Kale and Sweet Potato Gratin

So this isn't the Thanksgiving post, as promised. That's because being my genius self, I forgot to grab the recipes from my mother before leaving town - oops? But with time, I will get around to getting those recipes from her and sharing the new ones with you all. What a concept, right? I hope everyone out there in the blogosphere had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday full of rest, family and good food. I know that we did. My stomach stills hurts from eating so much food in the last week and the last batch of leftovers just left the fridge in Will's lunchbox this morning. We got to spend lots of time with my family, as well as some close friends and Will even managed to get caught up on some school work. All in all, a mostly successful Thanksgiving break!


After coming back from a restful trip, it's given me (and Will too, I think? Ask him) a fresh breath of air just in time to tackle the end of 2014. Which let's just pause for a moment - HOW is it December? Where did this year go? Anywho, we're all energized and stuff to go out and wrap up projects that we're working on and continue moving ahead with whatever ahead may bring. I made a major change this week (well, seemingly major) - I changed my email to my married name. And of course Gmail didn't cooperate and the whole thing is a mess, but hey, baby steps on wrapping up all the 2014-getting married-new job-almost done with school-stuff, right? But what I'm hoping will be a blessing of the Gmail guffaw is that I now have to sign in to my old Gmail account every time I want to blog. Which is really making me think (because it's annoying)- the time may have finally arrived for us to very seriously consider moving the platform of the blog to a new exciting place like a ".com" address....and invest in some better lighting for photography (inspiration here)....and maybe do a new design/branding/platform/whatever all those fancy internet things are. I even stole an old camera tripod from my parents house this weekend and hope to start utilizing that to improve some blurriness by giving the poor camera stability. Baby steps. We have the privilege at the end of this month where we are both off of work/school for two weeks because the college closes, during which time we plan to make the long drive to Arkansas and hang out with Will's family for several days. And over this break, I hope to do the serious research from a bunch of my favorite bloggers, about how to go from podunk little free blogging-site blogger, to something a little more serious. To say CWW is a huge part of our lives would be an exaggeration, but it certainly takes a sizable amount of time and is a lot of fun (when I make the time to follow up with all of Will's hard work cooking). So why not invest a little and see where this thing goes? (Insert hope that in two years I'll reflect back on this post, a blogging bajillionaire with thousands of followers....hah!). Anywho, enjoy this little gem of a recipe, perfect for wintertime, and cross your fingers that we have the time, finances and blogging saavy to make some changes in the near future!

Cooking Notes: Will used sweet potatoes instead of regular baking potatoes. He also chose to use a full 2/3 cup bread crumbs, because everything tastes better that way. Will also chose to use our 9x13 casserole dish, instead of the suggested 9" square dish from the recipe.

Kale and Sweet Potato Gratin (serves 6-8; adapted from The Kitchn)
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes
1 bunch kale
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring to a boil. Prepare an ice bath. Slice the potatoes into 1/4" thickness, then remove and discard the ribs from the kale, chopping the leaves into 1/2" ribbons. When the water boils, add 1 tsp of salt and gently lower in the potatoes. Cook for 2-3 minutes until tender, but not entirely cooked through. Drain and plunge into the ice bath, then drain again, place on a dish towel and blot.

In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Add the kale and rub the olive oil mixture aggressively into the leaves, with your hands. In a 9 x 13 casserole dish, place the kale, half the cheese, the potatoes, the bread crumbs and then the remaining cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, pour the milk over evenly and bake another 15 minutes, until the top is crispy. Feel free to broil on low for 1-2 minutes, to make the top extra crispy. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Recipe: The Kitchn: Kale and Potato Gratin