Absence sure does make the heart grow fonder!
At least, it did mine…
This past Lent, (like we usually do), my daughter and I picked something to give up. My daughter picked her homemade mac and cheese and I picked meat; which, for me included: chicken/fish/turkey. My heart wasn’t in the right place when I chose to eliminate the meats I ate, as I thought eliminating them would be an easy choice. I have always thought that I was more of a vegetable eater – but, the forty days that followed proved to me that my thinking was way off.
The first couple of weeks were a breeze – I enjoyed eating my way through bowls of peri peri tofu (recipe coming soon), Spicy Peanutty Broccoli, Spicy Orange and Black Bean Stew, and Lentil and Spinach Stew. But then, week three came by, and all I could think of was bacon and chicken and bacon with chicken… Oh good gawsh…at this point, all the Green Smoothie Pancakes I made were just not filling the void I felt inside!
I went for long, contemplative runs to help me refocus and that’s when I started eating ALL the Kale – ALL the time! And this quick and easy, one skillet, Lemon Kale Bake became a staple in our house. I loved this so much and made so much of it – I even decided to share some of it with my mom (no easy task, as I am a work in progress when it comes to sharing). This dish is so easy and so simple, I wouldn’t even have posted it, but my mom raved about it so much, I figured I would pass this recipe on.
Of course, come Easter Sunday morning, I broke my meat-less fast with chicken sausages AND bacon AND eggs – and by the end of that meal, I was wishing I had eaten this Lemon Kale Bake instead!
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Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves also chopped
- 5 cups uncooked kale
- juice and zest of 1/2 a large lemon
- 3/4 vegetable broth
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes (optional)
- 3 eggs
- Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet and place on a medium flame
- Add the onions, garlic and ginger and saute for about 10 minutes
- Add the kale, lemon zest and juice, salt, cumin, and vegetable broth and stir so all the kale is coated in the vegetable broth and spice and lemon mix
- Make three "wells" and break the three eggs into them
- Bake at 350 for 15 minutes
- Garnish with chili flakes if desired and additional lemon zest and dig in!
Very healthy and delicious! I just bought a HUGE bunch of kale and this recipe comes just in time, Shashi.
This looks delicious and you made me chuckle because I imagine that’s exactly what I would be like if I tried to give up meat. Ok for the first few weeks and then reeeeally missing/craving it. Bacon with chicken…mmm..
You came up with so many awesome recipes during your meat-less fast! <3! This looks all sorts of delicious! I haven't made anything with kale in a while! :O
I’ve never given up meat and I’m sure it would be difficult! Especially chicken for me. Lovin’ this and it would fit perfectly with my Whole 30. Gotta try. Thanks for a new idea. I’m already getting bored. Haha.
Have a great Tuesday!
I guess the point of Lent is for it to be a sacrifice, but it sounds like you pushed through!! And eating all the kale doesn’t sound like a bad consequence to me. 🙂 Love this bake…runny yolks paired with greens are so good!
This looks absolutely fantastic Shashi, I’m loving the flavor combination & use of cumin! I’m sure we’ll be at home plenty of the time in China because of the new baby which means I’ll be cooking quite a bit- I know my sis will love this so will definitely be trying it over the next 2 weeks. I’ll let you know the verdict :)!
Chicken sausages AND bacon and eggs? How long do you have to run to wear that off? I loved this post. You’re too cute!
Okay so confession I am not a big kale person. Like not at all. BUT the ingredients in this have my mouth watering and I am a total sucker for breakfast. Pinning!
That looks soooo good, I’m definitely going to give this a try. Yummy and easy!
On Easter I thought of you Shashi! I am floored to see anything other than a chicken statler wrapped in bacon right now. Though I have to say this healthy skillet looks amazing to me right now.
This kale bake looks absolutely incredible, Shashi! Totally my kind of meal especially with the lemon and chili flakes! I loved all the veggie meals you made and can’t wait to see your peri peri tofu, that sounds amazing!
Oooh, this looks right up my alley! I don’t usually do the lent thing but this year a girlfriend of mine gave up chocolate and I tell ya, willpower! This kale dish is exactly the kind of thing I’m in the mood for these days. I’ve pinned it and will be trying it for a brunch or dinner soon!
Oh wow! This totally looks like healthy comfort food and I’m sure I could get over the fact that there’s no bacon to go with the eggs!
Congrats on making it 40 days without meat. But, wow! With dishes like this, you may not have missed it much. I love how that skillet is absolutely loaded with kale!
