Health for life

Sweet readers! Don’t forget: Thursday kicks off CHG’s No-Cook July, our month-long journey into Joseph Conrad’s heart of darkness meals made without heat.

But first, today’s question! It comes from the lovely Rebecca. She asks:

Q: My boyfriend loves him some leafy greens and Im trying to, really really trying to, but a few years ago I lived in a co-op where they fed me nothing but leafy greens and its kind of ruined it for me. We even make a bunch of recipes that use greens on your site, but still no go. I think I have a mental block towards them or something, who knows.

Do you have any suggestions for tricking myself into eating more of these great-for-you vegetables? (No, Im not six-years-old, but the strategy is probably similar!)

A: Rebecca! My buds with co-op memberships are having very similar issues right now. Apparently, it’s purslane season.

My favorite trick is sautéing anything down – kale, spinach, chard - and shoving it into egg dishes. Omelets and quiche take very well to leafy greens, and are fairly easy to throw together. You can use half a bunch in one sitting, especially if youre feeding two. For more recipes beyond that, Cheap, Healthy Leafy Greens: 246 Recipes for Cabbage, Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Beyond might be of some use.

But enough from my piehole. Readers, what think you? How do you sneak leafy greens into your own diets?

Want to ask the interweb a question? Post one in the comment section, or write to Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com. Then, tune in next Tuesday for an answer/several answers from the good people of the World Wide Net.

I don’t feel like I’m eating vegetables if I’m not eating leafy greens. Though corn will always be number one in my heart, greens are my favorite everyday vegetable. Depending on the variety, you’ll find vitamins A, C, E, and K, along with iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and folate in significant quantities per serving of leafy green. (If you’re concerned about calcium, forget the yogurt and make yourself a batch of collard greens.)

When it comes to the leafies, I’m not picky, though if you pin me down I’ll choose Swiss chard for its brightly colored stems and delicate flavor. The half-Southerner in me loves collards and turnip greens too; and I’ll always delight in a dish with kale or an arugula salad.

I was craving the hearty bite of kale when I picked up a bunch mustard greens last week at the market. The lighter green and less hefty leaves were stashed under the “kale” label. A few glances around the produce section indicated the store was out of kale and trying to trick me with mustard greens; so I went with it.

I sautéed my unintended take in my usual olive oil, onion, garlic way. The resulting side dish was far from a disaster, but it came out more bitter (bitterer) than I recall mustard greens being. They weren’t dandelion greens, people.

A few days later, I remembered Lidia Bastianich’s method for taking the edge off broccoli rabe, which is to let the veg simmer in water for a few minutes after a quick sauté. What if I applied this technique to mustard greens?

A miracle. With a smidge of smoked paprika (or liquid smoke) for that Southern flavor, mustard greens have never tasted better. CB and I had them with our Middle Eastern tapas plate and I’ve had them again with lunch for a few days. They just keep getting better.

This little adventure has inspired me to learn new (and proper?) ways of cooking vegetables, especially greens. I filled up my library hold list with vegetable-specific cookbooks this week in anticipation, so, look out for more straight-up veg from me in the coming months. And, if you have any tips for cooking greens, give me a shout in the comments. I’m always looking for new excuses to buy kale.

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If this recipe floats your boat, paddle on over to:

• Collard Greens and Black-eyed Peas
• Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Soup
• Kale and Root Vegetable Salad

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Smokey Mustard Greens
Serves 4
Inspired by Lidia Bastianich’s Broccoli Rabe with Oil and Garlic


16 ounces mustard greens (about 8 cups), washed, woody stems removed, and torn
2 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion
6 cloves garlic
1/8 to 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper

1) In a large heavy bottomed skillet, like cast iron, sauté onion in oil for two minutes until soft. Add garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for one more minute.

2) Add mustard greens by the handful, stirring until they are coated with spices and begin to wilt.

