Kale Superfood Craze. Do you Have a Favourite Kale Recipe?

Kale Superfood Craze. Do you Have a Favourite Kale Recipe?

Image source - Kale - Mike Licht - //flic.kr/p/j5zYEA I was invited to a cafe to celebrate the birthdays of a couple of friends. It's was funny watching the waiters bring out meals for my healthy friends. Wow, they looked amazing! There was heaps of French toast with strawberries... Frittata With Chorizo... Hollandaise eggs... Big breakfasts (one of my favourites)... As usual, the food tasted delicious, even if they were big meals. What caught my attention was how these people were salivating at the thought of eating these big hearty breakfasts, then justisfing their order with some form of kale drink. I'm not sure if one of my friends was joking when he explained that he could get away with eating this huge breakfast because the kale drink cancelled out the big meal. So we had 10 adults & kids at the table & we had 5 adults drinking kale concoctions such as berry & kale or apple ginger & kale. I couldn't tell you what the other kale drinks were, but I'm sure they fall into that rather healthy category. What made me laugh was when the wife of the guy drinking the apple ginger & kale drink decided to take a sip of his iridescent green smoothie. Image source - Extra Green Sour Apple with Kale - //flic.kr/p/aaRfSN “That's disgusting. Why would you drink that?” His answer; “It's good for you.” So I was wondering, when & why did kale become the darling of the health conscious?

So what is kale?

Kale is a superfood, but eating kale does not miraculously make it alright to pig out on more (unhealthy) food than you should.

So what's all the fuss about kale?

Kale is a member of the cabbage family (Brassica oleracea). So it's a vegetable. It's closely related to cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, collard greens and brussels sprouts.

So a cup of kale is jam-packed with minerals & vitamins.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for good vision, your immune system, and reproduction. Vitamin A also helps the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs work properly. 1 cup of kale is packed with 206% of your Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of Vitamin A.

Vitamin B6

My dad needs to get a Vitamin B6 injection every 5-6 weeks to help with the functioning of his nerves. A cup of kale provides 9% of your RDI for this essential vitamin.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, helping to protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals. So 1 cup of kale has 80.4 mg or 9% of your RDI.

Vitamin K

Vitamin K helps protect our bones and is key in blood clotting. With a cup of kale, you get 684% of RDI for Vitamin K. Warning: Consuming too much potassium can be harmful to those whose kidneys are not fully functional. If your kidneys are unable to remove excess potassium from the blood, it could be fatal. Vitamin K can also interfere with the activity of blood thinners such as Warfarin.

Calcium

Calcium is a mineral found in many foods. Your body needs calcium to maintain strong bones. Your body needs calcium for muscles to move and for nerves to carry messages between the brain and every body part. Calcium also helps blood vessels move blood throughout the body and to help release hormones and enzymes affecting almost every function in the human body. A cup of kale provides 9% of your daily calcium needs. To absorb calcium, you need a good dose of vitamin D.

Copper

Copper helps your body make red blood cells and keeps nerve cells and your immune system healthy. A cup of kale will give you 10% of your copper RDI.

Iron

If you don't have enough iron, your body can't make enough healthy oxygen-carrying red blood cells. A cup of kale will give you 6% of your RDI.

Manganese

Manganese helps your body form connective tissue, bones, blood clotting factors, and sex hormones. It also plays a role in fat and carbohydrate metabolism, calcium absorption, and blood sugar regulation. With a cup of kale, you’ll get 26% of your manganese RDI.   It's not just my friends raving about the wonderful health benefits of eating kale. If you do a Google search, you will find 485,000 web pages for the medical properties of eating kale & 521,000 web page results for the benefits of eating kale. So you can see why kale is so hot at the moment.

So how do you eat a cup of kale?

Image source - Sakena - Favorite #kale #salad fine chopped kale, a sour Apple, sunflower seeds and vinagrette with honey and Dijon mustard. Voila! - //flic.kr/p/SkqLVE I don't mind kale chips with rock salt... I don't mind adding kale to my salads or even when I’m cooking... I not quite so excited by the idea of drinking kale. Give me a freshly made coffee any day...

So what's your favourite kale recipe?

One of the side dishes my kids like is sauteed baby spinach in olive oil with garlic & cherry tomatoes. I tried replacing the spinach with kale, and the kale doesn't wilt as much as spinach. It tastes ok. Not quite a hit with my kids. If you do a Google search, there's no shortage of kale recipes. Google has found 15,100,000 web pages with kale recipes:

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