Braised Chicken with Kohlrabi Greens and Zucchini Mock Spaghetti Cycle 3 recipe

As I mentioned in a previous post, we received Kohlrabi in the CSA last week.  Lucky for me, some of my coworkers didn't want theirs so I had a ton of greens.  I couldn't find a lot of recipes so I decided to make up my own!. 



The Kohlrabi greens are very pretty with deep green leaves and purple veins.  To prep wash and cut out the hard stems.  This is easy if you hold the leave in half on the stem and then just slice down the edge of the stem.  Then coarsely chopped your greens.  I ended up with about 8 cups but you can use less.

Braised Chicken with Kohlrabi Greens and Zucchini Mock Spaghetti

4-8 cups of coarsely chopped kohlrabi greens, kale, or spinach or combination of them
1 medium sweet onion chopped
3 minced cloves of garlic
4 tbsp of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1-2 tbsp of basil ( I use basil paste)
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
4 oz of mushrooms coarsely chopped (optional)
1 medium to large zucchini, julienned
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts


heat oil over medium-low flame in a large chicken fryer skillet or large heavy stock pot ( like a Le Crueset).  Had onion and saute until translucent.  Add greens and garlic and saute for about 15 min.  Add mushrooms and saute for about 5 more mins.  Add tomatoes and basil and heat until simmering.  And chicken breasts and simmer for approximately 20 minutes to 1/2 hour.  Check with thermometer the internal temp of chicken is 160 degrees. 





This is what the zucchini will look like


In a bowl or on a plate, place zucchini noodles.  You can microwave them for a min if you want to warm them up but usually the heat from the sauce is enough.  I also cut up the chicken after it was done and add back to the sauce but you could just ladle the sauce over the noodles and place a chicken breast on top. 

Enjoy!

Greek crab salad

This was super easy.  I mixed onion, 1 package of artifical crab,  celery, and dill.  For dressing I pureed 1 medium cucumber, 1 cup of yogurt, dill and old bay seasoning.  Served over a bed of greens topped with tomato, feta, and olive tapanade.  Sorry I didn't measure this time. 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Kohlrabi? What is that?

This will be our 3rd year participating in a CSA through Edible Acres.  I love having to use what is in season and try new veggies.  This year, the new one is Kohlrabi, the purple one pictured above. (That is an 8-Ball Zucchini next to it.  Wonderful sliced thickly and grilled.) It also comes in green.   Kohlrabi is a close relative to broccoli and has a very subtle broccoli-cabbage-like taste.  I have only tried it peeled and sliced on salad so far and it is yummy!  The leaves are also edible and can used like kale.  Here is some more information on Kohlrabi.  Please be adventurous and try some.

Girls Weekend and Bean Salad Cycle 2 or 3 recipe

I had an awesome weekend with 3 of my girlfriends.  It was filled with beach, swimming, wine, food, chocolate, manicures, Grease, magazines, more wine, and no kids or husbands!  We relished laying on the beach, not having to keep our eyes on the water.    We went shopping in Saugatuak and I fell in love with Spice Merchants and with the kitchen pantry store next door (I forgot the name).  I have been wanting a retro apron for a long time and I found this one and had to buy it!

Well all the cheating over the weekend cost me a 3lb weight gain but it was worth it.

Getting back on track today but this week is going to be hard as we are going camping for 5 days starting on Wed.  I am bringing cauliflower crusts for sandwiches for sure.  I was thinking yesterday of making a cold bean salad for the trip.  I used to work in Hudson's at Woodland mall, years ago.  Their deli had this awesome tortellini salad with tomatoes, onions, and black olives in a balsamic dressing.  This inspired the following bean salad recipe.

1 can of diced tomatoes including liquid

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup of coarsely chopped marinated artichoke hearts

1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tbsp of dried basil or 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil

3 tbsp of prepared olive tapenade (I used Trader Joes)

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan

4 cups of Navy, Cannellini, or Great Northern beans.  I cooked dry beans.  If you use canned, use 2 15oz drained and rinse well.

Just mix all together in a large bowl and chill.  Serve over a bed of greens.  

Trick for Cauliflower Crusts

The past few times I have made the crusts I have done them like the photo below.  I pressed the "dough" in the pan with my hands so that it is even.  A trick for flipping it over is to put another piece of parchment on top and (with oven mitts on) put your hand on top and flip in over gently onto the counter.  Then you can pick it up holding the paper and put it back in the pan.  I use the same technique with the rack when they are done.  See below.  

I like using this type of pan to make them because you can cut them into bread size pieces with kitchen shears or a pizza cutter.  I loosely wrap them in wax paper and either wrap in foil or store in a partially open zip lock baggy in the fridge.  They will keep over a week but we end up eating them all before that.

ready for the oven

Summer time!

I feel really blessed this week. I not only had a beautiful bike ride on Wednesday with my two best friends but we had perfect weather.  It was sunny but not hot.  We rode the Musketawa Trail from Marne to Conklin.  You can smell flowers, hear birds, and see rabbits and deer along the trail which is an old railroad route that is paved. Not only is it a very picturesque trail, but it leads to the best Irish Pub in Michigan, Fenian's Irish Pub.  On Wednesday nights, a bunch of local musicians come to the pub and bless the patrons with beautiful Irish folk music.  They even do sing-a-longs.  You can get Irish beer, whiskey and hard cider and they have incredible burgers (beef and salmon).

My bike!

Jen

Add caption

The Queen

Abandoned House on the trail. 

Here are a couple from the same ride in 2009.

Group ride 2009.

Me and my bicycle.

Last night I made this wonderful salad,  I took chicken and cut it into nugget sizes, dipped in egg whites and then a mix of Parmesan, garlic powder, panko bread crumbs, Italian seasonings, and red pepper and fried in two tbsp of EVOO on a cast iron skittle with greens and radishes from our CSA, marinated artichoke hearts, blanch local asparagus and tomatoes.  Delish!!