3) Once all greens have been added to the pan, add water, cover, and simmer for about five minutes. Remove cover and cook one or two more minutes.

4) Serve alongside any entree, but don’t be surprised if the greens are the star of the meal.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price per Serving
60 calories, 2.3g fat, 4g fiber, 4g protein, $.48

Calculations
16 ounces mustard greens: 112 calories, 0g fat, 16g fiber, 16g protein, $1.49
2 teaspoons olive oil: 79.2 calories, 9.24g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.05
1 small onion: 20 calories, 0.1g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.25
6 cloves garlic: 24 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.07
1 teaspoons smoked paprika: negligible calories, fat, fiber, protein, $.02
1 teaspoons salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, protein, $.02
1 tablespoon black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, protein, $.02
TOTALS: 235 calories, 9.25g fat, 16g fiber, 16g protein, $1.92
PER SERVING (TOTALS/4): 60 calories, 2.3g fat, 4g fiber, 4g protein, $.48

How to Get Your Children to Eat Their Greens - As adults we know just how important it is that we get our greens and our fruit in our diet. We know that its here that we get the all-important minerals and nutrients that ensure we have strong bones, that ensure we have healthy teeth and nails, and that help us to avoid getting colds and other illnesses by keeping our immune system strong.

However the unfortunate fact is that kids dont know all this as well, and that they only really see vegetables and fruit as a frustrating obstacle to getting their pudding. This is the reason for the age old war between kids and parents that come every dinner time and makes meals a lot more dragged out and a lot less pleasant than they otherwise could be.

Here we will look at how to keep your kids happily eating their greens so that you can avoid a fight and keep them healthy and strong.

Dont Make a Big Deal of It
One mistake a lot of parents make is to make a big deal of their children eating their greens and to draw a lot of attention to them in the process. If you say to your children make sure you eat all your greens before they have even started eating, then this is only going to have the effect of making them not want to at all; no one ever wants to do something theyre told to do...

Likewise if they really dont want to eat something then theres no point in absolutely forcing them to or making them sit there for hours – its not worth it for one last carrot and all it will do is scar them and completely put off vegetables forever. Let them win some battles, as long as you win the war...

Mix Them In
At the same time you can easily trick your children into eating a lot of fruits and vegetables without them really being aware if you mix them into bigger meals. Stews for instance are ideal ways to sneak the veg into their diet, and this way even if they are crafty and decide to try and eat around the vegetables, they will still get a lot of goodness simply from the gravy and the sauce which will have absorbed some of the nutrients and goodness – lets see them wriggle out of that one!

Likewise you can also include fruit and vegetables in other ways that are less obvious – for instance you can put fruit onto your childrens morning cereal (bananas or strawberries for instance) and you can even include it in deserts – like meringue but with sliced fruits on top. This way they will actually look forward to their fruit.

Think Outside the Box
If your child absolutely loathes the sight of broccoli then theres no point in having an unpleasant stand off every night – dinner time should be an enjoyable time for the whole family. Instead then concede to the vegetables they dont like, and instead think about using some of the fruit they maybe dont know about next time. Maybe you could have some aubergine or some cauliflower, or some swede. There must be something they like... right?

Change the Presentation
Meanwhile you might also find that they simply dont like the vegetables the way youre doing them. If they wont eat cauliflower for instance, then they may eat cheesy cauliflower. Likewise if they dont like carrots, then try grated carrot with suede.

Blend
And in general grating things is a great way to get your children to eat them. So they wont eat the carrots in your bolognaise? Then try just grating the carrot on top of the spag and they wont even be able to see it. Likewise you can blend fruits up into a juice, or you can even give them soup or ice cream with the nutrition too finely chopped to see.

Dont Be Fooled
Dont be fooled last of all by foods and particularly puddings that claim to be one of your childrens five a day. Very rarely is this true, and even if it is it probably wont contain the same fiber content. Real fruit and veg is always preferable to things claiming to have the same benefits.