Kale and Garlic Frittata Starring Yoga Eggs

Note: If you're reading this on email, everything looks better if you click on the blog headline to get to the website. Also, if you could care less about my ramblings and just want the recipe, scroll down about 10 inches and you're there: Kale and Garlic Frittata.

I didn't realize how much I missed my yoga teacher's eggs until I opened her egg carton this morning and cracked a smile that lit up the kitchen. Yes! A rainbow of farm-fresh eggs from Shanti's clutch of quirky hens fresh out of their winter slump. A couple years ago, when I first scored eggs from Shanti, she was selling them for $2 a dozen. What?! Too cheap, I told her. She said $2 was enough to almost break even, and that wasn't counting the hens' entertainment value. She finally came around to $3 a dozen, still a major bargain considering that hers are truly cage-free happy hens wandering her little farm hunting bugs and greens and eating organic feed and enjoying Shanti's admiration. Despite our recent cold, wet weather, her "girls" have responded favorably to longer daylight and are pumping out the protein. Cluck, cluck, such luck.

Shanti Chagnon, unconventional yoga teacher and
keeper of hens. This is what she
wears to teach kick-ass power yoga. Love her.

To show off the difference between eggs laid two days ago by happy hens and one that came in a $5 carton claiming it to be "all natural, vegetarian fed, produced without hormones or antibiotics, containing 350 mg of Omega 3." In addition to the paler yolk, the store-bought egg white is runnier. Even with the one anemic loser, these eggs made a fine frittata. (Yoga eggs are nice, but not required.)

Kale and Garlic Frittata

4 large eggs, beaten

5 ounces of fresh chopped kale (about three large handfuls, chopped. The kale, not the hands.)

3-4 medium-sized garlic cloves, minced

1/4 large onion, chopped

3 T olive oil, butter or coconut oil

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan, cheddar or other cheese (or more)

salt and pepper to taste

Two servings, low-carb, gluten-free.

Directions

Heat the oil in a small frying pan, if you're cooking for two. Add the chopped onion and saute over medium heat until translucent. Add the minced garlic and stir fry until fragrant, about a minute. Add the chopped kale, stir with onions and garlic and cover. Steam over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the kale has wilted. NOTE: I used Trader Joe's. kale-for-cooking, about half of a 10-ounce bag. It had some nasty chunks of thick kale stems, which I picked out and bestowed upon the compost pile.

Kale, onions, and garlic before steaming.

Beaten eggs setting up. At this point, it's good to gently turn them over. 

After turning, cook until the eggs are set, a minute or two, season with salt and pepper,

then add cheese. Turn heat to low and cover for a few minutes to melt the cheese. NOTE: I used a great product, chipotle finishing salt, from Salinity LLC. Check it out. They have lots of natural flavors. Made in Southern Oregon.

If you eat this nutrient-packed kale frittata, you might be able to do this!

At Sundance Healing Arts Studio.

Or this!

Shanti on the farm tractor, hens foraging nearby.

And now, what you've been waiting for, a cold frame update! I can bend over to work in the cold frame and lift its heavy cover more easily because of yoga.

Russian kale is starting to surge in the center while endive lettuce and puny spinach are wondering

if I forgot to add enough compost when I planted seeds in October. 

My favorite kale variety, lacinato, AKA dinosaur kale, is emerging in pots where seeds were planted a week ago. Yeah! Seedlings will be thinned to one per pot and transplanted to the garden in late March, early April.

 BE BRAVE ABOUT WINTER. SPRING IS ON ITS WAY. IN THE MEANTIME, DO YOGA. 

EAT KALE.  MAKE A NICE FRITTATA.