Kale Pizza with Cheese & Bacon

Jaisa's Pierogi Casserole from yesterday is a tough act to follow, especially since I am not known for my "hungry" posts, but bear with me for this incredibly easy and delicious meal.  Also, it's super healthy.  Because it features kale.  Haven't you heard that every dish with kale is automatic health food?

Here's what you'll need:

kale

mozzarella cheese

bacon (optional)

garlic

olive oil

salt & pepper

pizza dough

The beauty in this recipe is that you can use as much or as little of the ingredients as you like.  I used an entire bunch of kale, which sounds (and looks) like a lot but it cooks down SO much and about three cloves of garlic.  

First, wash your kale and let it dry (or pat dry).  Place it in a bowl and drizzle with some olive oil, adding your garlic, salt, & pepper.  Mix the whole bowl up with your hands so all of the kale is coated.  

Turn out your pizza dough (I stretched mine out to cover a cookie sheet but you can easily make a round pizza if you're more into the dough-twirling-in-the-air scene.  AKA if you have better hand-eye coordination than I do).  A note on pizza crust: there are many amazing recipes out there but I usually buy uncooked pizza dough from my local pizzeria.  It's like $4, saves time on making the dough, and turns out consistently delicious.

Plop the kale/garlic mixture on top of your dough.  It'll be a HUGE pile of kale.  It cooks down, so don't worry...

Add some slices of fresh mozzarella cheese and bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until your kale is cooked down, the cheese is bubbly, and your crust is crispy and golden.

While the pizza was cooking, I decided to add on a little chopped bacon to half the pizza for Jesse and his friend who was visiting for the evening and probably didn't expect to be part of one of my kitchen experiments.

("It smells really good in there, for, like, a vegan meal," said Jesse.
"I'm pretty sure she's cooking bacon," said his friend.)

Once the pizza is out of the oven, top with the bacon...

...or keep it nice and vegetarian, as my half was...

Top with some parmesan cheese or a squeeze of a lemon and enjoy!  Stay hungry, my healthy, kale-loving friends!

Sausage and Escarole Tartine

So don't think I actually knew what a tartine was.  I had to look it up.  I was eating at one of my favorite places, Telegraph, and one of the items on the menu that I absolutely love is their sausage tartine.  

Of course, me being me, and not knowing exactly how to make it, I changed things up a bit.

Before we go any further, let me actually tell you want a tartine is.  A tartine is just an open faced sandwich.  Think of it as a giant bruschetta?  Yes.  Do that.

I decided to make an Italian inspired tartine because I'm Italian and that's what I do.

Here are the ingredients:

Cannelloni Beans 

Olive Oil

Red Pepper Flakes

Garlic

White Wine

Rustic Bread

Spicy Italian Sausage 

Escarole (not pictured - wtf? I JUST noticed this)

Parmesan (optional garnish - not pictured)

I was talking to this poor, poor girl Jaclyn who was making my escarole and beans and she was telling me that she didn't have enough time to do the beans.  Enough time?  Didn't you just open the can and dump them in?  Oops, I forgot to mention that I rarely soak beans.  I know, I know, purists out there are shaking their fists but half of what I make is out of convenience, so soaking dry beans would mean that I have them on hand and that I'm patient enough to wait 24 hours.  Yeah....no....

YOU MUST SOAK YOUR ESCAROLE.  If you don't you will be crunching on bits of dirt throughout dinner awkwardly avoiding your husbands glances from across the table as he picks mud out of his teeth.  That happened.

Once you soak, rinse, and even soak again, strain and set aside.  If it's a bit wet, no big deal just stand back when you throw it into the oil.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Throw in the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes.  So the older I get the more I enjoy heat.  That's because your taste buds get less sensitive as you get older (I think they even DIE A LITTLE).  The heat, and everything for that matter, is totally optional and up to you.  Also, you can use mild sausage.  You can even use ground turkey!  I would weep alone in my condo, but you could.

So add the escarole to the pan with the garlic and flakes and half the wine.

