Peg Kerr's Journal

This is the recipe that got me turned on to eating kale:

Braised Kale with Bacon and Cider
From Cooking Light


This recipe calls for what might appear to be a lot of kale, but it wilts to a manageable amount in the pan. The dish is a suitable side for roast chicken or pork. Also, consider using kale as a stand-in for spinach in other dishes. This low-calorie side dish has about 15 percent of the minimum daily recommended amount of fiber.

2 bacon slices
1 1/4 cups thinly sliced onion
1 (1-pound) bag chopped kale
1/3 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups diced Granny Smith apple (about 10 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add bacon; cook 5 minutes or until crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan. Crumble bacon, and set aside.
Increase heat to medium-high. Add onion to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add kale, and cook 5 minutes or until wilted, stirring frequently. Add cider and vinegar; cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add apple, salt, and pepper; cook 5 minutes or until apple is tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with bacon.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2/3 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 75(28% from fat); FAT 2.3g(sat 0.8g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 2.5g; CHOLESTEROL 3mg; CALCIUM 71mg; SODIUM 255mg; FIBER 2.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 12.7g

Judy Lockhart
Cooking Light, JANUARY 2004

I have substituted orange juice concentrate for the apple cider. Works great. Yum.

Watermelon sorbet: 3 cups watermelon chunks, seeds removed. Add 2 TB sugar, whirl in the blender until liquified, and put in the ice cream maker and freeze according to machine instructions.

It was ravishing. I scarfed mine down and eyed Rob's bowl (he'd put it aside because he was doing something on the computer). I waited thirty seconds and then said, "If you don't eat that immediately, it's mine."

He looked around, and perhaps intimidated by the look in my eye, didn't argue. "Suit yourself."

I fell upon the bowl and ravished the contents.

I may never eat watermelon any other way.

Last Monday, which I had off work, the girls and I went to Cafe Latte for cream tea with minnehaha B and K. A wonderful time was had by all, partly because the tea was so good, and partly because B and K are such good company. They possess the enviable knack of conversing equally comfortably with both children and adults, a gift which is more rare than you might expect.

Anyway, the girls said rather wistfully that they wish that they could do it again this weekend. I nixed the idea of going back to Cafe Latte, and B and K are (I believe) out of town at this point, but I suggested that we might do a tea at home. I had a recipe for Bag End Seed Cake I was anxious to try. So we went out to the grocery store for various ingredients (where I spent more than I expected; do you know how expensive cardomom is?) and then came home and whipped it up. elisem, I called and left a message suggesting you come over to help us sample it, but I missed you. Anyway, that's what we had for dinner, and delicious it was, too. Bag End Seed Cake with jam. And Earl Grey tea. Yum.

Apropos of nothing, I learned how I have totally corrupted my children when they reported hearing one of the neighbor kids sing a common childhood song, and instead of hearing it as "The Ants Go Marching One by One," they took it to mean "The Ents Go Marching One by One."

Yeah.

Edited to add: Here's the recipe (originally from www.theonering.net)

Bag End Seed Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup brandy or buttermilk
1 1/2 TB caraway seeds, soaked in the brandy if you like.
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp orange flavoring or orange zest
1 7/8 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Blend butter and sugar until well creamed. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Add brandy or buttermilk, seeds and spices, then blend. Gradually add flour and baking powder until well blended. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
4. Bake 50-70 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Buttermilk makes a moist cake; otherwise the cake tends to be rather dry. (Buttermilk substitute: 1/3 cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar or 1 tsp lemon juice.) Excellent with cream cheese, marmalade, jelly or jam. Serves 12.

I'm a tad bit late, but wanted to wish all light and blessings for the winter solstice. I smiled smugly as I walked past my seasonal affective light stand this morning and thought, "Not much longer."

The cards are out, and the shopping is all done. A good many gifts are already wrapped. I went to the grocery store with the girls today (an event in itself; usually Rob does the shopping). I bought decadent and extravagant things: Artichoke hearts. Whipping cream. A pomegranate. Candied ginger. Small, tightly closed white mushrooms. All for various and sundry dishes which will be consumed with a great deal of pleasure the next couple of days. After putting away the groceries, I turned the lights on the tree, made myself some wassail and opened and read Christmas cards.

[Peg's Wassail: No measurements; I just do it all to taste. Heat red wine in a saucepan, add a dollop of orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves, and enough cranberries to cover the surface. Bring mixture to a simmer and squish the cranberries against the sides as they split. Pour into a mug. Personally, I love to eat the cranberries, but you can strain them out if you prefer.]

I invited elisem and her husband John (Juan-mammal) to go see That Movie so that I could use up the tickets I'd purchased in expectation of kijjohnson and her husband seeing it with me (kijjohnson ended canceling the trip because she was so ill with a sinus infection. So you see, kijjohnson, I got to go with simpatico company after all!) On the way to the theater, elisem told me a solstice story, which had served as the basis for a solstice service at her church. It sounded lovely.

I feel a warm glow, which I send out to all of you. It's partly the knowledge that I'm pretty much done with my Christmas preparations (I knew I would get into the mood eventually) but also, it's wonderful to know that the darkest part of the year is past us now.

Cheers,
Peg