it is a day where the bars open at 4am for green beer, jello shots, and whatever else you can add green food coloring to. The restaurants make green pancakes and green eggs and the students are decked out in green t-shirts made my fellow Miami students. These shirts are usually super creative and are very “in” to what is going on in society at the time.

It truly is an event.

If you want to read more about the history you can do that here.

For the student version of Green Beer Day, here you go. I didn’t participate until my Senior year which made me of legal age to drink and well I had enough seniority that it was OK to skip class. Honestly, I spent the day with my friends laughing and remember the good times we had at that point in our senior year. We sat outside Skippers and drank, we enjoyed jello shots at 45 East, breakfast was at Uptown Café, and we bummed around to Mac and Joe’s, Steinkeller, and even Lottie Moons.

It was a fabulous day! A tired and crazy fabulous day!

So in remembrance of Green Beer Day I present you with our “Green Beer Day Family Photo”

And one of my finest moments on GDB!

Questions for you, leave me a comment!

  1. What is your favorite restaurant and what do you order?
  2. What is your SPLURGE meal when you go out to eat?
  3. Did you go to Miami? YES? Tell me about your favorite Green Beer Day memory?