So I am always adding little things to ziti to try and perk it up. This latest addition was pretty good– fresh kale.

I removed the stalks from the kale and ripped the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Kale is such a wonderful vegetable. A member of the cruciferous family, kale has plenty of vitamins and antioxidants that help destroy “free-radical” cells– the cells that cause cell mutations which can lead to cancer.

The ziti pasta will readily slurp up the moisture from the kale leaves during the cooking process, so I suggest adding a bit of water or additional tomatoe sauce to the mix. Cover tightly and bake. The kale added a nice tang to the otherwise bland dish.

How about you? Do you have any ideas for sprucing up a ziti dish?

SO it took a team of horses to drag me into a tuna casserole recipe (this was a few years ago). I skipped the peas and the pasty sauce. Instead, I used cream of celery soup and cheese and lots of tuna… and YUMMMMM it was good.

Since that first brave casserole exploit 20 years ago, I’ve tried to improve the recipe somewhat with quirky additions here and there. I’ve added broccoli, used mozzarella or monterey jack cheese, dill, s video cables, Creole seasoning (OK, just kidding on the cables– who noticed that?)….

But today, my daughter made the most luscious tuna casserole I’ve ever had. HOW did she do it?? She’s so young!

Well, here’s her recipe. This was goooood stuff. It was so good that I never got the chance to snap a photo. And it was such a pretty casserole, too.

Yummy Don’t-Worry-There-Are-No-Peas Tuna Casserole
serves 6-8

4 cans of tuna, with juice
1 box medium shells pasta, cooked and drained
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 cup fresh kale, shredded into small pieces
2 Cream of Celery canned soup
1 1/2 shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning
minced white onions (optional)

Throw all the ingredients into a dish and bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

It is SO GOOD. I think the kale is what does it for me. YUM.

Now if I can just get the daughter to improve my pot roast recipe….

Easy Shrimp & Chicken Garlic Pasta
Serves 6-8 hungry people
1 5-lb bag cooked, frozen shrimp
3-4 chicken breasts, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
3 handfuls of raw kale, de-stemmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 pounds thin or vermicelli spaghetti
2 Tablespoons pesto sauce

Place the frozen shrimp in the sink and run under cold water, to thaw.

In a large wok, add the olive oil and toss in the chicken cubes. Turn on medium-high and simmer.

Remove the tails from the shrimp and toss them in the wok. Stir the chicken and shrimp until both are cooked/warmed well. Add the kale and garlic and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, until the kale softens. Turn off the heat. Add pesto sauce and stir well. Serve over spaghetti.

Tip: Do not overcook the chicken or it will turn to rubber. Don’t add the garlic until last– you want it a little raw and not burned to a crisp.

This stuff is SO good, more filling than nitrix, I think. I’d eat it every night, if I could. It’s very good for you, too, because the olive oil, garlic and kale are very healthy.

Well, all this quesadilla eating started to make me want to try cooking some. So I gave it a shot. My concoction turned out pretty good– very basic but nutritious. I decided to add more veggies and less meat in mine, to pack a vitamin punch; not as potent as, say, prenatal vitamins, but pretty good. Of course, there’s alwats room for improvement. Here’s my basic recipe.

Easy Quesadillas

Chicken breasts- boned, skinned and thinly sliced
White onion
Water
Chili powder
Cumin
Fresh or frozen corn kernels
Red pepper, diced
Kale, destemmed and chopped
Shredded cheese
Tortilla wraps (smaller ones work best)
Butter

Cook the chicken, onion, and spices together in a frying pan. Add a little water if necessary. Add the vegetables and cook until just tender.

Butter one side of each tortilla. Place it on a griddle and sprinkle the cheese. Add a scoop of the chicken and veggies. Fry another tortilla and add a little cheese to that. Once the tortillas turn a golden brown, slap the two together to make the quesadilla. Repeat with additional quesadillas.

I served mine with salsa, but there’s also the traditional sour cream, too. These are even good as leftovers- I had one the next day for lunch, and while the tortilla was a little rubbery, it was still very good.

We wanted to use up a lot of the leftovers in the fridge, and make something hearty, to boot. Here’s our potpourri of ingredients (sorry about the small photo, you practically need a barska to see everything):

The Everything Casserole

Made TWO casseroles, one for tonight, another for Sunday afternoon

Leftover vegetables (about 2 cups)
Leftover rice (1 cup)
Cooked pasta
Leftover or canned spaghetti sauce (about 30 oz or so)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 boxes cooked and drained penne rigata pasta
1 pound cooked sausage
Some basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2-3 handfuls of fresh chopped kale

Stir the sauce and seasonings into the pasta. Add the sausage, rice, veggies, and 2 cups of the cheese. Stir and set in two casserole dishes. Top with the rest of the cheese.

It came out so delicious!

It’s also a great way to get more kale into the diet. Kale is so good for you. I eat some raw every day, and we add it to everything– rice, fish dishes, sandwiches.

Tell me either the four strangest things or four non-food items that are in your fridge.

