Lyra, I made a very delicious chard/white bean/gnocchi dish and I like to add greens to bean soup.

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans
From EatingWell: January/February 2009

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 16-ounce package shelf-stable gnocchi
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
6 cups chopped chard leaves, (about 1 small bunch) or spinach
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add chard (or spinach) and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes.

Per serving : 325 Calories; 7 g Fat; 2 g Sat; 3 g Mono; 8 mg Cholesterol; 55 g Carbohydrates; 14 g Protein; 6 g Fiber; 616 mg Sodium; 360 mg Potassium

Annie

Saute greens in olive oil with garlic and a dash of crushed red pepper if you want. Serve over pasta (a relatively small amount of pasta and a relatively large amount of greens) with lots of good grated cheese. For a meat addition, saute any good quality sausage before adding greens.

This dish is a staple in my house. I make it with many different kinds of greens, including the Chinese Gailan.

Lyra, you can also pick it, wash it, chop it, zip bag it and freeze it for a taste of summer in January.

Sounding good so far! Before my motion detecting sprinklers I couldn't keep the deer out of my garden. I have never been able to grow corn or greens before so this is new to me. Greens were not something my parents ate so I was an adult before even tasting spinach. I do seek out dandelion greens early in the spring because they are some of the first fresh vegtables after the snow melts.

I don't recall a great deal of posting about greens here on the forum. Maybe I just didn't see them?

: )
lyra

Lyra, there hasn't been a lot of discussion about greens, although I love 'em. Beet greens, collard greens, chard, spinach, kale, I like them all.

We did have a discussion as to how to cook collards, with some doing a quick saute of the young leaves and others of us cooking the big older leaves for hours.

Ashley will eat canned spinach cold right out of the can, so that's probably my genetic print passed on, LOL. Dad always put vinegar on his greens, but I like salt and pepper, maybe a ham hock in there.

Annie

I love all sorts of greens raw. What I need to do is work them into my cooking. I was told there are nutrients locked up that need to be released by cooking. Interesting about the beans... I know spinach is great in lentil soup. Seems I recall some here can taste a metal flavor in canned spinach?

Wonder if anyone has dried greens. Would it make a soup flavoring like the cilantro I dried... which I suppose is a sort of dried green.

I tried canned mustard greens years ago because my grandfather introduced me to wild "mustard" greens we found growing in his bean field. Whatever greens we found were not the mustard greens found in cans or the produce section... they had a sour tangy flavor. Grandfather reacted to those greens because his mother grew them in her garden... which would have been across the road 40-50 years prior. Being a young child I was astonished that Grandpa had a mother! I even knew her briefly... she lived to be 108.. probably would have made it further if she had not fallen out of bed and broke her hip.

: )
lyra

lyra, there was a discussion here about dried kale chips, and I like kale in bean soup, it moderates the sharp flavor a bit, IMO.

I never cared that much for canned spinach, I like frozen better, it gets too soft when canned and kind of slimy. That texture thing again, you know....

I'm also a big fan of creamed spinach and spinach dip and I find that I can use other greens in either of those in place of the spinach.

Annie

I made lima bean/chard soup last night. Big Crockpot full!
I had done the Stickey Chicken the day before, saved the liquid, refrigerated to de-fat it.

Toss soaked limas, celery, onion, carrots and LOTS of chard in the leftover chicken liquid. I added a quart of turkey broth for more liquid. Turned the crockpot on low and went to bed. The house smelled fantastic this morning!
I like my soups on the thick side, so I tossed in a few lentils and some couscous this morning and let it cook awhile longer until time to leave for work. Easy dinner tonight and I'll freeze the rest.

Anyone else crave beans and greens at 6am?? :)

How big are the leaves on the mustard spinach, Lyra?

If large enough, use some to make "cabbage" rolls. You can patch together two or more as needed to make your wrap. Fill with seasoned meat, beans, rice, veggies as you like.
Toss 'em in the crockpot, cover with tomato sauce and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Another easy meal that makes lots!

Baked kale chips are great too! Being the "potato chip freak" that I am, this is a nice way to sub something a little healthier. Link to one of many recipes below.
Give it a try with your greens!

Deanna

Here is a link that might be useful: Kale Chips

I didn't think of spinach dip... oooh I could take that to work for a table treat. We have fun at work bringing snacks to share... spinach dip with rye bread would be a certain winner.

The leaves are about the size of baby spinach. If I let them get larger they take on a hot flavor... sort of like cabbage is sometimes hot. Suppose I could wrap meatballs as a mini-gulabke.

: )
lyra