An experiment in greens
Eating leafy greens (besides the occasional salad) aren’t a strong suit here in our home. I don’t mind them sauteed and wilted with onion and garlic. But the kids don’t dig it. And between the six of us a half gallon of raw farm milk last over a week…so I’ve long been aware that we need to boost our calcium intake elsewhere. Leafy greens are a great source of many wonderful things, including calcium.
My mom was at a farm stand and was on the phone with me describing the produce and I had her get me a bunch each of mustard greens, red chard, beets (with their lovely greens attached) and kale. Now I just had to figure out what to do with them!
After a good deal of reading online, I put together my plan:
Enjoy the lovely beet tops – they really are beautiful!
Finely chop greens in food processor
Place into snack sized tiny ziplocs without any air inside OR freeze into ice cubes
The ice cubes are primarily to use for smoothies, which we enjoy very often and I sneak all sorts of things into and the baggie sized servings are to toss into soups. For our family those are the two foreseeable ways we will all enjoy some leafy dark greens! I did this with the red chard, the beet tops and kale (which I blanched very quickly first since it’s so tough). I didn’t do the mustard greens because I plan to have them myself. Fresh foods are the name of the game this pregnancy for me, I can’t get enough. So I intend to do my best at eating them! I will let you know how this little experiment pans out in the next couple weeks…
Comments
1. WHERE do you get fresh raw farm milk?? I thought it was outlawed in Washington. I haven’t been able to find it in over 10 years.
2. I’ve just been told that lots of leafy greens are what I need to help me with some health issues. What great ideas for getting them consumed! I still make smoothies with fresh or frozen spinach as you taught me without the kids having the slightest idea there is anything healthful in the yummy most-requested breakfast drink. Thank you!
3. I am really going to go fold my laundry now.
1-Raw milk is actually readily available in our state! Best website I have found is http://www.realmilk.com but one of the two providers we’ve used is in Sequim, they have drop off’s all over-surely one near you-it is http://www.dungenessvalleycreamery.com. Currently we are buying from Pride and Joy Dairy, also various of drop off locations, ours comes fresh from the farm on Tuesday to our local health store http://www.prideandjoydairy.com. I know it’s a bit controversial…but I feel very good about it. And the cream on top for my coffee (the coffee I gave up a few months ago!) – holy yumminess!
2-I put 3 cubes of Kale into tonight’s smoothie, I don’t have a fancy blender so you could still see it but the smoothie was great, also added 3 T ground flax seed. Have been adding avocado too. Everyone gulped it up!
3-I wish we could fold laundry together…it would be more fun…especially if it involved red wine and Haggen Daz…sigh
We do this with spinach as Logan will not eat any vegetable! So i do the ice cube tray thing after steaming and blending, then add a bit to smoothies or scrambled egss, taco meat etc. HE caught onto the egg color quickly but smoothie sna dmeat not so much. Good luck let me know how you incoorpierate them into meals!
Oooh, taco meat add in’s, great idea, thank you! I was also going to try adding to pasta sauce, has that worked for you Jenna?
yes red pasta sauce I do add it too….he studies hes food closely so I have to be careful that i dont add to much to alter color!Im going to try kale enxt
Absolutely fascinating. Looks like I can get it a half an hour from home. I strongly believe it is at least 10 times as nutritional this way. I learned why from my Dad who grew up milking cows on a dairy farm and has read tons of nutrition books.
Do you grind your own flax seed? I buy flax oil and put it in smoothies but you have me, once again, curious…
Ahhhhh, yes, we should just start some kind of community with some families and we can do the barn raising thing with folding laundry (no one need know we treat ourselves while folding).
Yes I do, I just use my cheap coffee grinder to grind the flax seed. I clean it out by wiping it then grinding a bit of rice in it then it’s nice and clean. I grind about a weeks works at a time then store it in the fridge. Its a lot cheaper than flax oil I’ve found.
Agreed on the milk, it’s spendy so we use very little but I agree it is much higher in nutritional value. This week I’m trying to make my own kefir with a yogurt starter, we spend a good chunk of change on yogurt….if we could make our own it would be great!
Uh, do I sound like a crazy hippie?
Don’t answer that…please (big smile)
I was surprised to learn that my kids liked Swiss Chard. It is growing abundantly at the church garden, and was on the harvest table. My daughter wanted to try it, and I encouraged her to fill a small bag. I was concerned that I would be the only one eating it, but my 4 and 7 year old both enjoyed it. I hope the twins are just as adventurous at trying new foods, because daddy refused to even taste them.