Ingredients for a pizzetta
For the pizza:
– 1 Arabic pie
– ½ of small pumpkin chopped in cubes or sliced
– 1 red chili pepper cut in circles
– Some oil, salt and pepper and rosemary to cook the pumpkin
For the kale pesto:
– 2 handfuls of kale leaves
– 1 handful of fresh basil
– ¼ bowl pine nuts
– ¼ bowl pumpkin seeds
– 2 garlic cloves
– Juice from 1 lemon
– 3 spoons of nutritional yeast (to add a cheesy flavour)
– ¼ bowl olive oil
– 1 tsp salt
Preparation:
– For the kale pesto: blend all the ingredients in a food processor until they get mushed and turn into a thick paste
– Bake the pumpkin on a small tray, rubbing it with some olive oil, salt and pepper and rosemary.
Pizza:
– Cut the Arabic pie in triangles
– Rub some kale pesto (about a tsp on each pie)
– Place the baked pumpkin pieces on the pie, and place a piece of pepper on each pumpkin piece
– Bake in the oven at 150-170 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes until the pie gets crunchy
About Kale:
Kale may be one of the healthiest vegetables that you can find. It may sound like recent craze or trend, but kale was one of the most popular vegetables up until the end of the mid-century. First reports of Kale were made in Greece during the fourth century BC. It’s so rich in nutritional elements and so easy to cultivate, that during the Second World War, the British government encouraged its citizens to cultivate it in their homes to save a major part of the population from malnutrition.
Let’s see some reasons why you should include kale in your diet.
Kale is a full protein source, including all necessary amino acids.
A bowl of raw kale includes less than 1 gr of fat, 2 gr of protein and about 7 gr of carbohydrates. The protein – carbohydrate analogy is 1:3, which is high for a vegetable, thus one of the reasons why kale was nicknamed as the “new beef”. Just like meat, kale includes all 9 necessary amino acids our body can’t produce, and 9 more extra amino acids, making them 18 in total. Unlike what happens with meat, amino acids in kale can be broken down easier. When we eat a steak, our body makes a big effort to break down its large, intensely complex protein structures to isolate the amino acids it will need. This process is especially time consuming, demands a lot of energy and releases a lot of metabolic waste. Because of this, kale can easily replace meat in a full meal, while having it in smaller portions to satisfy the protein needs of our bodies. In addition, as kale is inferior to beef on the food chain, it doesn’t accumulate many toxins from the increasingly polluted environment we live in.
Kale is a rich Omega 3 source
Even if it’s considered a fat free vegetable, kale has a biological concentration of the necessary fatty acids, which our body is unable to produce and needs to receive through food. Kale in specific has more Omega 3 than Omega 6 fats, which is unheard of in nature. As a general rule, the O3-O6 analogy in foods is 40:1. The correct O3-O6 is very important as both of those fats are conflicting while being absorbed, and their excessive consumption of O6 blocks out the absorption of O3 which may lead to inflammations. Kale is therefore a super star when we’re talking about the correct analogy of fatty acids, mainly because its natural fat-soluble anti-oxidants protect the most sensitive unsaturated fats from oxidation.
It’s a great source of vitamins
Kale is the king of carotenoids. Its concentration of vitamin A is excellent. A bowl includes over 10,000 IUs, meaning more than 200% of the daily suggested intake.
In addition, kale is packed with lutein and zeaxanthin. Lutein is one of the most popular carotenoids, and it is found in high volumes on the eye’s macula, acting like a natural “sunscreen”. That’s why big amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin prevent macular degeneration and other retinal diseases.
Furthermore, vitamin C concentration with more than 80mg per portion is incredible. Vitamin C in food is a rare and valuable thing in modern diet and is absolutely necessary for us to be healthy.
Kale is a richer source of calcium than milk.
If I already convinced you about how good kale is, wait until you read about the trace elements it contains. Quality and concentration of trace elements is obviously affected by the ground each kale was cultivated in, but in general, kale has the power to be an extremely rich source of trace elements. At 90 grams per bowl and due to its particular bioavailability, kale consists of more calcium than cow milk. A research about calcium’s bioavailability in kale and milk showed that calcium in kale is absorbed 25% better by the human body, proving that the idea that cow milk is the main source of calcium is simply propaganda.
To be more precise, a gram of kale includes 1.35 milligrams of calcium, while every gram of cow milk contains 1.13 milligrams of calcium. The biggest difference is that calcium in cow milk is accompanied by a sticky protein called casein. It’s incredibly difficult for mammals like us to digest it, and as a result it is very difficult for calcium to be absorbed. In addition, casein proteins need large amounts of hydrochloric acid to be broken down. As time passes, this may lead to metabolic oxidation which causes calcium to leak from where it’s stored (teeth, bones). This deficits the body of calcium. On the other hand, kale, like every vegetable, is an alkaline and reduces the amount of trace elements the body needs to maintain the PH balance. Thus, kale contains not only the correct form of calcium, but also may reduce the body’s need for it.
Kale is also a very good source of magnesium, which explains why it’s so green. The deep dark chlorophyll on its leaves contains one magnesium atom per molecule. Given that we need a healthy balance of magnesium and calcium so our body operates properly, consuming more magnesium can be lifesaving.
Kale is more than just a super food. It comes from a therapeutic family of fruits and could easily be used as a medicine. Recent research proves that it could be used in treating cancer, atherosclerosis, glaucoma and other forms of chemical poisoning.
How to add kale in your diet:
The best way to eat kale is either raw in salads and juices, or lightly steam boiled.
If eating in a salad, I would recommend massaging its leaves with oil to make them softer.
As kale’s taste is incredibly bitter and not appealing to all of us, another delicious way to have kale is in homemade crisps.