Eat Your Greens!!

Eat Your Greens

"Eat your greens," your mother might have said at the dinner table. Or now, your doctor will say this to you if you are lucky to have a doctor who knows about nutrition.

Green Smoothies - Green Drinks - Kale Chips - and so many more recipes and blog posts talking about the value of greens in your diet.

It seems that we almost have to live under a rock to not know about the benefits of including greens into our diet.

But what if I told you that eating your greens is not only nutritious but also delicious?

Would you believe me?

If your answer is yes, I need to say no more.

If your answer is no, I challenge you to use this recipe and then, tell me if you still don't like to eat your greens.

curly kale and small broccoli greens in the background

First: What Kind of Greens Do I Use?

The answer is very simple - whatever you can get your hands on.
Here is a list of possible greens which is not exhaustive:

Collard Green
Tree Collard
Kale
Curly Kale
Russian Kale
Lacinto Kale
Broccoli Leaves
Cauliflower Leaves
Brusselsprout Leaves (younger ones are best)
Chard
Nettle
Sweet Potato Greens
Amaranth Leaves
Spinach

As you can see, this is a pretty big list of possibilities. But there are so many more plant varieties you can use.

After trying a few different combinations, you will find the one you like best. The more tender leaves are best when cooked for a short time.

What I Used

For the recipe I am sharing with you, I used Tree Collards from my garden

Some of the kale you see in the first picture.
Russian red kale I traded at a backyard food swap from this lovely lady.

You can see them in the basket on the right.
I also harvested some Broccoli leaves and some of my favorite green at this time of the year.

Nettle harvest.jpg

Yes, you are seeing this right. Some stinging nettles. So yummy!

A Delicious Greens Recipe

Ingredients:

Dark Leafy Greens
Garlic
Green Cabbage
Brown Onion
Olive Oil
Salt
Filtered Water for Boiling

Equipment:

One Large Pot
One Large Pan - Cast Iron if you have.
Sharp Knife and Cutting Board
Collander, or Large Slotted Spoon
tongs

First, I took all my greens beside the nettles and washed them thoroughly. Then, I removed all the stems. You could chop them very finely and add them back in or you can give them to your chickens or your compost pile. That is what I did for this batch.

Chop the greens into bite-size pieces. Use way more greens than you think you possibly can eat - they shrink a lot.
Add greens to a large pot filled with filtered water.
Add salt - be generous.
Add peeled whole garlic cloves.

We used 2 heads of garlic for the amount of greens you see in the picture (about 16 cups of tightly packed greens). The pot holds 6 quarts.

Boil for at least one hour - or longer. the greens become very tender.

Half an hour before you want to start the final preparation, add the chopped green cabbage and the nettles.

In the meantime, dice the onion and let sit for at least 10 minutes before using.

Heat your cast iron pan and add olive oil. Add onions and slowly saute until they are translucent.

Add the drained greens and garlic to the pan and sautee long enough until all the greens are mixed with the onion/oil base.

Serve immediately.

As you can see, this dish is so good that it disappeared out of the pan before I had a chance to take a good picture.

A couple of notes.

Use your cooking liquid to water a plant. It holds lots of nutrients - or drink it yourself.
The nutritional value will not be at maximum after such a long cooking time. But people who usually say that they hate greens will like this dish. Look at it as a gateway to more nutritious dishes in the "Eat Your Greens" initiated person's future.
Experiment with different greens to see which ones you like best.
Plant your own little field of greens like you see below.

field of greens.jpg

This is my contribution to the STEEMIT FRUITS AND VEGGIES MONDAY COMPETITION hosted by our lovely Lena from @lenasveganliving

Many thanks to the sponsors @progressivechef and @gringalicious. And thank you so for your generous donation @englishtchrivy

If you want to join the fun - do the following as written by Lena

THE RULES ARE:

FRUITS & VEGGIES MONDAY by @lenasveganliving

Take and post photo of fruits and vegetables. (It can be variety or just one kind from the garden, supermarket or anywhere you wish, PLANT BASED RECIPES ARE WELCOMED)
PLEASE MAKE SURE THE ENTRY IS 100% ORIGINAL CONTENT!!! (images and text)
Use hashtag #fruitsandveggiesmonday
Mention the creator @lenasveganliving
Please copy and paste link of your entry in the comment section under this post. I always comment and upvote.

Also, remember that Lena is Vegan and respect that in your post. No animal based ingredients, please!!

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