Tasty Tuesday – We Love Kale Too!

Hey It’s Jet Here.

One of the silver linings from Mom’s new food playbook is the fact that the woman has gone cooking crazy!  She’s scoured   her data base to see what draws her attention based on ingredients that will hopefully play nice in her intestines.  Little Miss QC (Quality Control) and I relish this turn of events.  JJ and I have stashed some photos from Mom’s recent cooking sessions.

Remember our collard greens, post?  Well, when Mom waved a bunch of delicate red kale (should carry the name purple really) over the colander to drain the rinse water, Little Miss Hopeful and I shimmied  our tushies toward the sink.  Mom quarter-turned to the cutting board and began removing the leaves, tearing them into bite sized pieces.  And then…

Bliss… she broke the first stem in half and …

Little Miss Double the Recipe and I showed our gratitude for Mom’s choice to make twice the Shitake and Kale Soup with Sweet Potato by keeping up with the kale stems.  Here’s the recipe:

Kale Shiitake Sweet Potato Soup 

• 4 cups water or low-sodium vegetable stock (Mom used 1 box of low sodium veggie stock and 1 box of chicken low sodium because she thought she had 2 veggies and did not.  She would stick to the veggie stock next time and possibly use mushroom stock!)
• 1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps thinly sliced
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled, chopped into 1/4 inch cubes (Mom thinks that she might use a regular potato or malanga next time, the sweet potato left the soup too sweet.)
• 1/2 bunch fresh kale, washed and stems removed
• 1 teaspoon Mellow white miso, per cup (Mom bought Mellow Yellow by mistake, no biggie!)
• 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (Mom left this out for tummy reasons, she thinks the seeds would be delicious.)

Directions:

• In a saucepan combine the water/broth, shitake mushrooms and sweet potato and bring to a boil. (At Casa Jetty, this takes forever, so, our times were longer…)
• Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, chop the kale into bite size pieces and add to the soup.
• Cook until tender, another 8 minutes.
• Dissolve a teaspoon of light miso in a bowl with a small amount of broth.
• Ladle in the soup and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Another great back to Tasty Tuesday day.

Thanks to Sugar and Kol for initiating Tasty Tuesdays, today is our forty-first participating post!

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Follow Up Friday – Gratitude Edition

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Before we begin, here’s last year’s Black Friday post!

Our friend, Miss Jodi, Heart Like a Dog, initiated this great idea to update readers on previous posts.  She created a lovely badge to go with her idea and recently turned her wonderful idea into a new blog hop!  Check out her Dogs of Blogville Calendar and vote!  Proceeds from the upcoming sale will help 2 of our fellow bloggers hurt badly by Superstorm Sandy.

Saturday – A View from Above

After reading about the Puffster returning to drink from the “fountain of fresh water” otherwise known as Mom’s bathroom sink, many of you expressed your understanding and experiences when a loved one Crosses Over the Rainbow Bridge.  You see, ever since our Sweet Fluffy crossed in August, Puffy had not ascended (VBP – vocab builder project) to Mom’s sink, one of the places he and Fluffy visited together many times daily.

Thanks for the compliments on my wrestling move (the Disappearing Jetty), Little Miss Chewminator and I seem equally matched, I have more brawn, she has more strategic moves!  In the end, neither of us “win”, we enjoy the play.

Black & White Sunday – Greased Lightening 

When I posted about the appearance of my racing stripes which ultimately led Dr. Schaffer to determine I have hypothyroidism, a few of you asked to see the racing stripes Mom described in the post.  Since my coloring fits into the theme of the Sunday Blog hop, she tried to highlight each stripe on each of my front paws.  Oh did you guys (Mom’s NJ term of endearment) get a kick out of them!  You also enjoyed Mom’s reference to the car, Greased Lightening, from the play/movie GREASE.

Mischief Monday – Keyboard Woes

I personally want to express my gratitude for your caring and creative suggestions regarding Mom’s now wacky keyboard issues.  The poor woman is sprouting grey hairs by the millisecond!  Now, I cannot report any scientific evidence, however, I’m happy to share that since all of you sent your positive vibes our way… the keyboard has played nice for two whole days!!!

Tasty Tuesday – Green Cigars

Lots of positive feedback on Mom’s recipe brought big smiles to her face. JJ and I, Mom’s faithful Kitchen K-9s, continue to surprise and delight you with our ambitious palates!  You enjoyed seeing us chomp on our collard green stems.  A few humans and a few fellow K9s thought they might like to try their respective parts of the veggie!  My turtle friends at Underneath the Shell, had a great idea; they love the leaves and we love the stems so why not share?!

Wordless Wednesday – Turkey: The Money Shot

Oh we fooled some of you who thought that was me patiently waiting? for a proper serving of the yummy bird.  Nope, Mom had NO intention of cooking a turkey since she had plans to ABANDON Casa Jet for Thanksgiving dinner.  Hmpf.  She enjoyed turkey at Miss Mary Ann’s house where my friend, Dixie, had a proper seat at the table.  Double Hmpf.  Thank goodness Miss Mary Ann loves us enough to send a turkey tidbit doggie K9 bag home with Mom.  Considering Mom fed us 2.5 hours late for dinner, sharing the tidbits with us after setting her keys down was the LEAST she could do.  Ah, heck, we loved the tidbits, loved Mom for giving them to us, enjoyed our dinner, had a breezy constitutional and a swell evening with Mom afterward!

