I saw some kale and spinach bites in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s a few weeks ago and thought I could try to make my own for Kumquat.  I looked up a few recipes and made a few tweaks of my own.

I started with onion sweating in butter and olive oil.  I bought frozen spinach and kale (1/2 bag each) because I didn’t know when I would have the time/energy to make these.

The spinach and kale went into the pan and I cooked it until all the frozen veggies were warm and soft.

In the meantime, I shredded some parmagiano reggiano (~1/2 cup) and then set it aside in a bowl. 

I also found some leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge, so I chopped some up and put them in the food processor.

The cooked spinach and kale went in with the chicken and I added some green onion.

It was all pulsed together to shred and mix everything together.

In the bowl that had the shredded cheese, I added the veggie/chicken mixture along with an egg and 2/3 cups of panko bread crumbs.

It all got mixed together and some salt and pepper went in to season it all.

Then I rolled the mixture into a ball and flattened it into a patty.  It got rolled in more panko bread crumbs and placed on a cookie sheet.

Here they are before going into the 325-degree oven.  They can sit close to each other since they won’t be expanding or anything.

When it was all done, the bread crumbs didn’t really brown but it was a little crispy on the outside and tender inside.  It stays together enough to use a fork for the small pieces and Kumquat really liked it!  I froze the remaining 12 and stored them for later meals.  Mission accomplished.