Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale

Miss M and I recently moved into a quaint (fancy word for tiny and un-exciting) apartment in downtown Lincoln, NE for a short term stay before we head off to Godknowswhere (a word a just made up for 'we oftentimes fly by the seat of our pants and don't know what the hell is coming next'.)

It is our intention to depart Lincoln within 9-12 months and see the world a bit, then settle (I use this term loosely) somewhere near the ocean, preferably with little to no winter.

It's an extremely exciting time for me, as I'm in the midst of transitioning into the career of my dreams. I don't actually like to refer to this thing as a career, because it's not really. It is indeed quickly becoming my livelihood, but that's not the reason I do it. I can feel this thing buzzing through every cell of my body. I can't NOT do it. I would do it for FREE, and in fact have for a long time. If you're curious what this thing is, go here...

But in the meantime, we are here. In this apartment. We immediately painted the dining area from fire engine red, to banana yellow. Here is Miss M exhibiting her extraordinary painting techniques.

I'll be sure to share pictures of the finished diggs... when it's completed, which might be two minutes before we leave. Just saying.

And now to the entire point of this post... the first thing we cooked in our new place. We were without gas for the first 4 days we were here. Which was super great because my oven and stove are run on gas, as is the hot water heater. So, it was cold showers and cold food for us!...
Until the fourth day, when it dawned on me that I am the owner of an electric skillet. DOH!

So, this is what we cooked in our electric skillet.

Garlicky Mushrooms and Kale with Potatoes

This is a recipe I adapted from Isa Chandra's 'Appetite for Reduction' which you can find in my little Amazon store (I think... I should really get with the program) Anyhoo... I love this book. It's what I cook from mainly these days. 

The original recipe does not call for potatoes. I added them to make for a heartier meal, as opposed to just a side dish... which I believe, is what it's intended to be.
 It's so simple and yummy and healthy. You can't really go wrong.

Here's what you'll need:
2 large russet potatoes, thinly sliced 
EVOO
Fresh Garlic (about 4-6 cloves) 
8 oz mushrooms
a couple bunches of Kale
Veggie broth 

~ Heat a couple teaspoons of oil in a skillet (electric.. or NOT)
   Add sliced potatoes along with S&P to taste. Cook until softened slightly. Remove from skillet.

~ Heat a couple more teaspoons oil and add mushrooms along with a little more S&P. Saute til softened (about 7 minutes)

~Add chopped kale in batches. It will look like a buttload of kale (that's a technical cooking term, if you didn't know)  but it'll cook WAY down. Cook until wilted about 10 minutes, adding splashes of veggie broth if sticking.

~ Throw in the cooked potatoes, and saute' for another 5ish minutes.

In my world, this is served with lots o'hot sauce. Cholula, to be specific.


Enjoy!

And know this....
There is no one on the face of this planet that can do what you can do, in precisely the way that you can do it. You are here for a reason. we need you... the world needs you to embrace your gifts and share them. YOUCANDOIT!!! 



If you're new around here, check out this post to see some of my favorite recipes. EVER.

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Artichoke Spinach Spread

One last creamy recipe to get you through the weekend, and possibly a Super Bowl Party. 

If you're into that kind of thing. 

Despite my best efforts, I personally am not a lover of football. I recently wrote a letter to football bringing to light my issues with it, and imploring it to make some changes so that I may end my days of being an outcast and possibly have a fighting chance of enjoying the sport adored by so many. You can read it here.

This spread is super simple. It's more artichoke than spinach... so hopefully you adore the choke hearts like I do. I could eat'm plain. 

In my past dairy/meat eating life (I realize it's only been a month, but it truly feels like another lifetime ago already) whenever I came across a big cheesy bowl of spinach and artichoke dip I always found myself digging around, searching for the rebel choke hearts that escaped being smooshed with the rest of the dip. Any doofus can see that they're the best part.

So, I figured in my dairly-less remake of this common party food I'd just cut to the chase and focus on the good stuff.

~ Roast on entire head of garlic. To learn how to do this, go here.

~ Drain jar of marinated artichoke hearts, reserving the oil.

 ~ Saute 1/4 diced onion in drizzle of reserved oil with S&P until translucent. Add 1 Cup finely cut fresh spinach leaves and saute til wilted.

~ Blend 1/2 can of hearts until creamy. (I used my magic bullet) 

~ to creamed artichokes add: remainder of chokes, sauteed onion & spinach, roasted garlic, 1/4 C. sour cream, 1/2 tsp. nutritional yeast, red pepper flakes to taste. 

~S&P to taste. 

~ put in oven proof bowl. Top with a few breadcrumbs if you like, and bake in a 350 degree oven until warm. 

~ I served my spread on some Ezekiel Bread that I cut the crusts off, brushed with reserved artichoke oil, and baked for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. (I blended up the crusts from the bread, and used as the coating for my baked eggplant with spicy marinara that I served with this.)

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So that wraps up our week of creamy things. We made some really great stuff (*euphoric face*) and some not so great stuff (*cry baby face*).  Ya win some, ya lose some. Next week... Greens!

Really great stuff:

~ Creamy Coconut Quinoa with Berry Compote

~ Creamy Roasted Potato Soup with Fennel

~ The Mother of all Alfredos 

~ Mushroom Risotto

Not so great stuff:

~Pad Thai  - This version was WAY too much work and sticky sticky, but I had a great dinner party with friends , and pretty photos to  prove it. Plus we made some super bomb lettuce wraps. I just said Bomb. I'm totally talking like Sweets now. 

~Cheese-less Mac N Cheese. Don't do it. But it's kind of funny to see us do it.

 Have a beautiful weekend! Here's the view outside my living room window this morning. 

 (I'm not typically a fan of snow, but I gotta admit... It's kinda puurty)

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