Kale with White Beans and Sun-dried Tomatoes

In an earlier post I mentioned that one of the best things about going vegan is that my diet is more varied. You can ask my friends, but before I went vegan I would eat pretzels, carrots and oatmeal everyday at some point . No variety. Only simple and quick. I feel so much better now that I eat more types of produce and whole grains. It's also been neat to notice how my palate is expanding to appreciate more foods.

I bought kale for the first time a few weeks ago and let me tell you, it was a big ol' bag. So I've had to find some more kale recipes other than my Green Kale Smoothie to even notice that I'd used any of it. A friend had Brett and me over the other day and made an awesome kale dish with chickpeas, limes and ginger. It used a ton of kale, so I thought I'd make a similar dish, but change it up a bit. Try this out. It's super fast and easy and tastes great.

Kale with White Beans and Sun-dried Tomatoes
(Serves 4)

Adapted from here.

¼ cup finely chopped celery
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup vegetable broth or water
1 medium roma tomato, chopped
1 can white beans (or two cups cooked), drained and thoroughly rinsed
½ lb. coarsely chopped kale
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ cup chopped sundried tomatoes
salt and pepper

In a large saute pan, saute the celery, onion and garlic (using water or pam) until soft and translucent. Add the broth or water, roma tomato, and white beans. Cover and simmer over low heat for about five minutes.

While that's cooking, chop your kale. Then add the kale, nutritional yeast and red pepper flakes and allow the kale to cook until wilted and bright green.

Stir in the sun-dried tomato and then serve!