Kale is a bitter cabbage rich with antioxidants

Until recently, Kale was not a food option for me. It looked more like a garnish than food to be eaten, but I decided to make a salad with cabbage in an effort to eat healthier.

To my surprise, the bitter taste of the kale, combined with the sweet apple and the crunchy texture of the almond, made a savory salad.

Kale is often referred to as a super food because it is rich in antioxidants, but the tough leaves of the plant need to be prepared properly to break down the fibers to make it edible.

This recipe is simple to make and will make a convert out of event the most hard-core carnivores.

Enjoy

Kale, apple and almond salad

Incredients:

1 bunch curly kale (washed, stemmed and cut into chiffonade)

1/3 cup toasted almonds (chopped)

1 apple (julienned and tossed with lemon juice)

Dressing:

1/8 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Blend all the dressing ingredients. Place kale in a bowl and pour the dressing over the kale. With your hands, massage the kale and dressing for about two minutes. The kale will darken in color and reduce in size by about on half. Toss with almonds and apples.

Be aggressive when you are massaging the kale, otherwise the fiber in the cabbage leaves won’t break down.

Vital Farms eggs are Certified Humane.

Egg carton labels are confusing, misleading and almost useless.

Terms such as cage-free, free-range, free-roaming and pasture-raised have no legal standards and have little relevance to the quality of life for the chickens.

Most labeling and packaging conjures up the image of leisurely existence of a hen living out its life in a comfortable setting, With a little research, the vision of the luxury life of a free-range chicken is dashed by the reality of lives spend in cramped spaces where the birds can’t walk or even flap their wings. The nightmare scenario is made worse by the common practice of beak cutting and forced molting through starvation.
The official government labeling on eggs won’t help buyers find chickens raised in a more humane fashion, but there are five third-party certifications to help rate the welfare condition of the hens.

I have divided these into four categories: best choice, good choice, bad choice and avoid-at-all-cost choice. Most of these descriptions come from the Humane Society website

Best choice

Animal Welfare Approved

Pros:
The highest welfare standard for any third-party auditing program
Forced molting through starvation and beak cutting is prohibited
Birds must be able to nest, perch and take dust-baths
All birds are cage-free with at least 1.8 square feet of floor space
Hens must have continuous access to outdoor areas for ranging and foraging
Outdoor areas must be covered with growing vegetation
Feed can’t come from any animal byproducts
Cons:
The certification is only valid for flocks of fewer than 500 birds.

Good Choice

Certified Humane

Pros:
Forced molting through starvation is prohibited
Cons:
Beak cutting is allowed

Three levels of certification

Cage-free
Chickens are uncaged inside a barn
Birds must be able to nest, perch and take dust-baths
Each hen must have at least 1.5 square feet of space

Free-range
Birds must have access to outside area for at least six hours a day
Outdoor areas must be covered with growing vegetation
Each hen must have at least 2 square feet of outdoor space

Pasture-raised
Birds must be place on a pasture for at least six hours every day.
Pasture must be covered mainly with growing vegetation
Each hen must have at least 108 square feet of pasture

Food alliance Certified

Pros:
All birds are cage-free with at least 1. 23 square feet of floor space
Forced molting through starvation is prohibited
Access to outdoors or natural daylight required for at least 8 hours a day
If provided, outdoor area my have growing vegetation
Chickens must be able to nest, perch and take dust-baths
Cons:
Beak cutting is allowed

Bad Choice

American Humane Certified

Pros:
Forced molting through starvation is prohibited
Cons:
Beak cutting is allowed

Four levels of certification

Enriched colony
Hens are confined in 0.8 square feet of space in conditions considered detrimental to animal welfare.
Enriched colony, also called furnished cages, is a misleading description for chickens being raised in inhumane conditions.

Cage-free
Chickens are uncaged inside a barn with 1.25 square feet of floor space
Hens have access to perches and nesting boxes

Free-Range
Each hen provide with 21.8 square feet of outdoor space
No minimum amount of time specified for outdoor access

Pasture
Each hen is provided with 108 square feet outdoor space
Pasture must be covered mainly with growing vegetation
No minimum amount of time specified for pasture access

Avoid-At-All-Cost Choice

United Egg producers certified

Pros:
Forced molting through starvation is prohibited
Cons:
Beak cutting is allowed
Permits cruel and inhumane factory farming practices

Two levels of certification

Caged
Hens have 0.46 square feet of cage space
Chickens are confined in restrictive, barren battery cages and cannot perform natural behaviors such as perching, nesting, foraging or spreading their wings

Cage-free
Hens are uncaged in a barn with 1 square foot of floor space
Access to perching and nesting

I spent about 10 years of my childhood living in the Greater Cincinnati area and developed a deep love for Cincinnati chili. I know it is an acquired taste and many people are turned off by the addition of cocoa and cinnamon to a chili dish, but I was addicted to two restaurants that specialized in Cincinnati chili: Skyline Chili and Gold Star Chili.

When I became a vegetarian, I thought my chili days were over. I avoided the temptation to visit my old haunts. I didn’t contemplate the possibility of a vegetarian version until I stumbled upon a recipe on PETA’s website.

My parents and siblings are all hardcore carnivores, so they love to taunt me every time they eat a five-way (spaghetti, Cincinnati chili, cheese, onions and beans) or a coney (a chili dog with Cincinnati chili).

Salvation is at hand. After a quick Google search, I discovered dozens of vegetarian and vegan recipes for Cincinnati chili.

My new mission, along with baking birthday cakes for friends and family, is to find the perfect vegetarian chili recipe.

I am going to start with the PETA recipe and will continue trying out recipes until I find the best one.

Stay tuned.

As I continue my journey of self discovery through cooking, I uncovered something interesting about myself.

I need to learn how to chill out.

As a goal-oriented person, I like to challenge myself. My decision to make two relatively complicated dishes on the same day — and for the first time — with only about four hours of cooking time, turned a fun afternoon into my own stressful episode of “Chopped.”

Earlier in the week, I decided to make a kale salad, baked ziti and tiramisu from scratch for my family. As a novice chef, I didn’t even know what ziti pasta looked like.

The baked ziti and kale salad went off without a hitch, but I struggled with the tiramisu. With time running out, I accidently broke an egg yoke in the egg whites I had been separating. I was starting to stress out because I had promised my family tiramisu and I was running out of time. In the midst of all the chaos in the kitchen, I lost perspective.

Tiramisu

I stepped back and regrouped. After a few minutes, I opted to make the tiramisu the following day.

The next day, while eating a generous portion of tiramisu with my lovely wife, I made a vow to stay focused and appreciate the opportunity to cook.

Each meal may not turn out perfect, and there will be a few disastrous dishes along the way, but the challenge to be a chef keeps the journey interesting.