How do you eat your greens? - Page 2

[ginnybee]

Oh I almost forgot to mention. One of the best things about Southern-style greens is the pot likker (juices) sipped or sopped up with corn bread.

[mom61508]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

Green smoothies are so yummy and I can never taste the greens. Would you share how you are making them and perhaps we can help to mend it? And Nettles infusions is great in smoothies too.

I usually steam our greens over stir frying them. I hope to preserve some nutrients that way but still cook it too.

We have greens everyday. The way we don't get bored of them, is we rotate and try many new greens.
One raw green in a smoothie in the morning, and either a salad or a steam green later in the day.

Beet greens
arugula
Mustard greens
Collards
Turnip greens
Kale (different types)
dandelion
swiss chard
spinach
lettuce
mesclune mix
peas
green beans
radish greens
parsley
cabbage (I have yet to try this in a smoothie)
Wild edibles like violet greens, chickweed, yum!!
the list goes on. Get all them at the store and make a goal to use a different one everyday.

My dh is so picky when it comes to adding something as crazy as greens to a perfectly good smoothie, but he devours it every time as it is unnoticeable. I don't have a fancy blender either, and it blends up well.

Kale chips are so good and my dd will eat a whole bunch worth in about ten minutes.

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

Your smoothie ingredients sound pretty good so it could be the supplments extra that make an off flavor or could be the coconut. I feel horrible when I have coconut milk so I just avoid it. Not sure how that effects a smoothie.

Our smoothie this morning was amazing. Here is what it had:
For portion it was for an 8 cup blender capacity filled to the top
-2-3 cups nettles infusion
-roughly 3-4 cups greens (we used a spring baby green mix, but with kale for sure use less greens since they are strong) Blend this now if you have a crappo blender like me
-3 tablespoons chia seeds
-3 teaspoons camu camu powder (amazonian berry super food for natural Vit C and bioflavanoids
-1/2 cup really raw soaked almonds (we don't always add this, or may add some other nuts like cashews. Sunflower seeds are strong so go easy on them)
-2 bananas (only organic as non org ones make me feel sick. The riper the better. If the bananas aren't very ripe it may create an off flavor, and you may need some sweetener. We use maple syrup)
3 cups frozen berries (we are loving wild frozen blueberries lately)

Blend well!

Dh adds raw eggs to his, and I like a tablespoon of Lewis Labs brewers yeast in mine

Where to you find camu for a decent price? It doesn't make the smoothie sour?

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by mom61508

Where to you find camu for a decent price? It doesn't make the smoothie sour?

It isn't always from the same place. If it makes something sour, it is a poor quality camu camu. Currently herbalcom.com has camu camu that is sweet and of high quality as it has some color to it and is sweet. When they run out of this stock you never know what they will have. The stock they had before this one was white and bitter and I could tell it wasn't that healthy the way it didn't help my body, but the one now is great.

[nicolelynn]

If green smoothies aren't agreeing with you you might try them with JUST greens and fruit. In Green Smoothie Revolution Victoria Boutenko says adding supplements or starchy vegetables with the fruit makes it difficult to digest.

Also, maybe experiment more with different combinations of fruit and greens, some you may just love and others you may or may even disagree with you. For example I discovered as much as I like blueberries and know how nutritious they are I just don't like them in green smoothies. But I just LOVE pineapple-papaya-collards, strawberry-banana-kale, raspberry-mango-spinach, banana-orange-parsley and kiwi-green grape-romaine. I also don't like the taste of too much banana in them and add more of the other fruit.

Other than green smoothies for my morning snack, I try to get in a green drink with breakfast (like Vitamineral Green or Perfect Food), a salad at lunch and a steamed/sauteed greens at dinner. I usually cook them with a bit of garlic and season with olive or coconut oil, salt and sometimes lemon juice when done cooking.

[zeiter]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

Wild edibles like violet greens, chickweed, yum!!

Please tell me how to prepare violet greens, dandelion greens, and chickweed!! That's what my yard consists of!! Thanks!!

[ASusan]

We're using our weekly CSA greens in this: Hot Pot Pasta, Potatoes & Greens.

Boil 2 gallons of water and 2-3 T of sea salt (yes, that much salt)
Prepare 3-4 large potatoes by dicing them
Use 12-16 oz of cavatelli pasta (we're using gluten-free sprials atm, though)
tear greens into bite-sized pieces.

When water boils, add these ingredients all at once.

Meanwhile, saute 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic in 2-3 T olive oil in a large pan.
Add 1/2 tsp peperoncino and continue to saute until the garlic is tinged with gold.

When the potatoes/pasta/greens are done, drain and add to garlic pan. Stir.

Serve at once without cheese.

I substitute peperoncino with very finely ground red pepper flakes. (I grind them in a coffee grinder.)

[Koalamom]

Originally Posted by zeiter

Please tell me how to prepare violet greens, dandelion greens, and chickweed!! That's what my yard consists of!! Thanks!!

I posted about those greens as they are the easiest and some of the mildest wild greens. You can just eat them raw with no additional preparation. I mix them with lettuce to stretch it. They are so nutrient dense. I like to make vinegars with then and have been using it all winter to get the nutrients and medicinal benefits too. I have a lovely violet salve I made that has been amazing on my kids eczema and along with other things has really helped with their healing. Just add them to whatever as you would other greens. Dandelion does get stronger the bigger it gets so now is the time for the really tasty ones. I make a vinegar with the bitter ones. My grandma healed herself of cancer naturally and is super healthy now. She eats a dandelion flower a day. Dandelion flowers are so full of lecithin and lecithin helps the body use cholesterol and aids the liver.

