Collard greens from the garden mature just in time for celebratory blog

Today marks the 200th posting for my blog; I had hoped to have something spectacular to blog about to celebrate this milestone. Nature provided just the celebratory item!

Yesterday afternoon from the garden Hubby brought in an armful of collard greens, hardy survivors of the ice storm of Super Bowl week back in February.

I didn’t know I could be so in love with collards. The leaves on these were humongous; they were crisp and fresh and perfect. Hubby says that in the past one of our biggest challenges in growing greens of any kind has been picking them at just the right moment. He says often we wait too late; therefore the taste is slightly bitter. This year’s ferrying in of our new greens occurred at the ideal time while they were succulent.

I had been eyeing a recipe called “Wilted Greens Salad” in my Celebrating a Healthy Harvest handbook. It called for combining any greens one happens to have on hand—collards, mustard, beet, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, dandelion—enough to amount to about a pound (I had some spinach in the fridge already.) These then are mixed and wilted in a hot skillet that contains chicken broth and vinegar as the wilting agent. Since the recipe is designed to be served warm, I was unable to determine how it acquired the “salad” label, except I imagined the vinegar mixture which forms the liquid causes this recipe to be as good chilled in the fridge as it is warmed in the skillet.

And need I extol the wonders of greens? Most everyone knows they deliver more nutrients in fewer calories than virtually any food out there. They help regulate blood pressure and contain the important nutrients magnesium, iron, calcium, folate, vitamin C, and vitamin B6, plus all the cancer- and heart-disease fighting phytochemicals. In fact the difference between people who have heart attacks and those who don’t is said to be how many trips they make to the salad bar, provided they make those salads with greens beyond just iceberg lettuce.

Many suggest trimming the stems on leafy greens because they’re thought to be unpleasantly tough, but for my “Wilted Greens Salad”” I threw in the entire collard leaf, stem and all. The stems cooked up just as tender as the leaves did.

The whole experience was a taste-fest; I was very thankful that the collard leaves were spared in the frost and that they matured just in time to help me celebrate this red-letter day of enjoying my delightful blogging pastime. I look forward to Hubby harvesting the rest of the collard-green crop very soon, so we can have this recipe again and often.

Wilted Greens Salad

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 pound greens blend (spinach, beet, collard, kale, etc.)

freshly ground pepper and salt substitute to taste

Rinse greens thoroughly. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet heat broth and vinegar over high heat until mixture boils. Add greens; stir and cook, covered, until greens are wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Uncover, stir, and cook on high heat until the greens are tender and the liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. (Don’t overcook.) Season with salt substitute and pepper to taste. Serve. Makes 4 servings.

Celebrating a great annual physical report with this healthy bean-and-spinach skillet meal

The results are in, and healthy eating won big! Residing in my in-box yesterday were the results of my bloodwork from my physical exam two days ago. My squeals of satisfaction could be heard all the way to downtown Dallas as I read that my triglycerides were down six points from last year, my bad cholesterol also was down six, and my good cholesterol was up eight (UP is good, in this case). All other results (including blood pressure and weight) were excellent throughout, the doctor reported in his email to me. Something truly to be thankful for, since in the gently aging, such as myself, those readings often go the opposite direction. HOORAY! I credit it all to (besides the Good Lord, of course) dietary changes. Maybe I should credit The Newfangled Country Gardener, since writing this blog keeps me honest about my food choices. Fruits, vegetables, fiber—tweaking the diet with a healthy eating plan—does deliver what it promises.

To celebrate I prepared a recipe I’ve been holding onto from HealthMonitor, the little magazine that our local hospital mails out to the community. (Recipes also can be found at www.HealthMonitor.com.) Like the previous night’s, it was another skillet meal; the contents were absolutely scrumptious; one serving amounted to only 327 calories. (HealthMonitor stated that it reprinted the recipe from the book, EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners by Jessie Price, Nicci Micco, and the editors of EatingWell Magazine.) White beans, tomatoes, and spinach leaves poured in the health on top of the shelf-stable gnocchi (soft dumplings). A mixture of two cheese on top was the crowning touch to this good recipe.

