7 Different Recipes: Irish Soda Bread w/ Kale

I have been having the worst luck with technology the last few days. My MacBook has decided to revolt against me, the screen goes black all of the sudden. I can get it to come back on if I dim the brightness all the way down and then slowly brighten it back up, but if I make it too bright it goes to black again, and it only lasts for about 5 minutes. My hubby has a computer in our bedroom with a very large TV screen as his monitor, which I love using (except that its a Windows machine) and I'm currently working on. The only problem is that it's in our basement and its always COLD down here! Plus when I'm in the basement, the munchkins find all kinds of trouble to get into.

Another technology issue I'm having has to do with this Windows machine. My little boys and I wanted to have movie night after dinner and pj's were on. Since my hubby is out of town and it's Spring Break I decided it would be fun to do movie night snuggled up in mom and dad's bed (we have an electric blanket!). So Sunday night, around 7:30, I came down and turned on the computer and started up Netflix. It took the boys 20 minutes to decide what movie they wanted to watch. When I tried to play it, Netflix proceeded to tell me that I needed to download Silverlight. Didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time, but then the Windows machine decided it didn't like Silverlight and rejected it, telling me I was missing some file I knew I was in trouble, especially since Silverlight is a Microsoft program...WTH??? (I'm not the computer wizard in our house, that's the hubby, who is out of town!) After trying for over an hour to get the darn thing to work I finally gave up and made the little munchkins pick a movie from out DVD collection. We ended up watching Despicable Me. Here it is Thursday and I still haven't been able to get Netflix to work on this computer. Instead, I took our Google Chromecast from the TV upstairs, brought it to this TV/Computer and we are watching Netflix through that now.

My final technology problem is with my Passport. For those of you who don't know, a Passport is an external hard-drive. I use it to store all my pictures...you know, for this blog! Before my laptop decided to take a crap I transferred all my photos over to my Passport. This is the second Passport I've had, the first has tons of pictures of my 5 year old when he was just a baby, all my digital scrapbooking files as well as the scrapbook pages I've made (probably around 200 of them). I can't get the first one to work on any computer, I've sent it to several different people hoping they would be genius enough to make it work but no luck. My next option is to send it to some data recovery place that wants to charge me $1,500 to pull all the stuff off of it...donations anyone? This however, is not my current technology problem I'm having with the Passport, this problem is with the second one. This Passport has no problem connecting to my Mac; my Mac recognizes it, let's me save stuff to it, opens up when I need it to, etc. The Passport does not like the Windows machine (can't say I blame it all that much). The Windows machine won't even acknowledge that it's plugged into the machine. So my problem? How do I get the dang pictures I need off of the Passport onto the Windows machine to post them to this blog?!?!?!? Well I still have them on my digital camera, I figured I'd just get my little USB cord, plug in my camera to the Windows machine and viola, my pictures! NOPE! The Windows machine doesn't like the camera either. At least it recognizes it though. Says I need a driver, well the Canon website states that my Rebel doesn't need a driver. UGH! I give up! I just took the darn SD card out of my camera and plugged it into the computer. You wouldn't think that would be as big of a deal as I'm making it but....my camera is almost 10 years old and the button to push the card out of the slot is broken so I have to pry it out with a paperclip...good times!

I'm telling you all of this so you'll understand just how hard I've worked to get this amazing recipe to you! Not to mention that I created it while having two young kids at home all day...with no hubby around to distract them and my in-laws here. Don't even get me started on that subject, we'll save that for another day of rants!

This recipe is amazing...please make it...now...why are you still reading this? Go make it! Oh, yeah, you need the ingredient list and directions...duh! The kale gives the bread a tangy taste with a slight green tint, perfect for serving on St. Patrick's Day, but really, this bread could be served with any meal. The presentation of the bread, whole or cut open, will wow your dinner mates!

Irish Soda Bread with Kale
adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients
2 tablespoons white vinegar
about 1 1/2 cups milk
1/8 cup olive oil
5 stalks kale, hard stems removed
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
extra flour for dusting

Directions
1. Make sour milk: Get a measuring cup that will hold at least 1 1/2 cups. Pour 2 tablespoons of vinegar into measuring cup and then fill up to 1 1/2 cups with milk. The milk needs time to sour, about 10 minutes. Or you could just use 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk.
2. Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly flour baking sheet.
3. In a blender or food processor combine the kale and the olive oil until it is almost a paste. I wanted chunks of kale in my bread so I stopped before it was completely smooth. This should create about 3/4 cup of the kale mixture. Set aside.
4. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Add sour milk (buttermilk) about 1/2 cup at a time until moist clumps form. Add kale mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Gather dough into ball and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead dough until it holds together, about 1 minute. Shape dough into 6-inch diameter by 2-inch high round. Place on baking sheet and cut 1-inch X across top of bread, extending almost to edges.