Kale for Two from the kitchen of Red Deer Foodie

Kale is touted as one of the world’s “super
foods” – chock full of vitamins and antioxidants ready to be absorbed into the
human blood stream. Yes, kale is
wonderful, but it is definitely an acquired taste!!  I had a bad run-in with kale a few years ago and I’m not
going to lie, it’s taken a lot of time to mourn the loss of that worm I bit in
half.

I digress; kale is just one of those things
– you like it or you don’t.  I
would say the humans in my house are more of the “don’t like” camp, but some
recent googling revealed that kale could be a remedy for migraine
headaches.  After suffering several
days, I main-lined kale in several forms and fashions this past weekend, and
guess what? The migraine went away! 
It could also have been the T3’s… but I’m no doctor, don’t ask me!

Anyways, I started my kale adventure with
Kale Chips – a visit to any paleo blog or website would have you believe that
kale chips are the most delicious awesome things ever.  They taste ok – just like salt I guess,
they’re digestible, but they make the house smell of farts, so they will never
be made in my house again.

Moving on to the main course – I wanted
incorporate it into a couple different dishes and came up with TWO amazing and
delicious (not to mention sneaky) ways to ingest this super food.  

Please enjoy my newest creations:

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 375C.  Butterfly the chicken breasts, pat dry
and set aside. Fry up the bacon over medium high heat until the fat starts to
render; chuck in the shallot and mushrooms.  Cook until shallot is translucent and the mushrooms have
released their juices.  Add the
kale – cook until the juices are reduced and the kale has wilted a bit.  Transfer to mixing bowl to let cool
slightly. 

Once the mixture is cool to the touch, add
the goat cheese – now here you could put more in if you love it, you could also
do another soft ripened cheese – like seriously little chunks of brie would be
deadly in there – whatever you have in the house!  Now divide the mixture in half and stuff those chicken
breasts.

In the same pan you did the stuffing, melt
butter over medium high (again you could use whatever good quality cooking fat
you like to use – coconut oil is also a dream in this case.)  Carefully place the stuffed chicken in
the pan, top side down first. 
Brown each side for about 3-4 mins till you get a nice golden colour.  Transfer to a baking dish and then bake
for about 15-20 mins (depending on the thickness of the chicken).  Remove from oven, tent with foil and
then let rest for another 5 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking away, get your
salad going: combine the vinaigrette ingredients and whisk until it emulsifies.  Add the tomatoes and kale and toss till
it’s all coated.  I like to have
that sit for a while so that the kale is wilted a bit by the vinaigrette, but
if you like the kale more crunchy, don’t toss until right before you’re ready
to eat.

And there you have it, fairly easy and I
would say definitely done in under an hour – a great weeknight dinner! 

***
Love this recipe! (Even though I follow a plant-based lifestyle!) Kale is one of my favourite greens.  Got a question for Red Deer Foodie? Find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Oh my!