Hmmmmm… this is a toughie. I think I’m pretty average when it comes to food…. I’ll try my best here.

1. Hummus. Three packs. My daughter loves it. I do, too, but I have to be in a “mood” to eat it. Our favorite is roasted red pepper hummus, but we also like the spinach/artichoke and green olive kinds, too.

2. Pickled banana peppers. And pepperoncini. Is this unusual?

3. A 2-pound bag of kale. It’s a huge bag. Kale is a wonderful vegetable. I love it raw. I used to devour the kale garnish on plates when we went out to eat. It’s just so good. Kale is one of those terrific natural fat burners for women. It’s also a member of the cruciferous family, known to fight disease (especially cancers). We use kale as a replacement for lettuce.

Gosh, this is hard… I have average stuff in the fridge, nothing very exceptional.. ummm….

4. Tiny heads of red cabbage, about the size of a baseball. I plucked them out of the garden before the frost, and we STILL haven’t done anything with them yet….

So! There you have it! Thanks for enduring this far, lol….

The dish uses all leftovers. The daughter quickly steamed some broccoli and kale, and placed it on a plate of leftover Jasmine rice. She dribbled a little bit of leftover pot roast broth and a dash of soy sauce on the rice. She toasted some leftover Panera bread and buttered it with garlic butter. Voila! Instant, super-healthy lunch. It was so good, and so filling.

I threw a few things together, voila! He liked it so much, I made it again the next day.

It’s so easy and uses simple ingredients that I really can’t claim any ownership of this recipe. It’s new to me, though. And the gang likes it. It used up a bunch of old food in the fridge, too. AND it’s SOOOOO easy!!! I am gloating a little, hee hee.

Super Fast Beef Stir-Fry
serves 4

Approximately 1-2 pounds of beef, sliced thinly
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons water
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1 white onion, diced (make sure it’s a WHITE onion, not a yellow, or it will be too tough and bitter)
1 1/2 cups chopped kale (bite-sized)
1/4 cup Ken’s Teriyaki marinade/sauce

I used an old hump of roast beef, and sliced it into strips. The meat came out very well. Slice it thinly.

Grab a large skillet and heat up the olive oil. Add the beef and onion. Saute quickly. Add water if the oil dries up. Once the beef and onions are *almost* past the medium-rare stage, throw in the red pepper and kale and teriyaki sauce. Turn up the heat and saute until the kale and pepper just start to get limp.

You’re done! Serve with a little bit of rice, or on a bed of fresh kale. Yum.

We got a blender, a very nice one, from a dear friend. My daughter has taken it upon herself to create smoothies (mostly because I have been busy reviewing electronics and renovating the kitchen). She’s been experimenting with all sorts of ingredients (almond milk, cucumbers, bananas, etc). I’m not very fond of smoothies in general (I prefer to either eat my food or drink my drink, not have something in between), but my daughter’s strawberry smoothies are superb. They are especially terrific when chilled or iced just a little. YUM. Here’s her recipe for strawberry smoothie.

TIP: You can use either frozen strawberries or fresh. We use frozen because the fresh are usually too expensive. Fresh is best tasting, though. She also sometimes adds rice milk or soy milk to the mix, which makes the smoothie something like a milkshake.

Strawberry Kale Smoofie*

About 5 cups or so of frozen or fresh strawberries, washed and stems removed
2 handfuls of fresh kale, washed and stems removed
Water or rice milk

• Fill the blender about 3/4 with strawberries
• Add water or rice milk up to about an inch from the top
• Press “stir” on the blender for a few seconds to get the frozen fruit moving around
• Switch to “beat” until the strawberries are about all chopped up
• Then switch to “blend” for about 30 seconds or so, till it has the consistency of thick applesauce, and flows easily through the blender
• Add two handfuls of kale, and go back through the “beat” and “blend” cycles
• Add a packet of stevia, or in my case, Sun Crystals
• Set to “liquefy” until it has the smooth consistency you want
• Ready to serve!

“Smoofie” is our endearing term for “smoothie.”

What can you make with meat or poultry, rice, cheese and a vegetable?

Hmmmm. I’m not very fond of rice or chicken. And while I like cheese, I am fussy about my cheese (only Mozzarella, Swiss, and American). So this one has me as stumped as if making photo birth announcements or something. Uhhhh….

Well, I guess I like Turkey Divan. Boring, I know. Turkey is poultry! It’s a pretty bland dish, though (which is why I dislike casseroles and why I dislike rice and chicken). Last time i made Turkey Divan, I made it this way:

Turkey Divan

4 cups diced leftover turkey
6 slices Swiss cheese
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup canned roasted red peppers, drained and diced
4 leaves kale, washed and sliced into strips
4 cups rice, cooked

Throw broccoli in the microwave to thaw.

In a large casserole dish, place the turkey on the bottom. Add the kale and peppers, then the broccoli. Add the broth. Layer with the cheese.

Pop in the oven until heated through (about 30-35 minutes).

Serve with rice.

The kale and peppers spruce up the blandness of the turkey and rice, and help to sneak in a few added vegetables.