Sauteed Kale With Mushrooms and Balsamic Vinegar

Last week my husband was down on kale. He’s eaten it many times before over the last couple of years and found it agreeable enough (primarily because of its heath benefits, I think – not because of its taste!). But last week, every time I suggested kale as a vegetable to go with his meals, it was a no-go. “What do you have against kale all of a sudden?” I asked. “I don’t have anything against kale” he said “I just want something tastier”. “Kale is tasty!”, I insisted. But I knew what he was getting at. And I felt the challenge! I was going to come up with some recipes that would cause him to think of kale in a whole new way. Well, this was the first recipe I came up with – and can you say It was a HIT? He loved it. Called it delicious. Said he could see it being served with a “fine meal”. And HE, just minutes ago, after devouring this with his dinner, told ME, to be sure to add it to our “keeper recipes”. More than that, he told me he could see us eating it as a healthy snack at the end of the night when we are unwinding with TV (for those stretches of time when we swear off chicken wings, and promise to follow our healthy eating plan – which isn’t as often as it should be!). What a turn around from the man who wouldn’t touch kale (literally!) just last week! More tasty cooked kale recipes to come! I’m just getting warmed up here!

1 medium bunch kale, stems removed, leaves torn into bite size pieces
1 teaspoon minced garlic, or 1 garlic clove thinly sliced
4-5 small to medium sized mushrooms, sliced
^1/4 cup vegetable stock or water
red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
sea salt
pepper (optional)

Directions

By sauteing in vegetable broth you get a little added flavor, and you eliminate the oil which would add tons of fat a calories, unnecessarily. I honestly prefer that my veggies not feel all slimy in oil, so vegetable broth is a huge winner when sauteing in my book. If the kale hasn’t reached the desired level of tenderness when all the broth has evaporated, just add a splash or two more of the broth. You could also do a variation of this recipe by leaving out the balsamic vinegar, that way it wont always taste the same every time you make it.