True Jolly Green Giants
If you remember the Jolly Green Giant® mascot from the Green Giant® frozen veggies commercials, welcome to my childhood memory banks!
These days, we’ve all received the encouragement to eat more leafy green vegetables. The reasons why are as plentiful as the choices. Green Giants, or “super foods,” are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, not to mention a good deal of fiber. There’s not an aspect of our health—from brain aging to our immune systems—which are not enhanced by regularly eating leafy greens.
That said, many people still don’t incorporate enough leafy green vegetables into their meal plans much beyond a side salad (which are typically limited to lettuce and spinach leaves). I think it’s because A.) we are creatures of habit, and B.) we often lack imagination when it comes to meal prep.
So, here’s a quick list of some other fabulous greens, alongside a menu idea, to expand your choices and give you a new vision for a leafy green you may only use in one, particular way, or, not at all.
Arugula: Use as the basis of your salad, rather than lettuce. Lightly dress with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. This peppery green can even be used alongside an egg breakfast.
Cabbage: Oh, so versatile! Raw, in salads and slaws. Sautéed with colorful bell peppers and onions and eaten alongside poultry sausage or steak. Chopped up and added to soups or stews.
Collards: Wilt down in chicken broth with sautéed onions and smoked paprika. Serve with a drizzle made with apple cider vinegar, chopped scallions, a shake of red pepper and a small squirt of agave. Wonderful when paired with pork.
Kale: The baby variety (my favorite) for salads, or in sandwiches, or the mature leaves, chopped off the central rib and add to soups and stews.
Spinach: Possibly the most versatile leaves of the bunch, chop ‘em up in the morning and mix them into your scrambled eggs, use them instead of lettuce on a sandwich, wilt them down in soup, or—my favorite way to use spinach—dump them into your pasta water with just one minute left of cooking time to amp up the nutritional value of your dinner!