Weight Loss Wednesday: Strange Kale Love

By Morgan Dudkewitz

I love kale. (I know every vegan says that!) However, it’s easily one of my favorite foods. But we haven’t always had this relationship. Up until I went vegan four years ago, I had no idea what kale was. Just had never heard of it. One day, newly-vegan-me is looking for tasty recipes and I find something so simple: garlicky sautéed kale. Sounded easy so I thought I’d try it out.  Wow, it changed my life. I started eating kale at least once a day – my mom was always mad because I’d pack the fridge with it and she couldn’t get to her stuff… but anyway. I remember telling my grandmother about this awesome new leafy green that I discovered and her reply was, “Kale is a garnish. You don’t eat it.” From that moment on, I made it my life goal to let everyone know how awesome kale is and make them try it!

We all know how great kale is. It’s packed with tons of nutrients, (including protein and calcium) carries crazy health benefits, and yeah, it tastes amazing. But what’s going to interest you – someone that already knows all of that good stuff? How about the weirdest kale recipes I’ve come up with? Sound good? I know it does. I found two really off the wall ideas.

Kale-y, Seitan-y, Mac-and-cheesy, Sandwich!

Obviously this is a sandwich that I only save for special occasions. One day I had  tons of awesome leftovers and came up with this masterpiece, but when you don’t have these things already made, it takes time. Now, this doesn’t sound super healthy, but there’s kale on it, so it has to be, right?

Ingredients:

2 slices of bread

Giant scoop of baked mac and cheese

As many slices as you can fit of seitan

Some sautéed onions

And of course, a ton of sautéed kale!

Now here, I actually mix my kale with a vegan agave-mustard sauce (vegan mayo, spicy mustard and agave) and it tastes so great! Put all of the ingredients on the bread (kale last!) and voila! Awesome, filling sandwich!

Next!

Tofu-eggless salad… with kale.

For my next odd kale adventure, I’ll take you back to a time when I was trying to clean everything out of my fridge. I saw tofu. I saw kale. I saw pickles. Why make something boring when you can make tofu-eggless salad with kale? This is actually one of my favorite quick meals and I make it all of the time now!

Ingredients:

1 block of tofu

Tablespoon of vegan mayo

Teaspoon of spicy mustard

A few diced pickles

Pepper (all spices, add as much or as little as you like)

Turmeric

Garlic powder

Black salt (if you haven’t tried this before, it seriously makes the dish)

Whatever other yummy spices you want to add

A few stalks of kale

Teaspoon of agave

Now what I do here is super simple. First, massage the kale (I’ve always thought that sounded weird, but do it) with the teaspoon of agave and then set it aside. Mash up the tofu in a bowl, add the mayo and mustard, then the spices, then the pickles, then the kale! You need to try this; you’ll thank me later.

This has been my contribution to the weird kale recipe world. Now share yours!