Slow Cooker Night: Kale and Mixed Bean and Barley Tostadas

I'm pretty sure that I don't have to tell you how much I LOVE kale. I mean, I really LOVE it. Like I could eat it twice a day, every day for the rest of my life kind of love. Admittedly, the love is not exclusive to kale, it applies to all leafy greens really. There's just something about their bitterness and versatility that seems to make every meal complete for me.

Kale appears a lot on this blog in vegetable pies, sweet potato quesadillas, minestrone soup, mixed greens and chickpeas, green smoothies, and tomato Florentine soup. It's also the star ingredient in what appears to be one of my most popular recipes- the one I hear the most about from all of you dear readers- marinated citrusy kale and black bean tostadas . This is one of my most favorite dinners and this particular recipe has inspired many more dinners of a similar sort featuring kale and beans and tortillas.

The meal is so easy to put together and it tastes a bit different every time, depending on what you have on hand to use. For tonight's kale and bean topped tortilla, I used: 1 pound mixed beans and barley 10 ounces kale, roughly chopped 5 flour tortillas sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 2 jalapeños, minced salsa verde lime

I slow cooked the beans for 8 hours on the low heat setting of my slow cooker. This time, I used a bag of 18 bean and barley mix from Trader Joe's which was quite good. I cooked it in the slow cooker with 4 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water and a few minced garlic cloves. (More slow cooked bean recipes can be found here and here).

Once the beans are finished cooking, here's how I assembled the dinner, it's not so much of a recipe as a method: Sauté a few cloves of minced garlic in a large skillet with a good glug of olive oil. Once garlic is fragrant, add minced fresh jalapeño (about 2 medium with seeds removed) and kale (about 10 ounces) and sauté until wilted- about 4 or 5 minutes. Brush tortillas lightly with olive oil and place in toaster oven or oven, on 200 degrees for about 5 minutes or until browned. Put tortillas on plates and top with kale, a large spoonful of beans and barley from the slow cookers, a drizzle of salsa verde, and shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Squeeze the juice from a lime wedge atop the mixture and eat with a fork and knife.