A bolder, louder me would shout the glories of the humble kale plant from the rooftops. With a top score of 1,000 in the ANDI nutritional rating system, a system designed to rank the nutritional and antioxidant content of various foods, it really is the best locally available “superfood” that I am aware of. Kale’s benefits range from comprehensive detoxification support (even at the genetic level), to lowering risk of bladder, breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate cancer, to providing incredible anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant support for the whole body. Kale is also very effective at lowering cholesterol.

Kale contains impressive amounts of Vitamins K, A and C, and in fact a cup of kale provides more Vitamin K than most other known vegetable sources of this important anti-inflammatory and bone-building nutrient.

My top favorite kale recipe of all time comes from the cook-book, "Greens, Glorious Greens" by Johhna Albi and Catherine Walters. Think you don’t like kale? I can say with almost 100% certainty that your opinion will change after you try this recipe.

Kale, Pine-nuts and Raisins

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale (or other dark leafy green)

1-2 cloves garlic

1-2 TBS olive oil

handful pine-nuts

handful raisins

salt to taste

Directions:

1. Bring small amount of water to boil in a large flat saucepan. When water is boiling, throw kale (stemmed and torn into bite-sized pieces) in water. Boil for 3-5 minutes. Watch for color to turn bright green and remove kale from water.
2. While kale is boiling, toast pine-nuts in toaster oven or use a broiler. Alternately pine-nuts can be toasted in pan with the garlic and raisins (see below).
3. Sautee garlic in olive oil for approx 30 second. Toss in a handful of raisins and sauté for about 1 minute, until raisins start to swell and brown. At this point, turn off heat, add cooked kale and toasted pine-nuts and toss all ingredients in frying pan to coat with olive oil. If needed add more olive oil at this point. Add sea salt to taste. Serve immediately.

It’s great to eat kale in its raw form, as certain nutrients are destroyed in the cooking process. Feel free to experiment with the basic recipe below, and add more veggies as desired. I’ve created many modified versions of this, and all have proven quite tasty.

Raw Kale Salad

Preparation time 15 minutes, makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale, de-stemmed, torn into bite sized pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar

½ -1 cup grated carrots

handful toasted pine nuts

½ of an avocado

(plus any other veggies, fruit or nuts to taste)

Instructions:

Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with hands for a few minutes. You will want to rub the leaves together in your hands. Let sit for ½ hour to 3 hours, depending on texture you would like. The longer it sits, the more tender the kale becomes. Then, add other ingredients and serve.