<p>There’s a great recipe in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home–Green Jade Soup.
It uses 2 cups of kale and 4 c. of spinach as well as tofu, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, leeks, scallions, and vegetable broth. It’s really good and a great way to use greens. I’ve substituted the kale for swiss chard (which I prefer). The same cookbook has a Miso Soup recipe that calls for 1.5 c. of shredded greens.</p>
<p>There are lots of Chinese vegetables that are leafy greens (bok choy, baby bok choy for instance) that can easily be stir-fried with some beef, pork or chicken for a quick meal.</p>
<p>marite, you took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve been tossing baby bok choy into my stir fries for the past year. (I also like to add broccolini.)</p>
<p>Be sure to try chard.</p>
<p>I use rocket in all my salads. It has a different flavor that can overpower if you use too much unless you love it. Also, if you aren’t used to eating greens it may take awhile to acquire the taste. Once you do, you can’t go back to anything but fresh. After seeing that horrific recall on foods with that hydro-stuff, and some of them called garden fresh, it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Eat hand prepared, fresh veggies. Kudos to everyone.</p>
<p>I have spent the last month developing a little unit for first grade on helping them identify the different “weeds” growing in neighborhoods and parks near the school and on the school grounds. The most nutritious that I have discovered since I have been looking at how locals may use the plants is something called smooth sow thistle, but we have wild mustard and mallow and eastern rocket that can all be eaten: in fact most can be but some are definitely poisonous or not that good for you and some need to be kept at arms length like stinging nettle even though it makes a good tea. But in the process of doing this research to develop the unit I have come to the conclusion that wild herbs are more nutritious than farm created veggies that we buy in the markets and it was a big aha moment for me. Our ancestors ate more nutritious foods than we do. Then I saw a program on “real” food. Anyway, what can you do but at least try to eat freshly cooked and noncooked real fruits and veggies and stay away from anything processed. It is more expensive. But food is medicine and don’t we want the best medicine?</p>
<p>I have spent the last month developing a little unit for first grade on helping them identify the different “weeds” growing in neighborhoods and parks near the school and on the school grounds.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Art Jacobsons’ book on wild plants- his book specifies Seattle, but most of the weeds and things aren’t native- and he has a special interest in things that are edible. ( many things are)</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to the Website of Arthur Lee Jacobson - plant expert](<a href=“http://www.arthurleej.com/]Welcome”>http://www.arthurleej.com/)</p>
<p>kelowna, adding just a little sugar into the recipe you tried will cut the bitterness. Some red pepper flakes are good too.
Growing up in the rural south, greens were always on the table, usually cooked with hamhocks with salt/pepper/vinegar.<br>
When buying collards, try to pick out a bunch with smaller leaves. The bigger the leaves, the more tough/bitter.
Always have vinegar on the table to add to taste.</p>
<p>Spinach is one of my kids’ favorite vegetables. They will even eat it just cooked. But creamed is their favorite. Basically a white sauce with pureed spinach in it. Probably not good for a low fat diet, but does get the vitamins in here. Also stuffed shells with spinach, a little bit of sausage and monterey jack cheese. Stuffed into a shell and covered in spaghetti sauce.</p>
<p>Or fry garlic (lots) spinach and chopped tomatoes with whatever meat you like and add any pasta.</p>
<p>I love spinach sauteed with a little oil, garlic and red pepper. My only gripe is that a couple of bags of fresh spinach, which my biggest saute pan can barely accommodate, yields a small bowlful after cooking - hardly enough for the whole family.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom, that is the reason we eat our spinach raw 
Or as a wilted spinach salad. The trick is in the dressing which I make from bacon, reduced balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and purple onion.</p>
<p>I love that dressing, bunsenburner. I used to make it years ago, but I started to worry about the bacon fat. How much of the fat do you drain off?</p>
<p>One warning about spinach, if you have any history of kidney stones, limit your intake. 
