I’ve always been a fan of greens but with the repeated romaine/other lettuce scares, I find myself avoiding those and sticking with greens like kale, spinach, cabbage, etc.
My “on repeat” kale recipe lately has been:
Remove kale from stem
Wash/Massage kale 5 minutes.
Put in bowl, add diced carrot, almonds
Add lemon or garlic vinaigrette.
Massage again for a couple minutes.
Add fresh shredded parmesan
Eat!
I can eat this endlessly right now.
I will also add kale/spinach to scrambled eggs/frittata.
Add spinach to pasta recipes.
I need some new blood in my greens rotation! Must be pretty simple and quick!
(side note: many have told me they don’t like kale but like “baby kale” - need to look and see if this is a totally different plant?!)
I don’t like kale because it is too rough for me (or it was my ex’s favorite green). I generally stir fry my spinach and other greens in garlic and garlic. I am also funny about not mixing my veggies.
I just made a recipe from Cooking Light last night that stuffs a roasted spaghetti squash with artichoke hearts, spinach (just cooked a bit in a frying pan with a bit of water), light cream cheese, and Parmesan. I thought it was pretty good.
Flash - fry: fry on very hot cast-iron pan or wok until crisp
Both are very quick
Another way for greens without tough stems is to toss into boiling salted water, take out when they turn bright green and toss into ice water (the bright green color with remain). Squeeze out extra water. Eat with peanut sauce.
We eat lots of greens. Your list is missing two of our favorites, chard and arugula. If you have a good market, look for beets, turnips, and carrots with healthy green tops. We also buy and grow lots of basil.
Arugula and basil we eat as salad greens. The others we lightly sauté in olive or avocado oil, occasionally topping with balsamic vinegar.
I do like arugula and beet greens are my favorite! I hate when I see beets for sale without the greens - where did they go!!? I grow beets as well in growing season.
Balsamic glaze is one of my new favorite finishes along with pomegranate molasses. I ate roasted broccoli three times last week this way!
I take a butternut squash and slice it lengthwise. Once I have removed the seeds, I brush it with olive oil & s&p and roast (or steam until just soft. Once it is cool, I scrape out the flesh and set aside half for soup and mash the other half; into the mashed half, I incorporate a broad mixture of finely chopped or shredded greens, some finely chopped onion and garlic, and a healthy handful of finely grated parmesan (or other Italian hard cheese). I then take the entire mixture, fill both halves of the hollowed out squash, sandwich it back together and tie with string, then I roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes. Once it is 'done" I eat the entire thing, including skin - nothing is wasted!
I love baby spinach, swiss chard, and escarole. I saute in a bit of extra virgin olive oil and garlic and cook until the greens are tender. I hate overcooked greens–they taste like mush to me. I sometimes add small new potatoes (steamed) to my swiss chard while its cooking. My mother (a Croatian immigrant) called it Blitva.
My favorites are turnip greens, but I do this with other greens as well:
Immerse in large bowl with cold water to remove any sand (if not already washed/bagged), slice/chop, place in large pot with a little salt and EVOO, cover and cook on low heat with a few Tbs. of water until tender.
I eat salads with all kinds of baby greens. Love an open sandwich or a wrap with good cheese and a mound of greens on top.
Cooked spinach mixed with feta is a great stuffing for chicken, pies, whatever.
Beans and greens (white beans with swiss chard/kale/whatever and fried onions).
Salad from raw kale sliced into very thin ribbons, plus almonds, cheese and a diced apple, dressing is olive oil, lemon juice and Dijon mustard, can add thinly sliced Brussels sprouts (just realized it’s almost the same you have, but the apple really makes a difference).
Kale chips (mix chip-sized pieces of kale with a little oil and your favorite spices and roast until crunchy).
I like greens, which is a good thing since my CSA gives us a lot of them, but I loathe uncooked or undercooked kale. In my view, kale, collard greens, mustard greens and similar tough greens need to be cooked a long time, preferably with some pork fat. They are as tough as leather, and nastily bitter, when not fully cooked. I can’t wait for this kale salad fad to disappear, the sooner the better.
Spinach and chard are fine with a quick saute. Thinly sliced brussels sprouts are great with sauteed very hot, too, to get a bit of char on them.
I usually toss some green into my lentils when I make a soup. Last night I tossed in escarole, a good choice.
One way I haven’t seen posted yet is to add them to ground turkey when you make burgers. I’ve used both spinach and kale as an addition to ground meat. The kale I chop fine and massage a bit.
I also sometimes add a bit of chopped kale for the last five minutes of roasting vegetables. It’s not as crisp as kale chips just a light crunch.
I thought the same about uncooked kale until I tried it sliced into very thin ribbons with the dressing above in my favorite restaurant. This does make a difference, and it’s even better the next day.
I love spinach sauteed with chopped onion and then drizzled with lemon juice and eaten in a pita bread. I also love Lebanese spinach pies, which is very similar.
