A mess of Greens

The garden is producing well -- right now it's snow peas (those oriental flat peas), and lots of greens. Today I harvested kale and Swiss Chard: just the outer leaves, so the plants keep on producing. Been doing that for at least a month now, which was well worth the price of the starter plants this spring.

The beets that I started from seeds are looking really nice, and are starting to form their bulbous bases -- can't wait until those are ready -- I love beets! For right now, I like to harvest an occasional outer leaf from the beets to throw in with the other greens -- very colorful to have an occasional red leaf among all the greens on your plate!

I often just cook up a simple side dish of:

Mess of Greens
mixed greens, washed and tough stems removed
oil or butter
garlic or onions (optional)
liquid: water, broth and/or wine
salt, pepper

Heat oil in pan, throw in greens and saute just long enough until they're cooked. (May need to add a tiny bit of water and close lid on tougher leaves, such as kale). Add S&P as desired.
(On a previous post about Spinach, I have a very simple Indian recipe that is very similar to the above, with the tiny addition of freshly-ground cardamom -- it's heavenly!)

There are lots of recipes out there using greens, such as Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful "Eggs in a Nest" from Animal Vegetable Miracle.
Or try one of the southern dishes that start out with bacon -- now there's a way to counteract the sinfulness of cholesterol-laden bacon grease with super-healthy Omega6-rich greens!

Last, but not least, add (=hide) greens in pasta dishes, lasagna, casseroles. The possibilities are endless, and if chopped up small enough, unsuspecting children won't even know they're eating something wholesome!