Kale Coma

Miss me? I am sorry I have been away. Between moving into my new house, getting cooking supplies unpacked, and well, a busted phone which holds the camera I have been relying on, I had a minor hiatus. No worries though because I am back in business and October happens to be my favorite month. Pumpkin shavings will adorn my side porch tomorrow as I chisel my spooky designs for my front porch Halloween décor. Butternut squash will be bursting with bold flavors in my oven. Apples happily sit piled in my fruit bowl and all the doors will be open letting the beautiful breeze brush my hair off my face as I feverishly cook for our weekend camping trip.

Back to the present day though. I arrived home today without one clue on what to make. Being that we attended a concert last night something warm and comforting was definitely on the menu. That and I have been in a tizzy to use anything that might expire while we are away. I despise wasting food. Maybe that is the reason I glutinously cleaned my plate today…Sure, I will go with that.

For produce I had to use up a large bushel of kale. My boiling pot is still MIA so brown rice would serve as a nice bed. And comfort? That comes in the form of a gooey, cheesy, sauce. I have made vegan cheese sauces in the past with great success but I really didn’t want to prep too much. With the basic ingredients in mind I threw together the one below and behold, a success was whirred up in my vitamix.


Cheesy Kale & Brown Rice

1 bushel of kale, stems cut off
2 cups brown rice
Cheese sauce (see below)
Vegetable broth
Pepper to taste

Easy Peezy Cheezy Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons earth balance, melted
• 2 tablespoons ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• ½ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ cup vegetable broth
• 1/3 cup cashews, chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

Prepare brown rice and set aside. I used boil in a bag brown rice because of my time crunch.

Prepare cheese sauce:

Add all ingredients in the vitamins and blend on high until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. It will be very thick but no worries, it will thin when added to recipe.

In a medium saucepan add about half cup vegetable brown and warm. Add cheese sauce and stir. Keep adding a little vegetable broth until it becomes thinner in consistency. I like a thick creamy sauce so I didn’t add a lot but if you like thinner add more.

Add kale to the pan and coat with the sauce. Saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add rice and combine. Serve with a dash of ground pepper on top! MMMMMM.


Enjoy!! Confession, I had two helpings. I blame it on my tiny Halloween plate!