Eat your dark, leafy greens!
On my menu this week (and every week) is an assortment of dark, leafy greens!
I rotate my greens every week but thanks to my dear friend who brought me fresh chard from her backyard garden (with leaves bigger than my face!), this week I’ll be cooking up Swiss chard, kale, and dandelion greens.
Leafy greens are considered to be some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet yet sadly, they are on the long list of foods missing in the Standard American Diet. Greens are packed with fiber as well as essential vitamins like Vitamin A, B-complex, C, E and K as well as minerals like potassium, calcium, magnesium and zinc. All of these play an important role in supporting the organs of detoxification, reducing inflammation, and boosting immunity. While drinking green juices can be part of a healthy, balanced diet on occasion, I would stay away from daily use as juicing removes the fiber, beneficial flavonoids, and some of the micronutrients present in the entire green. Juicing and eating the greens solely in their raw form can also negatively impact thyroid health and increase your intake of harmful antinutrients like oxalate which binds to minerals like calcium and prevents their absorption in the body.
My favorite way to prepare and eat greens is the steam-saute method:
Remove the stems and chop them if you’re using (or you can save for another use ), and tear or chop the leaves.
Heat 1 tbsp. olive or avocado oil and add finely diced aromatic veggies like onion, shallot, garlic, leeks or mushrooms as well as the chopped stems (if you’re using them), and maybe some red pepper flakes. Once the veggies are almost cooked through, mix in the leaves so they’re well coated with oil.
Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup water (or broth) to the pan, cover for 3-5 minutes to steam, and voila! Perfect steam-sauteed greens should be wilted and bright green. Add a squeeze of fresh citrus and serve as a side dish, or toss in with a rice stir-fry, soup, or eggs.
Pictured here are washed, prepped, always organic greens so I have no excuses not to eat them!
Besides the chard, kale, and dandelion greens trimmed, cleaned, and ready for cooking, I quick-boiled then dried collard leaves to store and use for easy wrap substitutes throughout the week.
Also pictured:
Coconut cream of broccoli soup from The Plan Cookbook by Lyn-Genet Recitas.
An experiment in lacto-fermented chard and kale stems, recipe adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. For more info about Lacto-fermentation from the Westin A. Price Foundation, click HERE.
Masoor Dal (spiced lentils) recipe adapted from New York Times cooking.
Need help incorporating more greens into your diet? Holler at me! I'm always here to help! Happy Green Eating!