kale, it's what's for dinner, tonight!

Since I have been working at the Diabetes and Nutrition Center at East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, AL I have been trying to brainstorm different vegetables to tell my patients about. If you have diabetes, you can have pretty much all the "non-startchy" vegetables you can think of, so I have been racking my brain for new ideas. Well, I have heard a lot about KALE and since my mother has always been an anti-green cooking person (ie.collards, turnips, mustards, etc) I have always shied away from things like that. I overheard some people talking about kale chips, so I decided to pick some kale up from Kroger (my second love) and give it a shot. I went online and found different recipes and they are pretty much all the same. Here is what I did:

Pulled leaves away from the stem, washed and dried in a salad spinner...

Spread the leaves out on a cookie sheet with a silpat (or parchment paper), and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.

 THEN salt and pepper. I also added a little sugar and cajun spice. It is very important to add the spices AFTER they cook so that they do not become soggy! 

YUM!

I also sautéed  the other half of the bunch. I chopped about 1/2 cup of onion, sautéed the onions for about 5 minutes, added the kale with garlic cooked for 1 minute, added 1/4 cup of chicken stock. Covered with the lid and allowed to cook for about 5 minutes. It was very good!

Kale is a very healthy vegetable. It is low in calories (35 calories for 1 cup), high in vitamins A, C and K, calcium, and potassium. I hope you enjoy!

saturday in the park

... and our front yard. So a while back (like end of February), you know story of my life with this blog, we had a gorgeous spring-like day. My sister, Caroline, was town to run her first 5k! Sorry no pictures, but we both ran it and it was a lot of fun. As you probably know, I love to do races, but this was Beester's first race, ever! She did so great and ran it without stopping. I am so incredibly proud of her. Well, that day was absolutely beautiful. Joseph and I are blessed to live in a beautiful apartment with a pond literally at our front door. I know we are so lucky to have such beautiful scenery, and we both thoroughly enjoy its beauty it brings.

We also have little ducky friends that live on (or in??) the pond too. They are so funny to watch and are always quacking about something. Here are three that are BFFs, I'm convinced.

We enjoyed the unusually spring-like weather that day. 

Joseph fished. 

I read (some, like 2 pages, ha).

Beester chilled.

THEN, we decided that we needed to pack a picnic lunch and head over to one of Auburn's gorgeous parks. Its called Town Creek Park and Cemetery. I know, that sounds strange, but it is really nice. It was so delicious. I made some chicken salad and packed some other goodies. It was so NICE!