What to do With too Much Kale

I arrived home today hungry after only eating a few cookies at my writing group. I wondered what I could eat that could be made quickly? And what vegetables need to be used? I checked the produce in the refrigerator and discovered my abundant kale from Saturday already wilting because someone (well, me actually) had left it exposed and not in the vegetable bin. I'd gotten a lot of kale to make Kale and Avocado Salad because I'm so hooked on it, I eat it almost every day.

Anyway, enough salad dreams, my kale salad was out, but could the kale be salvaged?

I'd braise it in olive oil, I decided. About 5 minutes into it, I added some of Wade Bennett's Stone Quarry Wine, a pinch of pepper and some garlic and covered it. Ten minutes later, the brilliant green kale looked beautiful on the plate, but when I took a bit and started chewing, I felt like a cow, munching and munching. I don't think that tough kale ever broke down. It was like tough weeds. Still, I wasn't ready to feed the compost heap, so I put it in a saucepan, covered it with water and simmered it for about 10 minutes.

Then I blended it, added a tablespoon of my favorite almond butter and a little hot green salsa. Then I blended some more. It probably would have been nice with grated cheese, or crushed tortilla chips but I was too hungry to care. Dinner can be easy when hunger calls.