Simple Garlic Greens

(from the Clothes Make the Girl)

You need: greens, olive oil, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, a lemon wedge

Directions:
1. Wash the greens. Remove any tough and/or thick ribs, then roughly chop or tear the leaves. Don't dry the leaves; you want that water for steaming.

2. Heat a large skillet and throw in about half the greens. Stir 'til starting to wilt, then add the rest. Put a lid on it! During this process, you may need to add more water – bonus! beef or chicken broth – to convince the leaves to mellow out. Kale takes a while; beet tops are a little more willing to give it up.

3. When the leaves are dark green and as wilted as you like them – as all things, I like mine very well-done, which means quite wilted – take off the lid and let any remaining water evaporate.

4. Turn off the heat and drizzle some olive oil over the greens. Crush a clove or two of garlic into the pan. Stir.

5. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper, then, if you like, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

My Thoughts:  I used Mustard Greens.  Yuck.  Wait, I need to say it again. Yuck.  I might even need to yell it since my mouth is still not happy with me.  I have no doubt that if I made this with Kale I would have fallen in love with the recipe but mustard greens are not my friend.  Very easy recipe to make and I'd probably try it again with a different green because, as we all know, I like my garlic.

Kale Chips

(from The Clothes Make the Girl blog)

Ingredients:

4 cups raw kale, washed, dried, torn into 2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted, or olive oil
salt


Directions:
1. Place kale in a bowl and toss with oil.

2. Spread the kale on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle generously with salt. (For a BBQ chip flavor, add a sprinkle of chili powder and paprika.)

3. Bake in a 350F oven for 7-10 minutes – keep an eye on them!

My thoughts:  Delicious!!  Yummy!!  I like!!  My interpretation of "generously" didn't match up with Melissa's and the first batch ended up being way too salty for me.  It also could be attributed to using a bulk size bottle of sea salt instead of an actual shaker...  Second batch today was much better, I even used fresh ground garlic & sea salt combo (bought at Costco).  I ended up baking my kale for 15 minutes, 10 minutes didn't make it crispy enough for me.  I didn't see much of a difference in taste between using coconut oil (first batch) or olive oil (second batch).  Storage is an issue... do you keep it in a paper bag so it doesn't get soggy or just eat it all at once?  I've got it in a plastic tub right now that has one of those vent things for the microwave.