I love bread.  Rustic and crunchy bread.  Yum.  Cut it thick and drizzle some olive oil on it and throw it in the oven until it's nice and toasty.  You don't want it rock hard, just nice and toasty.  You could even pop it under your broiler, just make sure to watch it.

Stir the sausage over medium high heat until it's cooked through.  Use the rest of your wine to deglaze the pan to pick up all of the beautiful yummy flavor on the bottom.

This is what one head of escarole looks like cooked down.  Craziness, right?  I only had one on head, but I would probably use 2 for this recipe depending on whether or not you want it more greens or more sausage centric.

Add the sausage and the beans to the pan.

And stir.  See the wine sauce up top?  Yeah that's gooooood.

Get a vegetable peeler and slice some chunks of parm to sprinkle on top for a garnish.

Grab a piece of the toasted bread...

...and pile the escarole, sausage, and beans on top of the toast. Sprinkle with some chunks of parm.  How good does this look?  What.  Is. UP.  

So rustic.

Mmmmmm hmmmmmmmm.

This is a knife and fork kinda dish aka my kinda dish.  Try it out - it's super easy and delicious.  You could serve this as a first course or as a nice comforting lunch.  Or even dinner! Stay hungry! 

Sausage and Escarole Tartine Recipe 

1 15 oz Can Cannelloni Beans, drained and rinsed

3 Tbs Olive Oil, separated 

1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes

4 Garlic Cloves, chopped 

1 Cup White Wine

4 Slices Rustic Bread, cut thick

1 lb Spicy Italian Sausage 

Parmesan

Soak the escarole in water and rinse so all dirt is removed.  Drain and tear into bite size pieces.  Set aside.  Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and heat over medium.  At garlic and red pepper flakes and stir for 30 seconds or so.  Add your escarole and stir.  Add half the wine.  In another pan, cook sausage and once it's cooked through and pan is still on, add wine to deglaze and pic up all of the brown bits.  Immediately add to escarole.  Add beans and stir.  Remove from heat.  With remaining olive oil, drizzle on slices of bread and toast until brown or even under your broiler.  Top with sausage, escarole, and bean mixture and drizzle with some of the sauce on the bottom.  Top with chunks of Parmesan as a garnish.  Enjoy! 

Kale Chips

I'm finally posting a healthy recipe! Don't worry. This won't become a bad habit.

I've mentioned several times before about how much I love greens. My friend Lauren told me about these "chips" so I thought I'd give it a go. Before you stop reading and vow to never read my recipes again, just try this. You'll be doing jumps for joy that there is a delicious, crunchy, salty alternative to potato chips when you are craving something oh-so-bad but you are feeling oh-so-fat.

All you need are three ingredients.

Kale

Olive Oil

Garlic Salt

Kale is very good for you. It contains anti-cancer properties (like its sister veggie broccoli) and beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and calcium. Make sure you soak your kale if you buy it loose instead of in the plastic bag. Dirt gets trapped in the thick, dense leaves so soak it first and rinse and check to see if there is any more grit left behind. Blot the kale with paper towels to ensure it is completely dried.

Tear up the leaves into small pieces - it'll shrink when it cooks so keep that in mind. Toss the kale in the sheet pan with olive oil and pop it into a 350 degree oven.

Once the leaves get nice and crispy, pull them out of the oven sprinkle with salt immediately. I checked mine repeatedly - they go from crispy to burnt in seconds flat, so just keep an eye on them. Also, if some are getting more crispy than others, move the pan around.

These are like air - crispy and salty and delicious.

Yum...

...and guilt free.

Give these a try and let us know what you think. Stay hungry!

Kale Chip Recipe

1 Head Kale, rinsed and dry

2 Tbs Olive Oil

Garlic Salt

Tear the kale up into small pieces and toss on a sheet pan with olive oil. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 12-20 minutes or until all leaves are crisp. Move leaves around while cooking if some are getting more crisp than others. Once crispy, sprinkle with garlic salt and enjoy!