Baby Kale and Chicken Salad--10 Minutes to Dinner

 It is snowing, sleeting, and blowing in Saint Paul.  Again.  I mostly don't mind it.  As long as I don't have to drive.

When I came home from the market today, it was pouring tiny bits of frozen rain--treacherous.  I got the groceries up the slippery steps and emailed my boss I was opting out of a dinner meeting.   She agreed and canceled it.  Phew.  By then the biggest snowflakes I'd ever seen were flying like big crystal kites colliding over and over in a  shivering maelstrom.  My little warm kitchen never looked so good.

My welcoming committee.

38 Power Foods, Week 37 -- Wild Salmon -- Salmon with Kale on Pea Risotto

If you're looking for a fish meal for Good Friday --or a different salmon recipe-- this is your day.  While it takes a few more minutes than simply grilling some fish and putting together a salad, it's well worth it.  Think creamy-dreamy risotto to which you've added some spring peas.  Surround it with some quickly crisped healthy green kale and top with a tender filet of salmon.  Lemon, along with some minced fresh onion, adds the best touch over all at the end.  Here's how....

Salmon on Kale with Lemon and Thyme--One-Pan Dinner

 I'm a firm fan of the frozen salmon that comes in the individual or duo vacuum pack.  It's delicious, less expensive than fresh, and sometimes fresher than the fish in the seafood case.  I've been buying packages  all summer long at a price of about $4 and change per approximately 6 oz. serving.  (This is a quote from my blog, DINNER PLACE-- THE SOLO COOK.)

38 Power Foods, Week 9 -- Kale -- Baby Kale and Spinach with a Roasted Chicken Breast

 While I didn't grow up eating kale, I got to it as soon as I could.  My folks were transplanted southerners.  Greens made an appearance, oh yeah.  I ate them.  (not)
There were lots of reasons why I finally hit on kale (baby kale first, actually)  once I knew from good.  One was its curly beauty:

Red, White, and Blue Kale Salad for 4th of July

Stay cool!

Where we live in Saint Paul, it can already be warm pretty early in the morning.  I'm a 
morning person; the earlier the better.  I'm also the daughter of both my father and father-in-law, because after I push the button on the coffee (pot filled night before), I check the temperature on my back porch.  In the summer if it's above 70, I sigh heavily, drink my coffee, and get out for my morning hike.  Why?  Because it will soon be 80, then 90, and today, my friends, the little weather gizmo on my iphone says it will be 99.  If you're a regular reader, you know what my house is like: