Good For You Friday! Kale

 

Kale is a type of cabbage and can be recognized by its thick stems and curly leaves. It is a cool weather crop that has twice the level of antioxidants as other greens (It’s second only to watercress) which help to keep your brain sharp as you age. It’s also high in beta carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin. One serving has over seven times the daily intake of vitamin K and two times the daily intake of vitamin A.

 

Kale is low in calories and is a good source of calcium, folate, fiber, vitamin C, potassium, manganese, and copper. It helps protect your eyes against cataracts, glaucoma, and other degenerative eye diseases. It fights heart disease and is rich in sulforaphane, which is a cancer-fighting sulfur compound, to help keep breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer at bay.

 

Kale is bitter but versatile and can be used in a variety of ways when cooking:

Cooking with Kale

Mixed into stir-frys

Sautéed like spinach

Puréed into soups

Baked into chips

Blended into smoothies

Added to lasagna

Tossed into omelets

And more!

 

 

 

This is one delicious green monster smoothie! If haven’t tried a green monster yet, you need to ASAP (despite the somewhat funny name..). Not only are they loaded with nutrients, but the taste yummy as well. I happened to be baking with some pumpkin and had some left over from the can, so I started to brainstorm how to use it up – a few minutes later I was blending up this delicious smoothie! Feel free to throw some spinach in this as well (I just didn’t have any on hand) and a frozen banana would be a great addition to make your smoothie a little more chilled.

Pumpkin Pie Green Monster Smoothie

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3 large kale leaves

2/3 cup pureed pumpkin

½ banana

1 tbsp agave syrup or honey

¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 cup coconut water

4 ice cubes

 

Directions:

Add all ingredients into a blender, with kale leaves on the bottom. Blend until mixture is smooth.

Source: Nicole Original