Holiday (and Any Day) Recipes!

There's one thing you have to say about our meetings.  We sure do eat well!  And with the holidays coming up, we thought we'd share some recipes for winter vegetables that will have nay-sayers, asking for seconds!

Hail to the Kale!

Our Garden Club President, Claire Fioriti, served up some delicious roasted kale chips at our November meeting at Westminster Woods.  I should have taken a picture of them, but I couldn't resist consuming my portion before I thought of the camera.  Thanks, Claire, for sharing this recipe!

Roasted Kale Chips
  recipe by Claire Fioriti

This is is so easy and you can get it organically grown.  Use all green or mix it with the red kale.  Younger leaves are more sweet and tender.

Ingredients:

• One (or more) bags or bunches of young kale
• One TBS olive oil (or enough to coat the leaves prior to roasting)
• Salt (optional)

Procedures: 

Wash kale and dry it. It usually takes patting it to dry it completely.

Separate the nice tender leaves from the stems and put the leaves in a big bowl.

Add one tablespoon of olive oil and toss it well to coat the leaves.  You can add a tiny bit of salt if you want but it really isn't necessary.

Spread leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 13 minutes.

Allow kale to cool slightly and serve at room temperature.

I just leave the bowl on the table to munch when I get those hunger urges in the late afternoon.


Honey in the Mornin' Honey in the Evenin'

The December 2015 issue of The St. Johns Sun spotlighted the honey I bought at Tour de Farms and detailed the recipe for Irish Oatmeal Cookies using local honey.  Read the article, "Honey in the Mornin' Honey in the Evenin'" and if you are looking for more ways to bake with honey, see the Our Recipes Link for recipes from the St. Johns County Beekeepers and Honey: Making Good Use of It.


 

Other Winter/Holiday Recipes

As a Master Gardener I enjoy taking part in our monthly luncheons, especially during the holidays.  I have a traditional contribution of frosted fresh cranberries that is so pretty it's hard to believe they have so much nutritional value, including potassium and Vitamin C.  Admittedly, the "frosting" is sugary, although you can use other sugars besides cane sugar or corn syrup (such as a light-tasting honey like Tupelo).  I have never tried a sugar substitute and am not sure it would produce tasty results, but if it doesn't, you can just wash the surface of the berries off and use a conventional or alternative sugar to frost them.

See my Luncheon Recipes posting at my Master Gardener website for recipes for Frosted Cranberries, Gluten-Free (and Nutritious) Rapini Rice Stuffing, Spinach Feta Spanakopita, Salads, and Holiday breads and desserts.  And see the Recipes for October posted at the Garden Club of Switzerland's website.

Happy Seasonal Munching! 

And don't forget to make our affiliated garden clubs happy by shopping through their websites.   See the Support Our Affiliated Organizations link on the right sidebar of our Resources page.