I will forever remember 2013 as the year I accidentally got pregnant, and the year that I felt obligated to eat more kale than I’ve ever wanted to.

Remember the Salad Challenge? Well, now it’s the Kale Challenge. These days, we’re just up to our eyeballs in CSA kale, with no end in sight.

I’d pinned a bunch of kale ideas on my Recipes To Try Pinterest board, but didn’t use any of them. I wanted/felt obligated/needed to use kale, and had a hankering for white beans, tomatoes and rosemary. From that combination of desires, came the yummy soup pictured above.

Rose really doesn’t like soup. As always, I insisted she try it, but tonight was no different from any other night. Her dinner weighed heavily towards the quesadilla & sausage side, mine was more soup-centric. Shane wasn’t around.

• White Bean, Kale & Rosemary Soup •
1/2 lb dried cannelini beans
4 cups hot water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
4 cups water
1 rounded tablespoon Better Than Bouillon
1 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse your beans well in a colander, put them in a pot, cover with 4 cups of hot water, bring to a boil and boil for two minutes. Cover beans and set aside for an hour. 

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, for 7 minutes or so, until onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Drain the beans. Add drained beans, 4 cups water and Better Than Bouillon to pot, and cook for about an hour, until the beans are soft and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Wash the kale well, remove the stems and chop into big bite-size pieces. Add the kale and rosemary to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes until the kale is soft but not too brownish. Serve with bread, ideally. Quesadillas work fine too.

I’ve been saving up CSA veggies for this recipe. I knew they’d all come eventually, kale, swiss chard, napa cabbage. The cabbage finally arrived last week, I’d managed to preserve the kale and chard while waiting for it. Now it was time to begin.

The recipe I wanted to try was from Dinner A Love Story. Jenny, the author, talks about how it’s an all-day project, making this soup. I was equally intimidated as I was anxious to try it.

The soup turned out to be not quite as labor intensive as I’d expected. It takes some advance planning, because you need to soak the beans. There’s also a lot of washing and finely chopping of veggies involved, which is tedious (I loathe washing and chopping), but doesn’t take all that long.

Another great thing about this soup is that it makes a LOT. I mean a lot, lot. Like, I could barely fit it all into my pot, lot. Plenty for us, plenty to give to our neighbors who just brought home a little baby boy.

Was it worth it? I think so. It’s a delicious, hearty, one-dish meal kind of a soup. I made the vegetarian version, leaving out the pancetta, and it was extremely flavorful. And it’s one of those soups that has so much good stuff in it that you feel like you’ve just done your body a favor by eating it.

Tuscan Minestrone
from Dinner A Love Story

8 ounces dried cannellini beans
1 slice prosciutto or pancetta (vegetarians & vegans: this can be omitted)
1 large red onion, minced
1 celery rib, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup Italian parsley
½ cup olive oil
½ small head Savoy cabbage, chopped (I got confused and used napa cabbage, with good results)
1 ½ bunches kale, cleaned and chopped into small pieces
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into small squares
1 cup canned tomatoes, drained and seeded
1 small bunch Swiss chard, stems removed and cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Soak the dried beans overnight in a bowl of cold water. The next day, drain the beans and cook them in a large pot with 2 quarts of salted water and the prosciutto or pancetta. As the beans absorb water, keep adding enough hot water to maintain about 2 quarts of liquid at the end of the cooking time. Cook for one hour, then let sit on stovetop in pot.

Saute onion, celery, garlic, carrot, parsley, salt and pepper in the olive oil in a Dutch Oven or large stockpot for about 12 to 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, kale, and potato to the stockpot. Then add tomatoes, smushing them with your hands as you drop them in the pot. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, adding a little bean liquid every now and then if it’s looking dry. Then add Swiss chard.

Remove the prosciutto from the beans. Scoop out about 1 cup of beans with a strainer or slotted spoon and set aside. With a handheld  mixer, blend the remaining beans in their pot, then pour bean puree into the stockpot with vegetables, stirring to combine. Simmer together for about 15 minutes more until heated through. When you are ready to serve, add the reserved whole beans. Add salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls and serve with crusty bread, freshly grated Parmesan and a healthy drizzle of good quality olive oil.

I don’t know how I forgot about Parmesan Chicken Goujons. I used to make them very regularly, and then I didn’t.

It’s an easy recipe, can be a bit messy to prepare but there’s no frying involved. It might seem like a kiddie dish, but the parmesan ages it up enough to make it universally enjoyable. Shane and Rose devour them every time.

Getting dinner on the table has been overriding my pregnant protein needs lately, so I decided to make a hearty, well-rounded salad. A salad that wouldn’t make me feel like I’d neglected the internal portion of my family.

Taking advantage of my CSA veggies, I used baby beets and baby kale* in a salad topped with farro, butter-toasted walnuts, goat cheese and fresh orange dressing. Both recipes are below.

*I know I recently gave kale salad a hard time. This kale was more like salad greens, and our CSA farm specifically instructed us not to cook it. Still, the hypocrisy of this post is not wasted on me.

• Parmesan Chicken Goujons •
from Rachel’s Favourite Food at Home

1 to 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breast tenders
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
2 eggs beaten
2 cups bread crumbs or panko
3/4 cup finely grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
peanut, vegetable or sunflower oil for pan

Heat oven to 400 degrees, put a large baking tray in the oven to pre-heat. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, beat the eggs. In a medium to large, shallow bowl, put the bread crumbs and parmesan, mix to combine.

Rinse and pat chicken tenders dry. Dip the tenders in the flour, turning to coat well and shake off excess. Then, dip in egg, let excess drip off. Dip and roll in bread crumb and cheese mixture, pressing if needed, until well coated. Place each tender on a plate as you’re done coating it.

Remove baking tray from oven and coat with oil. Place tenders, with a little bit of space between each, on the tray. Bake for 12-18 minutes, until cooked through, flipping after 6 minutes. Serve with ketchup, or another condiment, if desired.

• Baby Kale & Beet Salad with Farro, Goat Cheese, Walnuts and Orange Dressing •

1 bunch baby beets, boiled or roasted and peeled (or use pre-cooked, peeled beets)
juice and zest of one orange
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup farro
1 small bunch baby kale (or other baby green), washed 
1 teaspoon butter
salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 oz chevre

Boil or roast beets until tender, set aside to cool. When cool, slip them from their peels and cut into bite-size pieces. Meanwhile, make the dressing. Combine orange juice, zest, mustard and vinegar in a small bowl, whisk in oil until emulsified.

Cook farro in salted water until tender (or per package instructions), drain, rinse under cold water and drain well. Combine beets, farro and dressing in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small skillet melt the butter, add the chopped walnuts and a pinch of salt and cook until toasted and fragrant. Watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn. Remove to a dish and set aside.

To assemble, put baby greens in a salad bowl, top with beet, farro and dressing mixture, dot with crumbled chevre and sprinkle with toasted walnuts. Toss and serve immediately.

We decided to try something new on our way home from Cape Cod. A google search led us to Irene’s Family Restaurant in Norwich, CT. Rose had a foot long hot dog with fries, Shane had the triple-decker BLT club, and Anna and I had Greek salads. I think we’ll be stopping by Irene’s again.

It’s Lazy Thursday, you know the drill, dinner at Espresso 77. Tonight’s meal was brought to you by our good pal Sean.