Learned the hard way one year when I ate a lot of spinach salads.</p>
<p>I buy a bag of spinach every week and each night as I am making our dinner salad I mix in a handful. That way it not actually “spinach salad” (which I love, but others don’t).</p>
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<p>That’s what I do with baby arugula. I’ve come to enjoy that little bit of bite in my salad.</p>
<p>Gourmetmom, I get rid of most of the fat, and add a bit more reduced vinegar (which I love), and I love the result. I got the recipe from the Martha Sewart cookbook that came with my kitchen stove. I have to say that it was the only recipe in the entire book that did not have any ingredients I could not recognize :)</p>
<p>For collard greens, if the salt in hamhocks or even smoked turkey bothers you, then use home made or low-salt chicken stock in your pot. I often used smoked turkey butts in my collards and love it, love it, love it. Also, put a pinch or two of sugar and a small bit of vinegar in your pot. As for the stems, I trim the ends but never remove the stalks because I think they add a ‘bite’ [texture] and flavor to collard greens.</p>
<p>A new green that I discovered this past year is beet greens. To me their flavor is similar to spinach. It’s a very strong taste. I do remove the stalks from beet greens because they’re a bit tough.</p>
<p>I make a soup that’s almost identical to the one BunsenBurner mentioned: Sausage, Lentils and Greens, so I second that recommendation. I use Swiss Chard because that’s what I happened to have on hand when I first made it.</p>
<p>Here’s another soup I love from Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cookbook:</p>
<p>Escarole and Rice Soup</p>
<p>1 head escarole
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow onion
1/4 cup butter
salt
3 1/2 cups broth - I use homemade chicken stock.
1/2 cup raw rice, preferably Italian Arborio rice
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese</p>
<ol>
<li>Detach all the escarole leaves from the head and discard any that are bruised, wilted, or discolored. Wash all the rest in various changes of cold water until thoroughly clean. Cut into ribbons 1/2 inch wide and set aside.</li>
<li>In a stockpot saute the chopped onion in the butter over medium heat until nicely browned. Add the escarole and a light sprinkling of salt. Briefly saute the escarole, stirring it once or twice, then add 1/2 cup of the broth, cover the pot, and cook over low heat until the escarole is tender - from 25 minutes to more than three-quarters of an hour, depending on the freshness and tenderness of the escarole.</li>
<li>When the escarole is tender, add the rest of the broth, raise the heat slightly, and cover. When the broth comes to a boil, add the rice and cover. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the rice is al dente, firm to the bite. Off the heat, mix in the Parmesan cheese. Taste and correct for salt, spoon into soup plates, and serve.</li>
</ol>
<p>NOTE:
Don’t cook the soup ahead of time with the rice in it. The rice will become mushy. If you must do it ahead of time, stop at the end of step 2. About 25 minutes before serving, add the 3 cups of broth to the escarole, bring to a boil, and finish cooking as in step 3.</p>
<p>Very nice, zip100! Thanks! Tonight H and I dined on this:</p>
<p>[Balsamic</a> Braised Greens with Pine Nuts and Prosciutto | PCC Natural Markets](<a href=“http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/pcc/recipes/balsamic-braised-greens-pine-nuts-and-prosciutto]Balsamic”>http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/pcc/recipes/balsamic-braised-greens-pine-nuts-and-prosciutto)</p>
<p>I served it with buckwheat and mushroom pilaf (I cheated, it came from a pack).</p>
<p>DH could not believe that he was eating that “unattractive bunch of floppy leaves” -LOL!</p>
<p>If you are new to greens, I think Swiss chard is the best way to start. The flavor is very mild, they cook quickly, and the chopped stems add a more interesting, varied texture than you get with spinach. I stir-fry it quickly and add some raisins and balsamic vinegar for a lovely side dish. It’s also great with garlic, discussed above.</p>
<p>Today’s NYTimes has a very nice frittata recipe with greens, new potatoes, and eggs. I make this kind of dish all the time as a vegetarian main course. It’s excellent for lunch the next day, cold or at room temperature. The NYTimes tells you to use a separate pot to blanch the greens, but if you use Swiss chard or spinach, that’s not necessary – just stir-fry them in the frittata pan and pour the eggs over them.</p>
<p>When we get fresh summer greens, I like to saute with EVOO, garlic, onions, and then splash in a little wine (usually use white, but I’m not picky) and fresh rosemary–makes a nice taste combination.</p>