A Serene Plate: How I Fell in Love With Kale
Photo courtesy of Parade.
A Serene Plate is a monthly series that explores my love of vegetables through stories, recipes and tidbits of info. My body needs as much serenity as my household. An organized approach towards health is part of my simple, stylish living.*
Once I played Marilyn Monroe on stage. It was a small piece of theater in downtown New York, part of the New York International Fringe Festival. I adapted a short story by Truman Capote entitled “A Beautiful Child” with my dear friend, a class-act of an actor, Joel Van Liew. He and I produced and starred in the piece. Our friend, the consummate actress Linda Powell, directed us. A trio of storytellers having fun. “A Beautiful Child” is a delicious tale told by Mr. Capote of a day spent with Ms. Monroe. A small two-person show, it sold out, got extended and we even landed a meeting with Broadway producers. That summer and that show – I carry those memories in my heart.
Anyway, a friend of ours was also producing a show with Fringe and we’d pal around at all the festival events. He had made quite a living on a series of National commercials and was now able to produce creative projects he really loved. So I knew him on TV before I knew him as a human. And when we met, he glowed with health – more trim and svelte than the commercials had led me to believe.
So I complimented him. And he went on to tell me that he’d hired a holistic nutritionist to help him lose weight. She taught him how to cook at home, but she also helped him when he traveled. (The commercials - his day job - took him all over the world and back.) So he ate real food and lost weight. He had my attention.
Let’s get one thing straight. Right here. Right now. I didn’t always love vegetables. In fact, it’s only been in the last six years that true health crossed my mind at all. My mother is a wonderful cook, but I could care less about the kitchen when I lived under her roof. In college my favorite meal came from the wall of candy bins in the student union. In graduate school I subsisted on diet soda, packaged/processed ‘foods’ and - wait for it - more candy. My three food groups. I liked the idea of farmers' markets and cooking my own food, but I 'didn't have the time'. Then through a series of events and chronic issues, I began to consider how food affected my health. My curiosity grew because nutrition became a necessity. And I needed help. I was Beginner at Nutrition.
Enter Donna. Donna is NYC based nutritionist (but she can help you from anywhere in the world via Skype). She opened my eyes to the world of nutrition and started me on the road to discovering my own personal approach to a simple, healthy lifestyle. She took me grocery shopping – at grocery stores but also at farmers’ markets. She came to my apartment and taught me how to cook the food I’d bought. She rattled off health facts right and left. She massaged Swiss chard leaves and insisted I smell cloves of garlic. She connected me to the source. It was all so fundamental yet so profound to me.
Before Donna, I knew a little about kale but I can’t say I liked it. I bought it for salads the summer I became a yoga instructor (another story, another time). It was bitter and - when eaten raw without any massaging - it took endless chewing to break down in my mouth. Kale is one sturdy leaf. And it intimidated me.
But Donna couldn’t sing its praises enough, and after she came over for our cooking lesson, I was a convert. A member of the cruciferous family (or what I like to call cancer-fighting foods), kale is anti-inflammatory, high in vitamin K, A & C (amongst others) and rich in antioxidants. I devoured it all winter long. It was the first winter in my memory that I didn’t get violently ill with a chest infection. An asthmatic child, I’d grown accustomed to at least one bout of infection a winter that left me struggling to breath – an infection that only strong doses of steroids could heal. So, you know, not getting sick was significant. Maybe it was just a coincidence that I ate tons of kale that winter. Maybe. But I don’t believe in coincidence.
Now initially the Old Me got overwhelmed at this change in diet & lifestyle. It sounded good on paper but was it manageable in real life? My Worries cried out: "It would take too much time!" "I live in the city and am out and about all day!" "I'm too busy!"
My Worries sometimes like to forget that I'm an Organizing Superhero. Silly Little Worries. To be healthy - to set myself up for success - I needed to get organized. I planned my meals. I set aside a couple hours on Sundays and prepped food for most of the week. I'd steam a bunch of kale, boil eggs, cook a vat of quinoa or brown rice, make a dressing of some sort. Sometimes I'd make soup and freeze half and use half throughout the week. By the time my supplies ran out (and I was craving a burger), I dined out. I still use this method in suburbia. Yes, I can cook more frequently and sometimes I do. But when I’m running from client to client or on a writing deadline, my lunch is waiting in the fridge to be thrown together. Setting myself up for success means always having healthy options so that when I'm starving I don't devour on a bag of chips. (Full disclosure: that can happen from time to time. Oopsies!)
Back to my love affair with the dark leafy green. In my opinion, kale is best for one’s body and one’s palette when lightly cooked. (If you have a thyroid disease, always consume kale lightly cooked.) I prefer to steam mine. I rinse those beautiful sturdy leaves, chop them up and steam them for several minutes and boom. You'll know it’s ready when the kale has reached its peak color – a vibrant, deep green that not even Instagram can enhance. Sometimes I make a vegetarian dish but I also love kale with a high-quality meat. My man loves it with bacon. Fry up that bacon then sauté the kale in the bacon fat. Who's drooling?
And sometimes I prepare kale the way Donna taught me:
Rinse
Peel the hearty leaves off their sturdy stem
Chop up the stem into little pieces
On low, heat a Tablespoon of olive oil or coconut oil in a frying pan
Toss the stems and a handful of raisins into the pan
Sauté until the stem and raisins begin to soften
Throw in the chopped up leaves, a ¼ cup of water and sprinkle Tamari sauce (gluten-free soy sauce) on top
Cover with a lid, allowing the concoction to steam
Enjoy
What are your thoughts on kale? How do you like to prepare it?
Share your comments below!
*Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist, dietician or health coach. (I’m a professional organizer, remember guys?!) I write about veggies because I love veggies. If you want to delve deep into nutrition, bravo. I couldn’t encourage you more. But set yourself up with a professional.
