Kale-Turkey Bacon Herb Bread

Quick breads are a big thing in our house, a favorite breakfast food. Zucchini bread is, of course, the favorite, but there is peach bread, pumpkin bread, blackberry bread, and others. Recently, I added the fig graham bread and sweet potato pecan bread, and will be trying out a bunch of new breads over the upcoming months (til the zucchini crop comes in again next summer). First up, Kale-Turkey Bacon Herb Bread… As a savory quick bread, this makes a very satisfying breakfast bread. It is especially good with eggs, but is quite satisfying all by itself. To make sure the kale and bacon stay distributed throughout the bread, add them to the dry ingredients so they get coated with flour. This will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter (a good thing to remember when making any bread with heavier ingredients – note – I forgot to do this with the fig graham bread and the figs all sank to the bottom). The house smelled great all day after I made this, no candles necessary :).

Kale-Turkey Bacon Herb Bread

adapted from Food Network Magazine’s Bacon-Kale Bread

5 oz kale, chopped (locally grown)

2 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1 large onion, halved lengthwise and sliced

3 strips turkey bacon,chopped (I used maple cured)

6 oz plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs (locally raised)

1 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp fresh rosemary

1/2 tsp dried thyme (from the garden)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on the 2 long sides. Coat with cooking spray.

In a large skillet, saute the kale in 1 Tbsp olive oil until wilted. Remove from the pan and set aside.Preheat the oven to 350F.

In the same skillet, add the remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Caramelize the onion and bacon, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.Meanwhile, whisk together the yogurt, canola oil and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.Add the kale, onions and bacon to the dry ingredients and stir to coat.Fold the wet ingredients into the dry.Transfer to a loaf pan. Cook for 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.Let cool for 1 hour in the pan. then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. Enjoy!