Kale Soup

My Inlaws gave me a recipe book for my birthday called Eat Beautiful. It is written by Wendy Rowe, a world renowned beauty expert, well known as the Artistic Director for Burberry makeup. I love everything about this book. Not only is it informative and have beautifully styled images that make your mouth water, but the chapters are very organized, by season. Each season lays out a glossary of the foods and ingredients used within the season's recipes and specifies the health benefits for your skin, inside and out. It is a clever and simple way of understanding what is good for you and how it is good for, whilst providing great tasty recipes using the foods that are best.

I picked five recipes from this book and bought all the ingredients to make five new recipes this week. I thought I would share with you the Kale soup which we tried out last night. I found it to be absolutely delicious. I have to admit, Zach was not a fan, but he is also not really a veggie fan in general. I did forget the leeks in this recipe, (whoops!) because I forgot them on my grocery list. The soup tasted just fine without them and the apartment still smelled deliciously green. I also added in some additional kale leaves (handful more than recipe notes below), as I tend to like a soup that is a little thicker. Recipe below and link to purchase book HERE, from Anthropologie. Enjoy! xo RCN

Ingredients, serves 2-3 people:

1 Large Fennel bulb, roughly chopped

1 Leek, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp raw coconut oil

1 Onion, chopped

2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp vegetable bouillon powder or 1 vegetable stock cube

10 Kale leaves, large stems removed, roughly chopped

Handful of spinach

Sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp ground nutmeg to serve

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Chop fennel and leeks and place onto foil lined baking sheet. Evenly drizzle olive oil onto fennel and leeks, mix all together and spread flat on tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes. While baking, chop onion and garlic. Then melt coconut oil in large saucepan on low heat. Add onions and garlic and cover pan with lid. Let sweat for five minutes or until onions are translucent and softened. Pour 5 cups of water into pan, add vegetable bullion, roasted fennel, leeks, and half of the chopped up kale leaves. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Bring to a boil and let bubble for 20 minutes. Add the remaining kale and spinach. Simmer on low/medium heat for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for a little while. Purée until smooth in a blender or using an immersion blender. Reheat before serving and sprinkle nutmeg on top. 

Corona Fried Jalapeño Rings with Chipotle Mayo Dipping Sauce

Super Bowl Weekend is here. Whether you will be parked on the couch enjoying the game, or gossiping in the kitchen, here is a fun appetizer perfect for snacking on. The recipe can be adjusted per desire, depending upon how spicy your fans at the party like it. The original recipe, here, is relatively mild, so great for the kiddos too! I like to add the spice into the Chipotle Mayo - also adjustable based on your liking. I wish I could tell you which team I want to win this Sunday, but two of my top fantasy players come from both the Patriots and the Falcons. That makes it tough for me. I'll come up with my decision before Sunday. Who are you rooting for? xo RCN

Jalapeños Ring Ingredients:

4 Jalapeños, sliced 1/8" thick and deveined, all seeds removed! (for mild version)

1/2 Cup Flour

1/3 -1/2 Bottle of Corona Lite

2 Eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp Honey

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

2 tsp Garlic Salt

1 tsp Chili Powder

1 tsp Fresh Cracked Pepper 

Vegetable Oil for frying (enough to fill at least half the fryer or pot)

Slice jalapeños in 1/8 (or slightly thicker) pieces. After slicing into rings, use knife to remove and cut out center of pepper and all seeds. 

Chipotle Mayo Ingredients:

1/2 cup Mayo

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1 1/2 tsp Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (1 1/2 tsp of sauce +2 Chipotle peppers mashed up)

Mix all ingredients for fry batter together in large bowl. Begin heating oil in fryer or pot on stove to Medium Low heat (about 175 degrees F). Start covering all pepper slices with mixture in the bowl, coat well. Once oil begins to sizzle and has heated for about 5 minutes, start placing about 5 -10 pepper slices into the pot at a time, depending on size of pot. I used a small pot and only placed about 5 at a time. The peppers will fry quickly, only taking about ten seconds per side. Before removing from pot with tongs, flip jalapeños once to fry evenly. Once golden on second side, remove onto a paper towel lined plate, to drain. Be careful, oil is super hot! For thicker coating, repeat the same steps once more to double fry the peppers. Let cool and drain after second frying. Lastly, sprinkle with chili powder and bake in single layer on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 5 minutes. Serve warm and crunchy!

For dip, mix all ingredients together and serve chilled. Be sure to mash up the peppers from the Chipotle can in order to blend in evenly to mayo and sour cream.

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sliders

Football season continues, and I continue to be enthralled in watching as many games as possible, every Sunday. I watch Thursday and Monday night as well, but Sunday has me hooked for hours. Thanks to my dear friend, Alwin, who invited me to join his family's fantasy league, I have not stopped obsessing over the entire season since week 1. It's a bit' addictive for anyone that loves sports and has a competitive side to them (me!). Anyhow, football requires tasty snacks and meals on those long, hard days of cheering and praying. You may not have time to squeeze this recipe in for tonight's Thursday game, Eagles vs Giants, but you should surely try it out on Sunday, or keep it in your back pocket for your Super Bowl bash. The best part about this is that you serve the sliders with a light beer (in a frozen mug) with a few drops of olive juice and 3-4 olives. This is called a Foggy Moose and it's delish for anyone that enjoys a Miller, Coors, or Bud on any given Sunday. Now, you are all set for the game. Go Birds! xo RCN

The pork recipe originated from Food Network, but I made a few changes. Link HERE to original recipe. See my version below pics.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons hot paprika

1 teaspoon mustard powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1 3-4 pound boneless pork shoulder or butt, trimmed of fat

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 

3/4 cup water

Barbecue sauce

2 small onions

Dill pickle chips

Directions:

Combine brown sugar, paprika, cumin, 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper in small bowl. Rub mixture all over entire pork butt. Chop 2 small onions in large chunks, about 4-5 slices each.

Heat vegetable oil in large pan, cook and brown pork on all sides (only for about 5 minutes total). Remove pork and place on plate. Whisk in 3/4 cup water into the drippings in pan, then transfer liquid to slow cooker. Add the vinegar and 2 cups of water to the so cooker and whisk to combine. Add 1 of the chopped onions and a few squirts of barbecue sauce into slow cooker. Place pork on top of onions and into slow cooker. Add a few more squirts of barbecue sauce and the last chopped onion. Cook on low for 7.5-8 hours.

Remove pork from the slow cooker after the 7.5-8 hours. Shred pork in large bowl and add salt and vinegar to taste. Serve with slider buns, pickle chips, and barbecue sauce. Coleslaw would taste grand, in lieu of pickles. However, I did not include slaw in my recipe and went for the pickles instead. Top with a team spirit toothpick and serve for the next football game.