HOW TO GET A MAID OR HOW I TRICKED MY HUSBAND INTO EATIN' A 'WONDER FOOD'

Hey, I'm glad to be back. Sorry I haven't posted anything in a few days. It was great to have a day off for Housewives Day Off and I took an extra couple of days and visited with an old friend. The bad part is when I came back to my life, I had to play catch up and you know what that is like. In my next life I'm gonna have a maid!

Wouldn't that be too cool? I mean you could spend all your time doin' what you want to do. I would still do all the cookin' and outside work and my maid could clean the house and do the laundry. Woo Hoo! I wonder what a person has to do to get one of them thar maids? Is it somethin' you can ask Santa Claus for? I'm a good girl Santa, honest.

I still live in an area where the grocery stores give away dishes when you buy a zillion dollars worth of groceries from them and one local store still gives green stamps, although recently they just updated to computerized cards that keep track of your purchases. Now if I can just talk someone into givin' away a maid! I'd rather have a maid, I already have more dishes than I know what to do with. So I guess I will just have to keep bein' the maid in my life. If anyone knows how or has any ideas to get a maid PLEASE let me know, as long as it doesn't get us thrown into the pokey!

Anyhoo, I have a good recipe for you today. Did you know that the vegetable Kale is a veggie we should eat everyday? You didn't? Well, I didn't either. I read online a few months back that it is one of the 'wonder foods'. How do they keep comin' up with this stuff? Anyway I decided that we would start eatin' Kale at least once a week and once I got CD convinced to eat it we would be full of all those good for you vitamin's and mineral's, that you get when you eat any of the 'wonder foods'. The trouble is, CD said he didn't like Kale and he wasn't goin' to eat any of it. I asked him if he had ever eatin' any Kale, I was pretty sure he hadn't 'cause I've been feedin' the man for over 30 years and I've never served him any. He said he couldn't remember when but he just knew he wouldn't like it. Men! I swear they are worse than a little kid sometimes. So I cooked up a bunch of Kale, not really knowin' how to fix it but I figured since it was a green, fix it like you would greens. Throw in some ham or bacon and some grease a little garlic and red pepper flakes, boil it up real good and yummy is on the way. Good with beans and cornbread. The only problem, CD says he doesn't care for Kale. Sooooo, back to the drawin' board and figure out a way to fix Kale so the man of the house will eat this 'wonder food'.

I decided to incorporate other foods he likes into the recipe and maybe a little subterfuge. I'm sneaky that way. You learn it when you have kids, right?

This is what I came up with and I call it Kale Crostini.



This stuff is good. Even if it wasn't a good for you food, I would still fix it. And CD would still eat it. He likes it! He likes it! I'm still not sure he knows it's Kale he's eatin'. I thought it wise not to discuss it.

You are gonna need 1-2 bunches of Kale
Bacon or Ham, chopped, about 4 ounces
Garlic, minced, 2-3 cloves or more if you're worried about neck suckers
Red pepper flakes
Canola oil
1 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, maybe a little more to suit your taste
Salt and pepper to taste
French or Italian loaf of bread
Butter, softened, the real thing here
Mozzarella cheese, I like usin' whole milk and you can slice your cheese or shred it

This is the Kale cleaned and chopped.

You can either worsh your Kale before trimmin' and choppin' or after. I like to trim and chop than worsh. I'm spellin' wash like it's pronounced in these here parts.

Fold the Kale leaf in half down the center and cut right up beside the vein.

Just cut that vein right out of there. Please disregard my old cuttin' board. I love the old thing and I know it has a lot of knife marks on it but it's the one I like to chop veggies on.

Rough chop the Kale. Worsh it up in a colander and drain well.

Now you are gonna need a large skillet. I use a wok that I've had for years. It makes cookin' a big batch of anythin' a lot easier. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat over med-high heat and you are gonna pretty much stir fry your Kale. And mercy, does it ever cook down. You start out with this huge pile of chopped greens and end up with about 1/4 of what you started with. If you don't have a large enough pan you can cook in batches, just try to cook it evenly.

Push the cooked Kale to the side or you can remove from pan, add your chopped ham or bacon pieces, fry till cooked and then add your minced garlic, fry this about 45 seconds. Sprinkle in some red pepper flakes, the amount depends on how much heat you want. You might start out with 1/4 of a teaspoon and go on from there. It's just a personal preference.

Stir this all up and add your vinegar. I really like usin' rice wine vinegar but any white will work but the rice wine is the best tastin' with this dish. Add about 1/4 cup of water and add your salt and pepper, cover and simmer about 20 minutes on low heat.

While your Kale is simmerin' slice up some French or Italian bread. Now the amount will depend on how much Kale you started out with and how much you will put on your bread slices. I'd say start with 8-10 slices.

Butter one side of each slice.

Toast both sides of each slice. You need firm toast here so you'll want a medium to dark brown.

Slice or shred your Mozzarella cheese.

When your Kale is ready, drain well. Put your cooked Kale on top of the buttered side of the toast. The amount is personal again. I put about 2- 3 heapin' tablespoonfuls on. Just make sure you've got the edges of the toast covered well and make sure your Kale is not drippin', it needs to be drained well.

Place your cheese slices on top of the Kale and pop these puppies under the broiler.

Keep an eye on your Crostini so that the cheese does not burn but get it nice and brown and bubbly. Serve 'em up warm. IF and I mean IF you have any leftovers you can put 'em in the fridge covered and just warm 'em up in the microwave and they are still good.

I have even served these at a party. They are really good. Fix 'em for your loved ones and friends and you'll see what I mean. And the great part is you'll be doin' 'em a favor servin' 'em a 'wonder food'.

But PLEASE do not tell my husband that he's eatin' Kale. Believe me when I tell ya, if he knew, he would never touch one again, even though he likes 'em. He's like that, yes he is.

Let me know how you like my Kale Crostini.

R.