Kale Chips

I'm not much of a cook. I can make a mean bowl of cereal and a fine peanut butter sandwich, but when it comes to anything more complicated than that, I leave it up to the husband. Brad's half Italian, but he cooks like he's at least 125%.

However, the weeknights are tough because Brad and I work very different schedules. So this year, I've really tried to pick it up in the kitchen. We rarely eat out anymore, and I can tell when my body gets really sick of processed foods. (There's only so much Hormel Turkey Chili With Beans one can take.) I really hate fruit unless it's garnishing a martini, so I've been focusing on trying to bulk up my meals with vegetables. Almost every night for the past 6 months, I've filled my plate with at least half fresh or cooked veggies (some of my favorites: asparagus, cabbage, tomatoes and cooked cauliflower). I like cooked veggies better than raw, but I'm also a big fan of a big, crunchy salad.

This week I discovered a brand-new recipe that was SO GOOD I just had to share: kale chips! This is a great recipe for people who love crunchy, salty foods. Kale is a leafy green vegetable that tastes like broccoli when raw but takes on a much milder flavor when cooked.

I've linked a "real" recipe below, but it can be easily modified. Basically, you cut up a bunch of kale into potato chip-sized pieces, toss with a bit of olive oil and vinegar, and sprinkle with lots of salt and a bit of parmesan if you'd like. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, flipping once. You will be amazed at how much these things actually taste like potato chips, especially when dipped in a bit of ranch dressing or even ketchup. (I put ketchup on everything, sorry.)

For a recipe, visit Kath Eats. You can thank me later!

Field trip!

I love Eastern Market. Imagine, if you will, a MASSIVE, multi-building farmer's market in a not-so-great area of downtown Detroit where everything is so cheap you can buy a month's worth of produce for $10. (Yeah, seriously, it's that cheap.) I'm not typically big on shopping at farmer's markets -- I find them to be crowded and often a little pretentious. But Eastern Market is just different. There's nothing pretentious about a bunch of middle-class local farmers of every race you can think of selling their produce, cheese, flowers and baked goods to hungry Detroiters who don't have access to or money for Whole Foods. We try to go at least several times a year.

Brad and I took a trip there yesterday morning to stock up on fruits and veggies (and to entertain my in-laws, who are staying with us for two weeks so my mother-in-law can participate in a clinical trial). We're seriously thinking about buying a farm share next year, since the soil in our yard sucks for growing things. But in the meantime, we stocked up on raw beets, tomatoes, Michigan peaches and some very ugly but tasty carrots. On the menu this week: tomato-mozzarella pizza, borscht (beet soup), and spinach salad. Yum!

What do YOU eat?

Lately I've been in a total food rut. I love my cereal and my microwave paninis, my apples and my fig newtons, my turkey pitas with cheese and asparagus, my ice cream on whole-wheat waffles for dessert -- but I feel like I've been eating the same thing every day for months. Really, I kind of have. And it's making me feel bored with food in general.

I don't have time to cook on weeknights, and I'm usually much too exhausted to pack a lunch, so I eat a lot of convenience foods. Frozen stuff, pre-packaged stuff, stuff that can be baked in 15 minutes or less. But I'm picky about convenience foods, so I end up eating the same ones day in and day out. And I'm truly sick of them all.

So, I'm looking for suggestions. What do you people eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert that's quick, easy, and...well...not gross?

I don't do yogurt, most seafood grosses me out, and I gag at the smell of green peas. I'm also deathly allergic to mango. Other than that, try me.

Food folks and fun

When I was 20 years old, I had a part-time job on the staff of the Athens Messenger. I realize the Messenger is no Wall Street Journal, but we ran a tight ship with few resources and put out a very high-quality, typo-free paper every afternoon except Saturday. The experience I gained at that place was invaluable, plus the vending machine had excellent animal crackers.

I was a copy-editor, reporter, layout specialist and occasionally cleaned the bathrooms. But my favorite part of that job was writing restaurant reviews, which I got to do on a regular basis. The only problem with writing restaurant reviews in southeastern Ohio is that there aren't many restaurants to write about. During my two-year tenure, I actually wrote reviews of Pizza Hut, the local Chinese lunch buffet, and Buffalo Wild Wings (BW3). If you don't believe me, I'll find those old clips and scan them for you.

Now I live in a city that's notable for having good food, and I eat at a lot of great, new, fun places. I've thought about writing restaurant reviews on my blog, but first I could never be as prolific about food as Amy, and second, I think that I've just lost my touch. Last night, Brad and I took our friend Katie out for her birthday at Cafe Habana, a new Cuban place in town. Despite the fact that I don't really like Cuban food (NOT a big fan of fruit in savory dishes, plus if I eat mango I go into anaphylactic shock so 75% of the menu is off-limits), I thought it was wonderful. But the words just aren't coming, plus I forgot to taste everyone's food, and I didn't write down the name of our chicken appetizer thingy.

But anyway. If you're ever in town, try Cafe Habana. Their chicken appetizer thingy is to die for.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

For the past year, I've eaten the same exact breakfast every single morning, except on Sundays, when I usually have no breakfast and an early lunch. It consists of the following:

-One mug of coffee with a splash of Coffee-Mate vanilla creamer and two packets of Splenda

-frosted mini-wheats and raisin bran, mixed together in a bowl

-vanilla soy milk (if I'm at work), or 2% milk (if I'm at home -- the husband won't touch soy)

-A teaspoon of sugar on my cereal (if I use regular milk)

-Tropicana Pure Premium OJ

I have this same exact breakfast every. single. morning. I have a separate stash of ingredients at work, and I have a back-up box of both cereals in the cabinet and soy milk and creamer in the fridge.

For the most part, I'm not really a creature of habit. I like to try new things, go new places, live on the edge a little. But my breakfast is not something to be messed with.

I've tried to mix it up a few times: a bowl of oatmeal, a bagel and cream cheese, a banana sliced on top of my cereal. Just as I'd expected, they were all complete disasters.

How can a banana be a disaster, you ask? First of all, it caused my bowl to overflow and milk to splash out the sides onto my keyboard. Second, it was...well...a little more a.m. fiber than I'm used to, if you know what I mean.

The oatmeal left me feeling overly full and bloated and gave me a mild stomach ache for the rest of the day. And after the bagel, I was starving by 10:30 a.m.

I've tried doing something as simple as eating different cereals, but the half mini-wheats/half raisin bran seems to be the perfect combination. It leaves me full, but not stuffed, and it's not overly sweet to the point where it gives me a sugar crash.

So, this brings me to the question: what do YOU eat for breakfast? Not that I'm going to try it or anything...

Bakin'

Thanks to my wonderful husband, who has way more motivation to be domestic than me, I now know that store-bought blueberry pie is for sissies. :)