12-08-2011

2 Strikes for Greens

So my quest to be adventuresome and try new greens hasn’t resulted in the home run I was hoping for.

This past weekend, I tried making a swiss chard and cheese frittata which probably would have been fine if I hadn’t substituted kale for chard! I used my ‘not sure what this is’ green but yesterday I found out it was definitely kale. My wonderful husband said it tasted good but when I suggested giving some to the neighbors to try (maybe their taste buds are different than mine and they would enjoy it?) my husband promptly said, “let’s just leave it here”. So obviously, he just tries out my concoctions to humor me!

Now we know this is kale!

My not so great kale and cheddar frittata

I wasn’t about to let one strike keep me down though. I cleaned up my counters, retied my apron, and tried again with a Bok choy stir fry…but once more, another strike!

I don’t know why but I CANNOT find a good stir fry recipe. I am just not good at making that type food, even when I have a recipe. It simply lacks something, some type of secret pizzazz that I can’t figure out.

The stir fry had pork, mushrooms, Bok choy and lots of minced garlic and ginger. But it needed something more in the sauce. Maybe I should have started with some onions or used fish sauce (which I detest) or did a little Asian dance??? Simply put, it was bland. However, the Bok choy was delicious and I will 100% definitely use it again…in my next attempt at making a not mediocre stir fry!

The gorgeous Bok choy was the shining star in this unfortunately bland stir fry

I haven’t given up hope yet though! My next attempts with greens are to make kale chips and a soup of Cabbage, White Bean, and Kielbasa. I’ll let ya’ll know how they turn out….wish me luck! Jess

PS…thanks for humoring my baseball wording throughout this post. I’m not really much of a baseball fan but today it just kept coming up in my head so thought I’d include! Have a great afternoon!

12-01-2011

Greens, Greens, and MORE Greens

So, if you’ve read today’s earlier post, you’ll find that I have 4 different types of greens on hand at the moment!!!!! Think that is just a little too much? Well, I do! So I need your help – I’m not sure what all the different types of greens are – and am hoping someone out there might. I know I’ve got some Bok Choy in there but have never cooked with it and would love a recipe for that too.

Any takers on what this is?

I really want to figure out what the above green is…I am hoping you can cook it just like spinach or arugula. The leaves are more tender than traditional greens, such as collards, kale, etc.

On that note… During our winters in Charleston, we have greens in abundance but Southern Style collard greens are quickly becoming BORING! So, imagine what a glorious sight this book was at the library tonight!

Hopefully, I can find some good recipes in this book to share with you. And if you have any creative ways to use greens, please pass them along.

Your Faithful Greens Eater,
Jessica