Italian Kale and "Sausage" Stew

Nothing terribly profound today, but after a quick look at my almost-finished-somewhat-neglected garden, I did discover late summer zucchini, plus onions and kale to use up like CRAZY; so I combined several Italian-Kale-Bean-Sausage soup ideas, (along with a few mismatched refrigerator leftovers because I'm frugal like that) and came up with supper.

No, it's not exactly "soup" weather but my kids liked it, no leftovers, so I must have hit on something... (plus it uses Field Roast sausage which is one of our all time favorites!) Sorry the picture's crap, the soup was not.

Kale-"Sausage" Soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 - 3 links vegetarian sausage, like Field Roast Italian, cut into (1/2-inch) slices
1 - 2 zucchini, quartered and cut into slices (about 2 cups?)
3 garlic cloves, (you know I used more!) peeled and crushed
6 cups or more!! chopped trimmed kale (I happen to be growing Lacinato or Black Italian kale, but use whatever you have)
1/2 cup water
splash of white wine (optional but I add it to everything)
2 (16-ounce) cans or 3 cups coooked cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped (optional but in my opinion, why would you leave them out?)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onion and veggie sausage 4 minutes or until sausage is browned. Add zucchini and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add kale and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

Bumper Stickers and BBQ Tofu for Supper

First news of the day: I added a new bumper sticker to my Mom-van and just have to show it off. (The Vegetarian one..).
This event is impressive in itself because I'm actually not a 'bumper sticker' fan... but someone gave me "Who Are These Kids..." a year or two back and EVERYONE said it was so "me" that I just had to put on the van's pristine, unadorned backside. It gets great comments absolutely all the time (which I find weird since I never notice, much less comment on, other people's adesivo com frases humorísticas... but I digress).
Anyway, my kids found and LOVED the new "Vegetarian" bumper sticker especially for it's 'sprouting' reference, ('cause I always refer to them as my "Sprouts" of course). I figure a little PR for a vegetarian lifestyle is a good thing, but that's the last one - no more humorous adhesive on my hiney!

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Next, a simple but most excellent supper made by myself, and my friend Froggy-boy. We both thought it was worthy of a passing mention here just for it's simplicity and delicious-ness alone.

• Kale with roasted red peppers and sesame seeds. (No recipe, that's all there was to it.)
• Baked Tofu with BBQ sauce. (Again, no recipe, just slabs of tofu, baked with sauce - sooo yummy!)
• Garlic and Herb Oven-Roasted Potatoes (Recipe below)

Garlic and Herb Roasted Potatoes

6 Yukon Gold Potatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
2 garlic cloves (You KNOW I used more than this!)
large handful fresh basil leaves
2 - 3 sprigs fresh thyme and sage
1 tsp. onion salt
Seasoning Salt (I use Johnny's 'cause it's made nearby in Tacoma, no MSG and way cheap) and pepper to taste

Cube potatoes. Place in roasting pan or shallow rectangular baking dish.
Put all other ingredients in food processor and blend until liquefied. It will be thick and green and garlick-y.
Pour about 3/4 of the mixture over the potatoes and mix well. (I use my hands).
Bake at 450 degrees for 45 min. or until starting to brown and crisp. Stir several times.
Pour remaining seasoning mixture over potatoes, toss well and serve. Yummmmmm.

There were no leftovers.

Kale "flowers" and Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce

Searching for something green tonight among the meager supply of veggies in the 'fridge, I was most uninspired.
I looked wistfully out at my weed-choked, rain-soaked, moss covered garden space and wished for warm summer weather and fresh grown veggies.

But wait, what do I see? My Lacinato (or Dinosaur) kale is still around, but tall and straggly - what's left has started to flower and gone to seed. Sad. I went out and looked at it closely though - the 'flowers' looked a LOT like little broccoli heads. All sorta the same family, right? I tasted it, expecting that strong, over-grown bitterness you get with the old, tough leaves... Amazingly, these little kale "heads" were tender and SO SWEET!
I picked several large handfuls and steam-sauteed them with a few drops lemon juice and olive oil. Wow. They cooked super-quickly and wilted down quite a bit... but still... Insanely deLISH! I've discovered a new favorite green!

I paired the kale flowers with some caramelized onions and red-peppers, and whole wheat rigatoni with our family's absolute favorite pasta sauce - Cashew Garlic Alfredo (which I somehow got MUCH too thick tonight).

I threw some kalamata olives in the pasta sauce, maybe a bit too salty but they went well with the kale and peppers.

Cashew Garlic Alfredo Sauce:

1/2 cup raw cashews (not roasted)
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I don't measure, just a good squeeze)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 clove garlic (or more to taste)
1 Tbsp. extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tb. nutritional yeast (optional)

Pulverize raw cashews in the food processor until very fine. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water. (*The BEST way to do this, is to make the sauce while the pasta cooks - scoop out 1 1/2 cups of lightly salted pasta-cooking water and use it - the starch from the pasta-cooking water thickens the sauce PERFECTLY!) Add water to cashews and process until smooth... this will take several minutes.
Add nutritional yeast (optional - my kids prefer it without), garlic clove, olive oil and squeeze of lemon juice. Process again until smooth, another couple minutes, it'll start to thicken a bit too! Makes a decadently creamy sauce. Serve over cooked pasta.

This stuff is wonderfully simple and tastes SO very good. I often add sauteed mushrooms, chives, chopped olives or sundried tomatoes, depending on my mood.

NOTE: Recipe has been edited, I forgot to add the olive oil!

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Thanks for all the kind thoughts while my Sprout is off traveling the world (or Ecuador). She e-mailed this AM and they all arrived safely and everyone was fine. So far, so good. Yay.