Falling for Fall Greens

So the weather may be chilly, but that's not stopping the green stuff from overflowing the weeds in the garden. Here it is the middle of October and I am up to the tops of my Wellies in greens of all sorts.

Kale, with it's dark silvery-green leaves that prickle when you tear them from the stem are growing tall and proud. They are great sauteed with olive oil and garlic or tossed into an impromptu soup. For a quick meal, open a can of your favorite soup and stir some in, even butternut squash soup! Seriously, don't knock it till you try it.

Rainbow Chard is also coloring up the garden nicely and our plates as well with its magenta, gold and white stalks. The variety I have is called "Bright Lights" and it sure is pretty. Full of vitamins and a great way to get more color in your diet which is highly recommended by nutritionists, Swiss and Rainbow chard makes a great substitute for tired spinach. How to cook it? Olive oil and garlic, of course! You can braise it, steam it, boil it, poach it, whatever. It tastes pretty good any way you choose.

Mustard greens are having a field day in the garden and I am adding them to everything. The kind I have is called "Osaka Purple" and it is a big, fat leaf tinged with purple as the name implies. Mustard Greens can be a tad bitter, so you might want to blanche them in some lightly salted water before you saute them in.....what else? Olive oil and garlic! (Noticing a trend here?)

Since they have the name "Osaka", I also saute them with ginger and a splash of soy sauce at the end....If you boil or blanche them, you'll find your water tinged a beautiful blue color from the purple and green. I save this water to add to soups. Who knows, might be some vitamins in that there water! The greatest thing about these greens is that they come back every year! I only had to plant them once and now they're coming up all over the place. Weed? Nah, just a user-friendly plant.

The last but not least in my wonderful family of cold-hardy green things is the Bok Choy. Aside from being fun to say, (fast like a Samurai warrior), it instantly Asian-ifies (made-up but very cool word) any meal. It's crunchy and yummy without being too cabbagey, although it is in the cabbage family. Break off the stalks first and then add the leaves toward the end so they don't get over-cooked. How to cook them, you ask? Maybe you can guess! Olive oil or sesame oil, garlic, ginger, a little soy and/or fish sauce and a splash (teeny) of rice wine or rice vinegar. This last ingredient can dull the bright green color, so it's optional.

So check out your farmer's market or your produce section for these fall favorites that pack a nutritional punch and instead of bypassing them, you can....

GO GREEN!