Kale...and a Turkey Chili Recipe

Kale is one of those vegetables I never knew what to do with. I'd pass it by in the produce section of the grocery store in favor of spinach, swiss chard, broccoli rapini, and other familiar greens. Oh sure, it was pretty, but those sturdy leaves seemed more at home as a garnish than something you'd actually eat. (And ornamental kale is a popular fall plant around here, decorating late-season planters, along with colorful mums.)

In fact, kale is considered a form of cabbage, and is a good source of Vitamins C, A, and K, as well as calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. More importantly to me, however, the book Anticancer: A New Way of Life lists kale as one of the top vegetables that inhibit the growth of brain cancer cells. How could I not try to incorporate it into our meals?

So, in honor of kale and as a sort of pre-Thanksgiving preview, I'm making Turkey and Vegetable Chili Verde tonight. It's a much lighter, healthier version of chili and I think tastes really good. (My "regular" chili recipe uses chopped meat, sausage, and a bottle of beer. We won't go there.) This recipe uses 4 cups of chopped kale, but I add much more than that. You need a big pot, initially, to hold all the kale, but it cooks down very quickly--so you can get lots of this vegetable into the kids.

Dark turkey meat tastes better than white, but it's much fattier. Sometimes I'll use half of each. Also, I do saute the onions and garlic in some olive oil instead of the chicken broth. George Mateljan advocates against cooking with extra virgin olive oil, but I haven't investigated why yet. I don't think I want to know. How can all those Mediterranean countries be wrong?