Thankful Thursday – Unexpected Appreciation

Lots of you expressed interest and excitement about Snoopy’s upcoming book which Mom recently edited.  Don’t forget to place it on your holiday lists; a portion of the proceeds will go to therapy dogs.

You agreed with Mom and I that Snoopy and his Mum sent such a thoughtful gift.  You also resonated (VBP) with Mom’s perspective on gratitude.

Another great gratitude filled FUF day.

Tasty Tuesday – Collard Green Cigars

Hey It’s Jet Here.

Thanks to Sugar and Kol for initiating Tasty Tuesdays, today is our thirty-third participating post!

I’m not sure what made Mom give Koko *OTRB*and I collard green stems from her garden a few years back.  Maybe it was Miss Margie, from Bee Heaven Farm, who told Mom how much her dogs loved zucchini and ate them like cigars.  Anyway, Mom was preparing the dish below one day and gave it a try.  We LOVED them.  Mom loved the crunch, crunch, crunch sounds we made as we smoked devoured the stems.  From then on, she set aside stems for us as treats.

When Mom shopped for her UMiami class at the new Publix this weekend, the Organic veggie section looked vibrant.  She selected a bunch of organic collard greens along with her grocery list items for class.

I’ll have her list the ingredients now and you’ll see how JJ liked her first exposure to collard green stems!  Click here to see the full series of recipe photos.

Mom’s Collard Greens with Grains & Turkey Bacon

• 1 bunch collard greens, stems removed, sliced into ribbons* (otherwise what’s the point of the recipe I ask!)
• 1 package of turkey bacon (an extra for her faithful Kitchen K-9s would be thoughtful)
• 1 onion, chopped**
• Garlic, grated, diced, or sliced***
• Ginger, grated, diced, or sliced (optional)
• Grains****
• Olive oil

•  *You can substitute kale, chard, dandelion greens, mustard greens or any combination of same.
• **Use the size which coordinates to how much you enjoy onions!  You can substitute shallot or scallion if you wish.
• ***Same rule as onion or you can omit.
• **** Mom used oat groats, a bit of rye berries and kamut this time already cooked in the rice cooker.  She placed 1 ½ c. grain with 3 cups low sodium chicken stock, with a quarter size circle of olive oil.  She added about 1 cup of cooked grains and used the rest in another recipe.  Feel free to substitute rice, pasta, potatoes – experiment!

Heat a smidge of oil in sauté pan.  Place as many slices of turkey bacon as fit comfortably in pan.  Cook according to package directions.  Remove onto paper towels or straight on to cutting board if not too greasy.  Cut into small pieces when cool enough to handle.

As the turkey bacon cools, heat another tablespoon or so of olive oil in the same pan over medium heat.
(Adjust the amount of oil depending on how much grease your turkey bacon left in the pan.)  Add onion and sauté until softened and translucent.  Feel free to keep going to carmelized!   Add garlic if using, then ginger if using.  Add collard ribbons and stir until they turn kelly green, about 2 minutes.  Add grain and stir to warm.  (Add a little chicken stock or water if the pan is dry.) Add turkey bacon back to mix in.  Add any herbs and spices you enjoy.  Mom used fennel with her onions this time. Sometimes she add sweet red pepper.

Another great collard green stem day.

We Love When Mom Teaches

Hey, it’s Jet Here.

On the day before Mom has a scheduled Kitchen Counselor class, lots of food enters the house through the garage/kitchen door.  As Mom’s Kitchen K9s, we must inspect the merchandise!  Oh, the scents, we struggle with our patience button for Mom to unpack.

Today, she will teach a diabetic support group cooking ideas for Valentine’s Day.  Plus, she accepted a dare from the group last quarter that she could cook collard greens in 5 minutes.  I’m betting on Mom!  Then, in the afternoon, she teaches this thing called an interactive cooking class at the University of Miami.  Mom loves working with IEP, the Intensive English Program, because the students come from all over the globe.  Today’s theme – How Americans Celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Anyway, Mom often does this “prep” stuff to make her classes run smoothly.  Koko and I LOVED prep time.  After all, as her Kitchen K9s, we had jobs to do like quality control!  Yesterday, JJ experienced Prep initiation.  At one point, Mom had beets (for chocolate beet cake?) and broccoli roasting in the oven (separately), turkey bacon in two skillets on the stovetop (oh the aroma!), collards rinsing in the sink while she cut pineapple on the cutting board.

Little Miss Helpful had two paws on the counter repeatedly to see:

• How to drain turkey bacon.
• How much rinsing is necessary per collard leaf.
• How much tin foil must you cut to properly wrap three beets.
• What size floret works best when roasting broccoli.
• How close should you get to Mom when she chops three onions.

When Mom dropped the first tidbit of collard leaf, JJ snapped it up before Mom even knew what happened.  All we heard was crunch, crunch, crunch.  Knowing how much I LOVE collards, Mom immediately invited me to sit for a stem.  JJ then scurried over for her first stem.  Mom tried to capture us chewing collard stems like stogies without success, we chomped too fast.  After three or four attempts, she worried our tummies would get upset.  So, no pictures this time.

Another great Kitchen Counselor Prep day.