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How do you eat your greens?

843 Views 19 Replies 17 Participants Last post by  PapayaVagina
Wondering if you all would be willing to share how you like to eat your cooked greens? I've never done it before, but know there's a lot of good nutrition in cooked greens and would like to start. Which greens do I buy and what do I do with them? Thanks!!
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I like them the best in 2 ways;

one is to sautee in butter with a sprinkle of salt to taste. Hard to go wrong. You could add some garlic to the butter before the greens if you like garlic.

Second way - fry up some bacon. Use the leftover drippings to sautee the greens. Include chopped up bacon if you wish, as well as salt to taste.

I used to do an olive oil sautee with some garlic and salt, which is also good, but I prefer the above methods now


OH and be careful not to overcook them - just cook until a bit wilted but still bright green. Beyond that they will lose both flavor and nutrition.
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For tougher ones like kale and collards, I like to braise them in a bit of broth. I also add greens to soups and curries often, right at the end after they are done cooking.
I like kale and collards in my lentil soup, and when we have pasta(whole grain or rice), I make a sauce with cottage cheese, milk, garlic and parm cheese, which I pour over the pasta that has greens chopped and mixed in. Also wonderful with broccoli. We saute them too in butter--I am going to have to try the bacon fat one!

I also like spinach in my blue berry smoothies.
I sautee in butter and add an egg. Not so much egg to be an omelette but just to be a seasoning. Serve with plenty of salt.
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well, my favorite way is in a gratin with potatoes and cheese and cream
but mostly I just saute in garlic, oil and maybe some bacon
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I live in the south now where turnip greens grace every meal when you go out to eat.

I know that ham is not always the most TF of foods, but whatever.

I take an onion and chop it up in to a large dice. I then take a ham hock and a bunch of greens and throw it all together in a big pot of water and cook it for a few hours.

top with some malt vinegar, salt and pepper.

I also drink the pot liquor. Soooooooo yummy.
You can saute them slowly in a good quality fat, but first add things like onion and garlic, maybe some chili flakes,and get those browned a bit.

Greens are excellent added to chicken chili's
added to stews(tomato based are best IMO)
add them to fritatas and quiches
add the sauteed greens to a quesadilla
give them to your hamster
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My favourites are rapini (DD's first food!), chard, and mustard greens. I cook them usually the same way - sauteed in olive oil with minced garlic & salt, and then sometimes topped with a squeeze of lime at the table.
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I'm an italian kale addict, but I love other greens too. My typical recipe is some bacon drippings, chopped garlic and seasalt added to the kale. Start out kinda like a stirfry, add a sprinkle of nutmeg, then cover with lid to let steam a little. YUM
Also great with some chili pepper added and goat cheese melted at the end.


I add them to soups, chili, spaghetti sauce, chop up raw in egg/salmon salad, throw whole raw leaves into smoothies. You name it and I've probably put greens in it before...
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thanks for the ideas everyone! We never had sauteed greens in my house growing up so your recipes will help me a lot. Sounds like I've been missing out!
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I like kale, bok choy, chard, spinach, and beet greens. I haven't tried a ton of others, but would probably like them as well. I usually just saute in butter, sometimes I cook some onion until soft add a little garlic and then cook the greens in that. I also toss kale in stews and soups.
Just to add to the list here, I like adding greens to my risotto. Just throw them in on top of the rice about 5 or less minutes before you take them off the stove. Cover the pot to get them to wilt fast. Then stir it all together when you add the cheese.
Quote:

Originally Posted by kdabbler View Post
Just to add to the list here, I like adding greens to my risotto. Just throw them in on top of the rice about 5 or less minutes before you take them off the stove. Cover the pot to get them to wilt fast. Then stir it all together when you add the cheese.
That sounds good!
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I saw a recipe last night for kale in mashed potatoes that looked good..I am going to try it out. I also like to make mashed califlower and think adding the kale in that would be good too.

Jen
Ohhh newcastlemama--- smashed potatoes like that are sooooo good!! To make it really over the top--cook up some bacon, saute your greens in the bacon grease and stir that all into your potatoes. Have any left over? make into patties and fry up in butter and serve wtih fried eggs. That just sends DH over the moon!
A great way that even my DD1 will eat Kale is to steam a bunch of kale, press the water then puree it with 1 cup cashews, 1 cup milk (we have to do rice milk because of dairy allergies), 1 TBSP onion flakes, and some broth and salt for seasonings (I use my concentrated broth ice cubes kind of like a sub for bouillion). We dip bread and other veggies in it.
A winner for our family is kale sauteed in a little bit of leftover bacon drippings (adds amazing flavor) and served over crwamy polenta or corn grits with a spinking of cheese, romano or good parm. on top. Probably could use other greens as well. I can't tell say enough what an excellent cold weather, cozy meal this has made for us.

Sometimes we saute/steam other greens and broccoli toghther and serve with a small covering of good quality salad dressing for taste. Kids eat it up, although in our family anything with a sauce, salad dressing, tamari, etc. goes over well.
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We almost always eat greens slightly steamed, still with lots of crunch and with plenty of lemon juice
. I usually add kale into lentils or the zuppa toscana knock off that I make. I've also been known to use collards to wrap up sandwiches
. yum!
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