Is bypassing the fast-food lines and taking time to put healthy food on the table worth it all? You betcha, when the Moment of Truth time arrives and the annual-physical report turns up good in the inbox!

Skillet Gnocchi with Spinach and White Beans

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 spinach, chopped

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes (or 2 1/2 cups chopped Roma tomatoes)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 (15-ounce) can white beans, rinsed

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded

In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until gnocchi is plumped and starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining teaspoon of oil and chopped onion to the pan; cook over medium heat, stirring, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add spinach and cook, stirring, until spinach starts to wilt, about 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 more. Makes 6 servings.

Thoughts of spring not far away with this Three-Leaf Salad

When we left for our Westward journey some weeks back, our part of Texas still was in the clutches of icy winter. We’ve returned to glorious spring—gorgeous, bright days, jonquils filling the flowerbeds, mild temperatures. What a transition—hooray!

On return, one of the first things we did was to inspect how the garden had fared during Jack Frost’s icy grip. The lettuce leaves that we thought might be so tender that they would succumb actually were hale and hardy. Onions seemed OK, too. Harvest days for our winter plantings may be just around the corner.

I had spotted this recipe earlier and had thought it would be a wonderful celebratory dish when we bring in our own crunchy lettuce. I couldn’t wait to try it, however, so into the salad bowl went three kinds of storebought greens. Hopefully our own will be ready for the next serving.

The ingredients were so simple, I couldn’t imagine how tasty this salad would be. But after downing one bowlful I kept going back for more. I also couldn’t help but think that this should be relegated to the Christmas-recipe section of my binder—the bright red of the pepper and the holiday green of the lettuce and spinach were Christmas colors, for sure.

But thoughts of next Christmas don’t linger around too long with these pretty springlike days that get us ready for one of the most beautiful seasons of all. Can planting our next garden be too far behind?

Three-Leaf Salad

1 head romaine lettuce

2 cups fresh spinach

1/4 head iceburg lettuce

1 large red Bell pepper, cored

3 tablespoons cooking oil

3 tablespoons vinegar

1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

1 teaspoon salt (I used salt substitute)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Rinse all greens and slice into thin shreds. Put shreds into a large salad bowl. Cut pepper lengthwise into thin strips; add to the bowl. In a small container blend oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Add cheese and toss again. Serve immediately. Makes 4-6 servings.

A colorful mini-quiche baked in a muffin tin

More "snow" cooking—food items that seemed would hit the spot and as well as keep us healthy on the recent snowy, confined days that we experienced in the DFW Metroplex. Another goodie was a recipe for Italian Spinach Mini Quiche, which actually called for frozen spinach, but I happened to have some fresh spinach I needed to use up (in my ubiquitous quest for ways to get fresh leftover spinach leaves quickly hustled into foods), so I steamed it and subbed it for the frozen. Wonderful!

These mini-quiches were baked in regular muffin tins that had been lightly sprayed. I worried that they might fall apart when I lifted them out of the individual pans, but they held together wonderfully. A couple of them plus some red grapes made a perfect evening meal for a snowy Sunday night as we watched the rare (for North Texas) flakes dust everything around.

The colorful green spinach plus the chopped red bell peppers in the mini-quiches inspired me to list this as a Christmas-morning breakfast possibility as well (compiling my recipe wish-list for 2011 already). They also were terrific warmed for lunch the next day.

Italian Spinach Mini Quiche

16 ounces cottage cheese (low-fat)

10 ounces fresh spinach, cooked and drained thoroughly (or 1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed, drained well)

1 cup mozzarella cheese, skin

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

2 egg whites (or 1/2 cup egg-white substitute)

1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 teaspoon oregano, dried

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Spoon 1/3 cup of the mixture into each muffin cup. Evenly divide between the 12 cups any mixture that is left over. Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Let cool in the muffin tins for 5 minutes before you try to remove. Makes 12 servings.

