Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt and Vinegar

Happy Monday to all! One of our new customers just sent us an email suggesting that we include recipes with links to our products on the site...Thanks for the suggestion, Nicole--we agree! We'll be starting this delightful new feature soon, but in the meantime, here's Nicole L.'s favorite kale chip recipe ('tis the season!):

Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt and Vinegar

From Kalyn's Kitchen

(Makes 2-3 servings of kalechips, recipe adapted by Kalyn with inspiration from many other bloggers who also made kale chips.)

one small bunch of kale, about 6 oz.
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 T vinegar (I used Spanish sherry vinegar, but any vinegar you like the flavor of will work)
sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 300F/150C.

Cut away inner ribs from each kale leaf and discard, then tear the kale leaves into same-size pieces. (I made my pieces about the size of a small potato chip.) Wash torn kale pieces and spin dry in a salad spinner or dry with paper towels until they're very dry.

Put kale pieces into a large Ziploc bag (or use a bowl if you don't mind getting your hands oily.) Add half of the 1 T of olive oil, seal bag, and squeeze the bag so the oil gets distributed evenly on the kale pieces. Add the other half tablespoon of oil and squeeze the bag more, until all kale pieces are evenly coated with oil and slightly "massaged."

Open the Ziploc bag and sprinkle the 1 T sherry vinegar over the kale leaves, then seal bag and shake to spread the vinegar out over all the leaves.

Arrange kale leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet, then roast until they are mostly crisp, about 35 minutes. I checked every 10 minutes or so and turned some pieces over. I also found I didn't mind if there were a few softer parts on some of the kale leaves, I liked the combination of crisp and softer parts.

When chips are done to your liking, sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt and eat immediately.

We always love customer suggestions, so if you have any, please do let us know by either typing them into the suggestion box at the bottom of each page on the Relay site or emailing us directly! If you have any recipes you'd like to post, I'd also love to have them for the blog--just send them over to me (cecilia@retailrelay.com)!

Slow Money Relay

Dear Relay Friends,

As we go about our busy, base-covering lives, every now and then we're reminded -- sometimes with a jolt -- that we are not alone, that our goals are shared by others across the nation, and that there are many efforts underway to bring farms and people together, to their mutual benefit.

Recently, Relay was nominated by the folks at Slow Money, a grassroots, not-profit seed capital fund, to participate in a contest to high-light small businesses that support sustainable agriculture, community food systems, and what they call a "restorative economy."

We went to their site and what an awakening! Right alongside the Relay we found small companies like us -- each a bit different -- but all searching for the best way to create ways for folks to eat better food, source that food locally, and build better communities. The contest will reward the business that receives the most "votes" with an advertising campaign cash award (a line item in our small budgets that often doesn't get much love).

Please take a moment to support Relay by visiting Slow Money at this link:

http://bit.ly/dkXi88

You get 10 votes. You can vote up to 3 times for Relay -- and spread them around, if you like. You may also vote for 10 different businesses, or anything in-between.

Thanks in advance!

Looking Through a Glass Onion

We get all kinds of calls to the Relay customer service hot line. The reach of the Internet is such that anyone, anywhere, can find anything -- and when folks Google, say, Temeraire - Authentic Dijon Mustard - 30 oz. or the big bottle of Gold Medal Imitation Vanilla, 8 fl. oz. they find these not-available-everywhere items from the vendors in the Relay Family, like Foods of All Nations and Reid's Super Save. Of course, they simply click through and order it up! And we wind up on the phone explaining that Relay serves the C-ville-area only, that we don't (as yet) ship items, and that we are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. All in a day's work.

Today, A.J. called from the Catskills with a new twist. Said she held in her hand a bottle of Hanover Superfine Whole Onions, 15 oz. that had an expiration date on the lid that had been rubbed away so that the year was not clear. We chatted awhile. Seems A.J. makes a mean Spiced Pork Tenderloin, the leftovers of which she likes to toss in a skillet with these particular pickled onions. Get it all hot and steamy, she said, then stuff the mixture into half-a-pita. Pure heaven.

