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Sauteed Kale with Toasted Pine Nuts

Bill and I frequently grab lunch at Whole Foods when we stop there to get groceries. Whole Foods has a fantastic salad bar filled with delicious, healthy food. It’s really nice going somewhere to eat, and not having to worry about what’s in your food, or how it was prepared.

Recently Bill and I have been really enjoying kale in our salads. At first, I added kale to my salad for an extra nutritional kick. I figured it would be something I would add for a health benefit that would also compliment the flavors of the other greens and chicken in my salad. Little did I know, kale was soon to become one of my favorite parts of my salad.

Kale is a dark leafy green packed full of vitamins including B6, C, E, iron, and calcium to name a few. For those of you curious about how to get enough calcium in a paleo diet, grab the greens! Broccoli, kale, spinach – all delicious forms of calcium. A common misconception (perpetuated by the dairy industry) is that milk is a good source of dietary calcium. In fact, the opposite is true: the protein in milk actually leeches calcium from your body. The absorption rate of calcium from a leafy green is much higher. Skip the milk, and grabs some greens!

Kale is a wonderful winter vegetable, and although Bill and I enjoy it raw in our salads, we wanted to create a delicious side dish with this power food. For this dish we cleaned the kale, removed and discarded the ribs, and chopped the kale to prepare it for sauteing in olive oil and minced garlic. It turned out fantastic, was full of flavor, and added wonderful color to our plates.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups chopped kale
  • 3 cloves minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
  • salt and pepper to taste

Process:

  1. Clean and chop kale, making sure to remove and discard the stems that run down the center of the leaves.
  2. Add olive oil to a frying pan over medium heat.
  3. Add kale to frying pan and saute.
  4. When the kale starts to soften, add the garlic (it takes a while for the kale to cook down, and you want to avoid the garlic burning.)
  5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  6. Continue to saute until the kale has cooked down and is a little crispy.
  7. In a small pot toast pine nuts on low heat. (Keep an eye on these little guys, they burn easily!)
  8. Toss pine nuts over kale and serve.

Sauteed kale is a perfect side dish to a holiday meal. Packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and of course lots of flavor, this is an addition to a meal that will really be serving your body well. It is now one of our favorite dishes, and will be on our holiday menu for years to come.

As always, enjoy.

Primal Palate Spice Blends

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    COMMENTS

    1. December 1, 2010

      Hi there! I'm an editor for Recipe4Living. I sent you two emails to tell you your Chiffon Pumpkin Pie with Almond Flour Crust recipe was the winner of our Tasty Thanksgiving Recipe Contest. I haven't received a response yet. Please email me at [email protected] by tonight, or else we will have to choose another winner. Thanks!!

    2. December 1, 2010

      Hi Sophia –
      This is great news! I wonder if we entered our email incorrectly with the submission? We've sent you an email to get in touch – and for future reference we can be reached at [email protected]

      Thanks so much for this honor! We are very excited to have won the contest!

      -Hayley and Bill

    3. December 4, 2010

      Hayley and Bill,

      I just found your site and look forward to having the breakfast burrito tomorrow morning! The site looks great, thanks for taking the time to post your passion!

    4. December 11, 2010

      Thank you! So glad you are enjoying our site.

    5. December 16, 2010

      Kale is my absolute favorite, and this dish just beautiful. I have to order some red kale seeds after seeing this!

      Congrats on winning the contest, and with a Paleo recipe!!

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