Freezing Kale for Smoothies and Winter Soups

I am lucky enough to be able to help out my friend in her amazing garden.  In an effort to preserve this great bounty, I have frozen some of it for winter soups and green smoothies.  I got really into green smoothies last winter and made them for the kids and I at least three times a week.  I plan on keeping that up.  In an effort to use more homegrown foods and save money, I am buying from the farmers market or using what I have grown to freeze and have on hand in the winter.  I also have frozen bananas, blueberries and strawberries for easy smoothies.  *Note- it is possible to freeze without boiling, but boiling helps keep the color and texture and also helps soften the texture a bit for smoothies.

The steps for preserving kale for smoothies and winter soups is as follows:

1. Get a large stock pot filled with boiling water
2. Rinse the kale and tear up the leafs into small pieces
3. Submerge the torn leafs into the boiling water, boil for 90 seconds- 2 minutes. Drain.
4. Fill up ice cube trays with the kale leafs
5. Freeze and pop out the frozen kale blocks into a freezer bag.  Use 2 blocks per blender of smoothie or as needed.