Hot Baby Kale and Cherry Tomato Tacos with Red Onions and Salsa

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If you have tortillas, salsa, and perhaps a little cheese in your fridge, you can nearly always find something for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  If you have baby kale, the sky's the limit.  After the long siege of football games yesterday -- complete with potato skins, (recipe coming from son Sean…)

I was more than ready for something on the lighter side for lunch.  Like you probably do, I opened that fridge and couldn't seem to find anything.  (My mother would have said, "There's nothing new in there since the last time you opened that door.")  I considered running out and picking something up since I had to go to the post office anyway.  And then I saw the package of whole wheat tortillas on the counter and remembered that big bag of baby kale that needed to be eaten.  Hearty and heart-healthy -- and I might say really good -- kale tacos ended up on the table.  While we're used to tacos with meat or fish, I don't think you'll miss the meat.   Delicious food needn't be fancy, contain meat, nor must it come from a long recipe or clean out your wallet.  It can be just as simple and expedient as a few sautéed greens served up with a few prime additions.

Baby Kale and Spinach with a Roasted Chicken Breast or...

When someone says "greens," I guess I usually think of turnip or collard greens.  Southern parents, I guess.   And while I like those on a  cold day with a big pan of crispy cornbread, that big mess of greens isn't my style all the time.  Give me a sauté pan full of teensy baby spinach just barely heated or even cooked way down with garlic as a base for fish.  Lately I've been adding kale to that mix and having that for lunch. (January, you know.)  A few grape tomatoes and a pinch of crushed red pepper and I'm that happy.  For the solo cook, both baby spinach and baby kale come in those not-so-green (tell me if  you know how to recycle them other than at Whole Foods) plastic boxes.  They keep a long time in your frig, which is useful for anyone who doesn't cook two pounds of vegetables every day.

Here's full-grown kale.  Chop it and saute it if you can't find baby kale.