Farm Kitchen Chronicles: Chili Pork with Kale and Green Beans

An easy, health-building weeknight dinner for post-holiday craziness.

Season’s greetings, everyone! We made it through Christmas and Hanukah, and even though Alex says half of the staff at work is sick right now, with either COVID, the flu or just a bad cough, we have thankfully been unscathed (so far! <knocks on wood for hours>). As always, my objective is to keep hopefully everyone healthy and, to do that, try and build that immune system with food.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about meals that not only build health, but also are easy-peasy. I feel like I have been in the kitchen a lot, and I obviously love to be there, but sometimes at night I just want to watch a movie! Or take a shower! Or make some tea and read my book! Well folks, if that is you too, and when it turns dark at four thirty p.m. and you would really rather just watch a crappy Christmas Hallmark movie instead of cooking and just want to make a meal in under 30 minutes, this is one for you. (I would call this a solid 20 minute meal, but 30 is a good estimate if you are taking your time and perhaps making tea while you are cooking! I never got to watch that Hallmark movie, by the way, but there’s always next year. I actually couldn’t even figure out how to watch one—I guess since I don’t have the Hallmark channel? Maybe I need a streaming service that will really deliver next Christmas!).

In order to boost immunity, we really don’t eat much sugar (we did make Santa his cookies, but with coconut sugar!), and I am extremely uninterested in alcohol (I am boring at parties). Both white sugar and alcohol wreck havoc on your immune system along with all of your internal organs. They should be avoided always, IMO, but especially this time of year! (I am looking into healthy mocktail recipes for this New Year’s Eve.)

Add more red pepper flakes to make this spicier (or add some hot sauce, if you prefer!). Hot spices, such as chili peppers and horseradish, are generally good to eat in winter for both your sinuses and the lungs, both of which need to be concentrated on right now!