Of course, there was no way a jar of Superfine Onions at Reids would have any bearing on the jar she was holding in her hand. We thought about going into the intricacies of the Relay business model -- the baton-passing that our Operations-folk accomplish every day, the Internet, our vendor-partners who collect the orders we transmit. None of it answered her question -- and such complexity was inadequate to the task. Best keep it simple.

We chatted some more, discussing the general shelf life of pickled items, like onions. We even ventured that she ought to go ahead and use them -- which probably wasn't very prudent -- but seemed like the reasonable thing since the seal had not been broken and she'd picked them up within the last year. We gave her our email to let us know how it turned out.

A little later, A.J. sent an email with her recipe for Spiced Pork Tenderloin attached. She didn't say how the pita sandwich turned out. It's tempting to say you only hear about things when they go wrong -- especially in the Customer Service world -- but it was such a pleasure talking, it seemed like a risk worth taking.... Thanks for the call, A.J., you made our day!


A.J.'s Spiced Pork Tenderloin Recipe

1 T. olive oil

1 large garlic clove, mashed

¾ t. ground cumin

¼ t. ground cinnamon

¼ t. ground cloves

1 = ¾ to 1 pound pork tenderloin=======================

1/3 cup canned low-salt chicken broth

2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Preheat oven to 450 degrees…Blend first 5 ingredients in small bowl. Sprinkle pork with spice mixture, salt and pepper. Place in 13x9x2 inch pan. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150 degrees F, about 20 minutes (maybe longer). Transfer pork to plate.

Add broth to pan. Set pan directly over high heat and bring broth to boil, scraping up browned bits. Simmer until pan juices thicken slightly, about 3 minutes. Slice pork into rounds, place on plates. Top with pan juices and cilantro…….ENJOY!!!

Cuties!

What a cute week! The weather's beautiful, the birds are chirping and the Relay guys (and Annick) helped mini-relayers plant Dragon Tongue beans when they picked up their orders! Check out a couple of these mini-relay cuties...and make sure you bring your kids to the trucks next week!!

Ps--kids of all ages (1-100) are more than welcome to plant a dragon tongue with Relay, don't be shy!

Local Lamb Lovers

So, as it turns out, the road to Sperryville that seems far too long on a rushed Friday is actually really quite short when time and the Blue Ridge Mountains are on your side. This week I had the pleasure of passing Popham’s Ford Road and continuing on through Sperryville (cute!) and on over to the perfectly delightful Mount Vernon Farm. Driving into Mount Vernon Farm the Thornton River rushes by your right side suggesting you find an old inner tube and a few good friends while up to your right the bright green pastures gobble up Turkey Mountain. Rolling white dots of fur speckle their way up the steep mountainside and leap onto cliffs in a seemingly perpetual game of King of the Mountain. On a cool, overcast Monday it feels like being in the Irish countryside.

Mount Vernon Farm is another one of Relay’s many sustainable, humane, happy, grass-fed animal farms. Cliff Miller and his family have been have been farming their 830 acres since 1827! Mike and the few farmers employed on the land practice Management Intensive Rotational Grazing which involves moving the sheep every 3 days and rotating them with the pigs and cows thus allowing all of the animals to work together to maintain the health of the grass, the land, each other, and eventually, us. More CLA’s, more Omega 3’s, fewer calories and better taste—all wrapped up into one sustainable package!

The whole farm is protected under a conservation easement and has won awards for its Chesapeake Bay friendly riparian conservation and grazing practices. They also work with the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) through the USDA to keep cattle out of the Thornton River (and other waterways) on the property. All and all, a really wonderful place to live whether you’re sheep, cow, pig, or human!

Give Mount Vernon lamb a try during these Holy days (until Sunday) and take 15% off the price by typing MOUNTVERNON in the coupon box at check out!