Dan Butener who wrote The Blue Zone identified different groups of people that were living over 100 and a group in Greece were found to be eating beans, raw goats milk, and lots of wild edibles!

I may have gotten overboard with the answer so ask more if I am not clear enough. I guess you found my weakness.

[ginnybee]

Chickweed is high in calcium. It's good raw in salad - I've also seen a recipe for chickweed pesto in one of MaryJane Butters' books - think it was Outpost.
I love dandelion greens. They are great in a salad with warm bacon dressing or in a hearty soup with sausage and cream (or potatoes).

[lil_earthmomma]

Originally Posted by jalilah

I forgot to mention that Ds12 still doesn't like them this way. For him I still have to sneak the greens by chopping them finely and adding them to stews, spaghetti sauce,chilli and even chicken soup. Thank god he'll eat steamed broccoli on its' own!

My 3 yr old is the same. But for some reason LOVES broccoli!

I love to saute greens with small chopped up peices of bacon. Bacon grease + greens and some garlic and lemon = heaven in my mouth!!! (sometimes I add chopped mushrooms too. *drool*)

[raksmama]

Another way Ds will eat greens is mixed with meat. DH and I like them this way too.
A Lebanese dish is: brown 500 grams ground meat (we prefer organic lamb or bison); diced onions in a little oil or butter.
After onions are cooked, add minced garlic and then add cinnamon, paprika black pepper and salt to taste or you can just use gram masala cook a little longer.
Then add around 750 grams finely chopped spinach cook longer until spinach is cooked and flavours blended. If it seems too dry add a little water. Once cooked, pour the juice of lemon over and top with sautéed pine nuts. We eat this with rice
I don’t measure exactly. When I was first getting DS used to spinach, I put more meat, about half ground meat- spinach

[celestialdreamer]

I adore greens and will eat them pretty much any way you can think of. My kids and DH aren't quite as fond of them. My 2yo refuses to eat fruit and vegetables (besides bananas and applesauce) unless I hide them in something, but he will gobble up every part of a frittata! We call them "egg pizza" at our house since we cut them into triangles and for some reason this makes the kids go crazy for them

When I make a frittata (almost daily recently to get extra spring greens into the kids), I saute a little onion/scallion/leek + a little meat (nitrate free turkey bacon, homemade sausage, etc) + a bunch of chopped greens (kale, spinach, sprouting broccoli, etc) until cooked through. Sometimes we add a other things like peppers, zucchini, cheese, etc. Then I dump in about a dozen beaten eggs, stir for about one minute. Let sit on the stove to cook for another minute while the bottom sets, then put in the oven to cook at 325 until done. Cut into wedge shapes and tell your kids it is "egg pizza" You can make this as complicated or as simple as you want. When I make this as a quick dinner I tend to add in more "extras".

It totally cracks me up that my 2yo won't even eat sweet veggies like carrots but gobbles up kale in a frittata. He always begs for seconds too! They will also eat green smoothies and I puree greens into my marinara sauce too.

My other personal favorite way to eat greens is to stir fry a LARGE bunch with plenty of coconut oil or lard + garlic, remove from heat, then stir in some goat cheese/cream cheese at the end. A little nutmeg + red pepper flakes are awesome in it too. Put in a large bowl and hog it all to yourself :

[onetrumpeter]

Love these ideas! Unfortunately we're still definitely needing to "sneak" vegetables in for most members of the family. The frittata - I mean "egg pizza" idea is great; I think I might need to do a little food processor work to get the greens small enough to not get picked out but it should work. Great idea about putting them in marinara, too. Thanks!

My current favorite way is a green? smoothie. I blend up some milk kefir with coconut oil, sometimes some coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions - YUM!, half a banana or orange, and a handful of baby salad greens, Earthbound Farms from Costco - hopefully our CSA will start up soon. So is that a green smoothie? Not sure what Boutenko(sp?) would say. Does cooking greens make the minerals more available? I feel clueless. Thanks!

Originally Posted by celestialdreamer

I adore greens and will eat them pretty much any way you can think of. My kids and DH aren't quite as fond of them. My 2yo refuses to eat fruit and vegetables (besides bananas and applesauce) unless I hide them in something, but he will gobble up every part of a frittata! We call them "egg pizza" at our house since we cut them into triangles and for some reason this makes the kids go crazy for them

When I make a frittata (almost daily recently to get extra spring greens into the kids), I saute a little onion/scallion/leek + a little meat (nitrate free turkey bacon, homemade sausage, etc) + a bunch of chopped greens (kale, spinach, sprouting broccoli, etc) until cooked through. Sometimes we add a other things like peppers, zucchini, cheese, etc. Then I dump in about a dozen beaten eggs, stir for about one minute. Let sit on the stove to cook for another minute while the bottom sets, then put in the oven to cook at 325 until done. Cut into wedge shapes and tell your kids it is "egg pizza" You can make this as complicated or as simple as you want. When I make this as a quick dinner I tend to add in more "extras".

It totally cracks me up that my 2yo won't even eat sweet veggies like carrots but gobbles up kale in a frittata. He always begs for seconds too! They will also eat green smoothies and I puree greens into my marinara sauce too.

My other personal favorite way to eat greens is to stir fry a LARGE bunch with plenty of coconut oil or lard + garlic, remove from heat, then stir in some goat cheese/cream cheese at the end. A little nutmeg + red pepper flakes are awesome in it too. Put in a large bowl and hog it all to yourself :