#WEverb14: Hasten

Sorry for the late update, I didn't have a chance to check out the prompts today.  Here's the 3rd one:

3: HASTEN
What new trick or shortcut did you learn in 2013? What do you want to speed up in 2014?

Ooh this is a tough one. I mean, I have two whole Pinterest boards dedicated to exactly this idea - one is Clean & Tidy (dedicated to being clean and organized) and the other is Good To Know (Things that don't fit in Clean and Tidy like remedies and charts).   I think the best thing I've pinned this year that actually helps me do things quicker is from the Kitchn - the article breaks down how to cut, dice and chop fruit and vegetables. 

The one most helpful to me was definitely cutting onions. Onions always make me cry, so I don't have a lot of practice with them, but their method makes tons of sense!  You essentially cut the onion in half, then use a grid pattern to get perfectly sized pieces of onions - GENIUS! I've even offered to cut onions for dinner now that I know this trick!

Source: The Kitchn

For 2014, I really need to apply myself to keeping a clean home all the time. The Baconator and I are both pretty messy, and we both go through bouts of cleaning, but my goal is to figure out how to get my house cleaner faster and how to keep it that way.  A clean, mean, twenty fourteen!

What are you hoping to Hasten in 2014?

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey

Pinned It & Did It! Parmesan Kale Salad

On my way back from Singapore in February, I had a nice long layover in SoCal which meant I could join my cousin and her hubs for a quick dinner before heading back to Chicago - along with surprise guest, my dad! The 4 of us went down to Tender Greens and I had this totally killer Kale Salad as one of my sides. I came back to Chicago try to convince the Baconator that we had to try to make this ourselves and he pretty much laughed at me.  "Raw kale is bitter, that would taste terrible," he said, brushing the suggestion aside, but I still couldn't get this simple salad out of my head. The menu simply stated: kale, parmesan, roasted garlic vinaigrette. Really? That's it? How in the world was I supposed to replicate? Clearly I couldn't, so I gave up.

I was at the farmers market last week and saw some gorgeous kale on sale and I started thinking back to that salad, so... (To the tune of Mighty Mouse) Here comes Pinterest to save the day! I searched all the pins and found this awesome recipe from The Slender Student.

Pin it!

Here's the recipe from The Slender Student

Ingredients:1 bunch of kale
3 T chopped onion
2 T minced garlic
1 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
2 T shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:1. Thoroughly rinse and dry your kale. Chop into bite size pieces and place in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together your onion, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese.
3. Pour the dressing over the kale and massage with your hands for a minute or two until the leaves are slightly wilted.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour before eating to allow the kale to absorb the flavor.

The ingredients were simple as was the prep, so off I went to clean, tear and massage my kale into a delicious splendor. The recipe called for a bunch of kale, which I assumed didn't mean the GIANT bunch I got from the market, so I added some extra garlic and onion, but otherwise followed the instructions to a T - don't do that folks, it gives you crazy bad garlic breath!  I am also a sucker for shredded parm so I added a bit more of that goodness... and good it was :)

Yum! Did it!

I'll definitely make this bad boy again, but next time I'm going to try and roast the garlic in my oven before making the dressing since the current version is hot with the raw garlic flavor.  Do you have a favorite Kale salad recipe that is your go to?

Love and Bacon,
Kelsey