Chicken, Kale and Couscous

I got home tonight and felt tired, worn out and not in the mood to cook. I thought about throwing a frozen pizza (Amy’s Organic, my “I don’t feel like cooking” choice rather than ordering take-out) in the oven but then I remembered I had thawed chicken that had to be cooked today. I went through a mental list of what I had in the kitchen and came up with chicken, kale and couscous.

For those of you not familiar with kale let me introduce you. Kale: the wonder green! Kale is high in fiber, vitamins A & C and loaded with calcium and at only 43 calories per cup virtually a free food. Kale also contains many phytonutrients which have been known to prevent cancer. There are many varieties of kale such as Curly, Ornamental and Dinosaur.

Curly kale has ruffled leaves and is usually deep green in color. It has a lively pungent flavor. This is the type I most commonly use.

Ornamental is often referred to as salad savoy. Its leaves may be white or purple and has a more mellow flavor and tender texture.

Dinosaur is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. Its leaves are dark blue and have a sweeter more mellow taste than curly kale.

So here’s my recipe:

Ingedients:
• Chicken breast cubed and dipped in bread crumbs (substitute extra-firm tofu if vegetarian/vegan)
• Kale, washed and chopped
• Couscous, any variety (I used tomato tonight)
• Toasted Sesame Oil for cooking (substitute oil of your choice)

Put toasted sesame oil in a pan and heat. Once pan is heated add chicken pieces and brown. While chicken is cooking chop kale. When chicken is almost finished add the kale to the pan and cook until bright green and heated through (about 2 minutes or so). Make couscous per instructions on package (boil water, add couscous, stir, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes). Spoon couscous onto a plate and top with chicken and kale. Super simple!