Real men DO eat quiche-like frittata, especially when health-laced spinach is a main ingredient

From my recent preparation of Fruity Spinach Salad, the one that contained sliced pears and dried cranberries, I had half a bag of fresh spinach remaining. On the same Prevention magazine page as that yummy recipe was another spinach suggestion. I don't have an ovenproof frying pan, so I was hesitant to try (recipe recommends placing the frittata in the oven briefly to broil at the end), but I gambled that the dish would be just as successful without being brown on the top and prepared it anyway. I was glad I took the gamble!

It turned out a bit like a crustless quiche and was served in pie-shaped slices. A bit of patience is required while the preparer waits for the egg mixture to set over the medium-low heat at the end, but the rewards are great.

Real men DO eat quiche--at least the real man under my roof does, especially when that quiche-like frittata is laced with spinach, always acclaimed to be one of the world's healthiest foods. And once again my conscience is assuaged--I used up the remainder of those spinach leaves that were left over in the fridge, always a challenge to me since spinach can wither quickly.

Fall Frittata

1 small onion, chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

12 small potatoes, unpeeled (10 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided (or salt substitute)

2 cloves garlic, minced

5 cups spinach (about 4 ounces)

8 large eggs, beaten (or 2 cups egg substitute)

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Saute onion in 2 tablespoons oil in nonstick, ovenproof frying pan. Thinly slice potatoes and add to skillet along with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook 10 minutes; stir occasionally. Add garlic and cook until potatoes are done. Uncover; stir in spinach until it is wilted. Remove onion-potato-spinach mixture from skillet and cool in bowl. Into cooled mixture in bowl stir in eggs, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. In same skillet in which you just prepared the onion-potato-spinach mixture (that has been removed), heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-low heat. Into skillet with oil pour back in the egg mixture, sprinkled with cheese, until mixture is almost set. If desired, broil briefly to brown. Makes 6 servings.

Fizzling spinach wilts purposefully in Colorful Quesadillas

Leftover spinach is just plain no fun. Crispy and fresh in its packaging as it arrives home from the store, it forms the basis of dynamite salads and healthfully lines sandwiches in the place of lettuce. But allowed to sit in the fridge even for a few days, it quickly starts fizzling.

Watching this super-food turn to mush piques my conscience. I need to do something quick. But what? How?

At about the same time I began my soul-searching, I encountered a recipe for Colorful Quesadillas. Immediately I was drawn to it. What makes these quesadillas colorful? I ponder.

Aha, spinach! The very food item I wanted to re-purpose since I no longer needed it for a salad.

Add green pepper, left over from my garden and already chopped into bits and resting in an airtight container in the freezer. Add cheese, to be melted in the stovetop preparation.

All the basic needs met--plus the need for a quick, Sunday-night supper with minimal prep. As the cheese melted and the spinach and green peppers steamed in the skillet, the colorful adjective sprang to life. Why hadn't I invented this recipe, since I love spinach enchiladas better than life?

For sure I had a new recipe on my quick-and-easy (and might I add, healthy) favorites list.

Colorful Quesadillas

8 ounces cream cheese, fat-free

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

8 tortillas, whole-wheat, small

1 cup bell pepper, chopped

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded, low-fat

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

In a small bowl mix the cream cheese and garlic powder. Spread 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture on each tortillas. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons bell pepper and 2 tablespoons shredded cheese on half of each tortilla. Add 2 tablespoons spinach to each tortilla. Fold tortillas in half. Lightly spray large skillet with cooking spray. Heat skillet over medium heat. Place 2 folded tortillas in skillet and heat for 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until tortillas are golden brown. Remove quesadillas from skillet. Place on platter. Cut each quesadilla into 2-4 wedges. Cover with foil to keep warm until serving time. Makes 8 servings.

