Friday, December 11, 2009

Leafy greens are your friend

On my never-ending journey to better nutrition and health, I've discovered leafy greens.  Specifically "dark" leafy greens.  These guys are POWERHOUSES of nutrients, and shockingly low in calories.  Oh, and they fill you up like nobody's business.  When I eat 4 cups raw (cooked down to 1 1/2 cup) I barely have room for the rest of my meal. 
I get the bag of mixed greens (collard, turnip, mustard) or a large bunch of kale (yes, I said kale, don't be afraid!); whichever is on sale at the store that particular week. 
The first thing you should know about these beauties is you DO NOT need to boil/steam or otherwise, pre-cook them before your sautee.  Its unnecessary and will leech out some of your yummy vitamins.
Here's how I cook them (same method as my other fav: red and napa cabbage!)

Leafy Greens with Garlic
4 cups of greens, washed, patted dry & stems removed
1/2 t. chopped garlic
1-2 glugs EVOO
1/4 c chopped onion (any kind), if you have it around
Chili powder to taste
S&P to taste

Add your oil to a med-high skillet.  NEVER add oil to a cold pan.  Sautee your onions & garlic a minute or so.  If you don't have garlic, you can use garlic powder.  If it's salted garlic powder, just omit the salt later on.  Add your greens, 1 cup at a time.  Turn heat down to medium.  Stir quickly to avoid burnt greens.  You may add some veg or chicken broth (just a bit) if you don't have enough oil to keep the greens from sticking.  Keep adding greens as they cook down.  When adding the last bit of greens, turn your heat off, add chili powder, S&P, and put the cover on your pan.  Let sit for 2-5 minutes.

I like to have greens w/ tofu & a 1/2 sweet potato.  I find the savory and sweet flavors really compliment each other.

Do you have a favorite healthy veg recipe?  Please share it.  either post in comments or post a link to your blog posting.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Thanks for giving greens a well-deserved boost! I am sharing kale pesto recipe that is really wonderful. I mixed with chevre for a spin on "spinach dip" but also scoop it up with endive spears or a spoon it is so good!
here is the link :)
http://seaweedsnacks.blogspot.com/2009/11/lemon-kale-pesto-with-nutmeg.html

Karine said...

Great way to enjoy greens! Thanks for sharing :)