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it. I am doubling the amount of kale I grow in garden this year after last years success so I should get plenty of chances. Thanks Shashi!
That looks delicious Shashi, the eggs baked into that bed of kale just sounds too good. It’s funny, I don’t consider myself a big meat eater, I really eat very little but I guess when you give it up you realize just how much you enjoy it. 40 days is a long time,
Sort of neat that even though maybe your heart wasn’t in the right place and you thought it would be an easy choice, you learned a bit more about yourself – that is how I view the idea of giving something up:)
This looks awesome – the eggs make the dish jump out of the page – too bad it can’t really jump out so I can try it.
Haha – Thanks Kim, I have been waiting eagerly for technology to come up with a two-way screen/monitor too! 🙂
I usually give up cookie dough for Lent—difficult for me, but not as tough as meat!!! I need to up my protein so have been eating a lot of eggs. Your kale bake looks like another terrific option!!! Thanks!!!
What a healthy meat free dish. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Lynne and I enjoyed a Kale Frittata every morning on our recent trip away Sashi, and I know if we’d seen this posted whilst we we away we probably would have tried it, being huge fans of Kale. But for now I’ll just have to pin it for future!
Well done for dong 40 days without meat. So impressed!! 😀
oh Shashi. giving up meat for lent…You should have given up oats or chocolate 😉
Never been the biggest fan of kale but with this lemon infused version- I think I can be on board!
Lemon and kale work so well together. I can’t wait to try this dish!
I am at starbucks at 4am, taking their internet and drooling over this healthy breakfast of pure delicious yums. Now, can you make it for me, since I have no kitchen yet?! Pinning!
That’s my kind of bake. Healthy, delicious, and nutritionally complete. You knocked this one out of the ballpark Shashi. Pure awesomeness!
We tried growing kale last year in our garden. It did ok, but the rabbit decided he liked kale, too. We were still able to grab a bunch of it, though…although we might have harvested it a bit too early. It’s almost time to get the garden planted again, and I think we need to give kale another shot. If nothing else, I want it to make this incredible looking lemon kale bake. I know giving up meat would be very difficult, but I bet this kale bake helped out a bit. 🙂 Also, how long after Easter did you wait before you grabbed some chicken and lil Shashi grabbed some mac and cheese?
I love kale! And this is such a terrific way to prepare it. Really clever recipe. Thanks for it, and such a fun post.
You are so innovate with your dishes. I’m not a big fan of chicken or seasfood, although I cook it a lot. So, this is kind of a meal I would enjoy a lot. This looks really good and an amazingly innovative dish Sashi.
The pictures are awesome.
Just saved this recipe 🙂 weirdly enough, giving up meat was never a tough choice for me because I’ve never really liked it in the first place–so props to you for working so hard for Lent! That’s a great thing to give up, plus we got this awesome kale bake in the process, so five thumbs way up!!
This is as pretty as it sounds tasty! I would enjoy this any time of the day!
Your photos are gorgeous! I would definitely enjoy this for breakfast or even dinner! Love. 🙂
I hope you and your family had a lovely Easter holiday!
This looks fantastic!! Love that kale lemon combo! xx
haha I love that you’re a work in progress when it comes to sharing! That made me chuckle 🙂
Love the looks of this bake! I’m a huge kale fan and with lemon? Yes yes!
Shashi, I LOVE this lemon kale bake so much!!! SO MUCH! Trying this one!! gorgeous!!
I could totally see why this became a staple in your house- it looks amazing! I mean I just want to dive right in and scoop up big forkfuls of it! I think I could give up meat pretty easily, but it’s giving up seafood that I would struggle with big-time!
Shashi, apart from anything else, I LOVE your photos in this post!
I think you did so well to stay off the meat all that time, but I have to say if I’d had this kind of food to eat instead I would not have been complaining!
Looks absolutely wonderfully tasting, not to mention healthy and easy!
I love meals like this one! So fresh, healthy and delicious! Pinned of course!
Well done on surviving Lent. You did really well. I know I could survive for a week or two but then yes, the bacon! Your lemon kale bake looks really good and I can see this being wonderful for any time of the day. Love how the eggs are baked in the dish xx
You did it!! You survived lent and this is one amazing title creative dish that came from your experience. Love the sprinkle of red pepper and cumin to take this healthy dish to the new level. Sharing and pinning, of course!
This recipe is definitely worth sharing!! I often think we don’t realize how great stuff we can cook up with just a few ingredients. This one is definitely pinned.
Thanks! 🙂