KALE QUESO

SERVES 4 AS A SIDE, OR 8 AS A DIP/SAUCE

Looking for something to do with all that Wicked Healthy Cheese Sauce? Here’s one idea. Sometimes we serve the cheesy steamed kale with chips. Sometimes we just dig in with a spoon.

1 bunch (8 to 10 ounces) curly kale

1 red bell pepper, diced small

2 cups Wicked Healthy Cheese Sauce (here), warmed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Remove the ribs from the kale, then rinse and shred the leaves into bite-size pieces. Set up a steamer basket over simmering water, add the kale and bell pepper, cover, and steam until the pepper is tender and the kale is bright green and tender but not totally limp. It’ll just take a minute or two.

Place the steamed kale and bell pepper in a medium mixing bowl. Warm the cheese sauce and stir in the cumin, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Pour the sauce over the kale mixture and stir to coat. Alternatively, for a baked version, combine the seasoned cheese sauce, kale, and bell pepper in a 2-quart baking dish, and bake in a 350ºF oven until the whole mess is hot and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Serve warm.

OPTIONS

For a crunchy topping on the baked version, scatter on a layer of panko bread crumbs or crushed saltine crackers mixed with chopped parsley or cilantro before baking.

Add 1 tablespoon Ninja Squirrel sriracha to the cheese sauce for that extra kick in the chops.

Cook a Field Roast Mexican chipotle sausage, dice it up, and stir it into the sauce.