Leftover oranges spice up seafood recipe--company fare that takes only minutes to fix

Leave it to that great source of recipe ideas--Sam's Club--and a couple of leftover oranges from our son's citrus grove to provide an absolutely fabulous dinner of fish, that menu item we're supposed to eat in limitless supply.

Sam's Club doesn't always spring to the brain when I'm thinking of places to turn up good recipes, but a card that accompanied a recent Sam's mailing featured the how-to for Pistachio-Orange Tilapia. It called for two oranges, peeled and chopped.

Believe it or not, the produce bin of my refrigerator still had two oranges left over from an early spring visit to our son's house in Arizona. I've already blogged about how his back yard contains a citrus garden that, like many other locations in Phoenix, has abundant and gigantic oranges, lemons, and grapefruit.

Two oranges that I brought home with me were in their last stages of existence, but when I peeled them, they were still viable--just perfect for this recipe. My produce bin also contained an almost-unused bag of fresh spinach. Here I go, I thought, as I happily began to chop.

Adding a few pistachios contributed to the heart-healthiness of the dish. The Sam's recipe called for purchasing tilapia fillets that were pre-seasoned and packaged with the tilapia brand's own seasoning. Since the sodium content of pre-seasoned meat items sometimes can be high, however, I preferred to buy the tilapia unseasoned and add my own from salt-free Mrs. Dash (I used the lemon-pepper variety).

In the end my Pistachio-Orange Tilapia looked just like the one on the front of the Sam's recipe card, helped clean out my fridge (always a goal), and checked off another item my summer must-cook list. It was wonderful--and definitely no slouch if you need to serve it for company.

Pistachio-Orange Tilapia

4 tilapia fillets

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt-free seasoning

3 tablespoons pistachios, chopped

2 oranges, peeled and chopped

4 cups fresh baby spinach

2 ounces white cooking wine

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle salt-free seasoning onto tilapia on both sides of the fillet. Place fillets in skillet. Saute for 3 minutes on each side and place on serving plates. Add pistachios, oranges, and spinach to the skillet. Add white cooking wine. Stir well. Place cover on skillet and allow mixture to sit for 3 minutes. Spoon spinach mixture over fish fillets. Serves 4.

Not Greek to us: stovetop recipe excellent fare in these triple-digit days

More in the shop-the-pantry (or shop-the-refrigerator) genre: still more spinach to use up before it goes bad. Same thing for an avocado in my fridge: one is starting to get too mushy. What to fix?

In the yet-untried-summer recipe category was Greek Frittata, an amazingly easy weeknight fix that could be prepared on the stovetop (in our string of triple-digit days, you can be sure Hubby still is pleading his case about not firing up the oven, so this preparation made him happy).

This Frittata is a cousin to an omelet and cooks up as quickly and effortlessly. I love the flavor the feta cheese adds (thus making the omelet a "Greek" one). The spinach adds a healthy touch; the tomatoes on top along with the avocado add color.

For just the two of us this menu item lasted several days--and my refrigerator bins were cleaned out again without guilt-producing throwaways.

Greek Frittata

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped red pepper

1 1/2 cups torn fresh spinach

1/2 cup milk (I use skim)

8 eggs (I use egg substitute)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

avocado (garnish)

In 12-inch nonstick skillet cook onion and red pepper over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally until lightly browned. Stir in spinach. Continue cooking until spinach is wilted. In bowl combine milk, eggs, garlic powder, and pepper; mix well. Stir in cheese. Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour mixture into skillet. Cook; lift edges to allow eggs to flow underneath until edges are set. Cover and continue to cook until top is set. In small bowl mix drained tomatoes and basil. Pour onto top of frittata. Garnish with sliced avocado. Serve from skillet. Makes 6 servings.