Smoky Kale Cornbread

While I occasionally add chopped scallions to cornbread and/or muffins,  I'd never thought of using leafy greens until I had a pile of extra kale left over from a recent batch of chowder. Since I was already making cornbread to go with the soup, I decided to chop it fine, mix it into the batter, mess around with the spices, and see what happened. The resulting loaf was not only a tasty way to get a little extra veg into the meal, but a delightful, positively Seussian shade of green - and with nary a nasty egg, slice of ham, or pushy Who named Sam in sight.

Smoky Kale Cornbread

Ingredients
~ 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
~ 3/4 cup cornmeal
~ 5 tsp. baking powder
~ 1 tsp. each: salt, smoked paprika

~ ½ tsp. each: thyme, marjoram, white pepper
~ 1 cup plain, unsweetened soy milk
~ 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed, beaten with 3 tbsp. water
~ 2 tbsp. melted Earth Balance (or other vegan margarine)

~ 2 cups very finely chopped kale

Directions
~ Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit and coat a bread pan with cooking spray.
~ In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and dry seasonings.
~ Combine the milk, beaten flax/water mixture, melted margarine, and chopped kale.

~ Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and fold in the wet mixture. Stir until well-combined, but don't overmix.

~ Transfer the batter to your prepared baking pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
~ Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes before turning out, and for a few minutes more before slicing.