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RECIPE: Stir-fry Kale & Beet Tops

+ Kale Chips

One of the greatest joys to having a vegetable garden is the ability to eat very fresh

fruits and vegetables. The kids love being able to pick ripe and juicy strawberries, or eat

a carrot just pulled from the dirt, or a Persian cucumber off the vine. Our son even likes

to eat raw kale right off the plant. My wife loves to cut up the fresh squash we get in the

summer and cook it with red sauce for pasta dinners.

Here are two recipes that I like to use when cooking with food from our garden.

Stir-fry Kale & Beet Tops

In the fall and winter, we get a decent amount of beets. I love picking three or four and boiling

the beets in water for 45 minutes or so to use later in salads. And I never throw away

the beet tops. I use them. All year long we get a steady supply of kale. We also have a

good supply of scallions at the garden. And we have a Meyer lemon tree as well. Beet

tops, kale, and scallions mixed together with some garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice

make a great side to most dinners.

1. Cut the kale from the stems and place in a bowl. Cut the beet tops from the stems

and place in the bowl. Option: Cut the beet stems up as well and place in the bowl.

2. Clean and dry the kale leaves and beet leaves and keep in a bowl ready to cook.
3. Chop up the scallions and keep in a small bowl ready to cook.
4. Chop up the garlic.
5. Heat a pan with a little vegetable oil in it.
6. When hot, stir fry the garlic for half a minute.
7. Add in the scallions for another half a minute.
8. Add in the kale tops and beet tops and stir fry for about 3 minutes.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste and squeeze in juices from half a lemon.

Remove from the pan and server on a plate.

Sometimes we have so much kale from our garden, I also like to make kale chips. Two

of our kids love it when I make kale chips for them… I barely get a bite myself.

Kale Chips

1. Cut the kale from the stems and place in a bowl. You may need to cut the leaves in

half so they aren’t too large.

2. Clean and dry the kale leaves.
3. Sprinkle with some vegetable oil.
4. Spread the kale leaves onto a baking sheet. Try not to overlap the kale leaves too

much.

5. Sprinkle some sea salt onto the kale leaves.
6. Cook in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. I usually like to stir them up

after 7 minutes or so.

7. OPTION: with a minute left on the timer, grate some parmesan cheese over the kale

then cook the last minute. OR: after the kale is done cooking, put in a bowl then

grate some parmesan cheese over the kale and mix.

A nice healthy snack before dinner.

By Ken Hansen