Kale, spinach and greens recipes- help!

Mrs_Huggett

Frozen raspberries and blueberries, also cranberries are available in Sainsburys they are two packs for £4.00 and this offer is often on for weeks at a time, I buy the Rasbs, they are lovely in greek yoghurt!!

Ash_McCloud

Indian Spice Greens

heretolearn_2

I used to buy frozen spinach - the one that comes as little cubes - and when boiling potatoes for mash chuck a cube in for the last few minutes. Then just mash it all up, you end up with green mashed potato but can't really taste anything.

mysk_girl

Spinach is really easy to grow, even in a window box if that it all you have space for. I planted a 6' row of a cut-and-come-again variety, and we had it coming out of our ears - 4 times a week for a family of 4 and I was still freezing and giving it away. I know this doesn't help now, but long term it would keep your costs down. Also rainbow chard is easy, which has big green leaves.

RevolvingDoor

attentionseeker1 wrote: »

Hmm I haven't been brave enough to do a green smoothie but I did an antioxidant one with loads of different coloured fruits including some not too pricey frozen raspberries so hopefully that will help.

You only have to try it once, even my husband drinks his and he "hates" fruit and veg. I used 2/3 bananas and a few handfuls of spinach and he said it tasted like a banana milkshake.

floyd

I love this spanakopita recipe and have made it using rainbow chard before

1 bunch (about 320g) spinach (you can use kale/chard or other greens)
2 sprigs fresh dill, chopped
4 green shallots, chopped (I use onions if I don't have shallots in)
300g feta cheese
100g ricotta cheese
40g finely grated hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino
5 eggs
2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
60ml olive oil
Melted butter or olive oil for greasing dish
375g packet filo pastry
185ml melted butter, approximately

1. Trim the roots from the spinach, wash leaves and drain well.
2. Coarsely shred the leaves and tender stalks of the spinach and set aside.
3. Place the feta in a large bowl and coarsely mash with a fork. Add the ricotta, parmesan, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, pepper and oil. Mix with the fork to combine.
4. Add the spinach and set aside while preparing the pastry case.
5. Preheat oven to 180C.
6. Lightly grease a 20cm x 30cm x 5cm deep baking dish. Lay the filo out on a bench. Cover with a dry tea towel then a damp one to keep it from drying out. Line dish with a sheet of filo and butter the filo. Top with another sheet of filo and butter and continue until about half the sheets of filo are used.
7. Using your hand or a large metal spoon, gently mix the spinach filling until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared pastry base and spread evenly.
8. Top with remaining filo, buttering each sheet, ensuring the final sheet is well buttered. Trim any overhanging pastry and tuck in the sides.
9. Use a sharp knife to mark pastry top into diamonds, allowing the knife to pierce the pastry once or twice to allow air to escape during baking.
10. Sprinkle lightly with water and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until well browned and set. Gently shake the pan and the spanakopita will slide easily when cooked. Cover with foil if over browning. Cool on rack for 15 minutes before cutting to serve.

I have kept this in the fridge covered with foil for 4 days without any problems and its great hot or cold.

It is a bit more expensive to make but it goes a long way and can break up the monotony a bit.

I know how you feel as I was trying to get more greens in to increase my iron intake and it gets very tedious having the same thing.

It also works well in chickpea curry and also in potato cakes

katieowl_2

A friend told me about a side dish she had in a very VERY posh place, and I happened to have the ingredients indoors so gave it a whirl and it was lush, I don't have a 'recipe' but basically it's kale in cream and garlic sauce. I sauteed some garlic in olive oil, and wilted the kale in the same pan, when it was virtually done, I tossed in about half a pot of double cream, and gave it all a good stir. Even OH liked it and he's very scathing about things with cream in.

Kate

attentionseeker1

Thanks for all of the suggestions-tonight I had a kind of braised kale with apple as I would do with cabbage. It was ok- it seems slightly chewier than when I make it with cabbage though.

Will definitely try the smoothie if you really can't taste it. Creamed kale sounds good too and I completely forgot about spanakopita. Wonder if I could take that in for lunch to work as then wouldn't have to eat spinach/kale every night for dinner!

Another berry smoothie down, and a handful of goji berries which taste like raisins gone wrong!

The more I work at this, the more I realise that I must not have been consuming enough f&v before, even though I thought I was quite good compared to others I know. Or certainly not enough variety.

grrmich

Hugh recently had a programme based around Kale. Last week I made the Kale and Onion pizza. It was lovely, but possibly because I added chicken and really crispy bacon :-)

http://scrapbook.channel4.com/programmes/hughs-3-good-things/bookmarks/series-1/episode-5

adelight

I swear you don't notice spinach in a smoothie!!
Try 1 banana, 1 cup (think small nutella jar size) frozen berries and a big handful of fresh spinach. Blend it all up with water to thin it. Makes two big glasses for me, save one for the next day (might need a shake or blend though). You can build up the amount of spinach you use and what veg/fruit you put in but this is a basic tasty one.

I would just add greens to stuff you eat anyway:
Throw a handful of spinach into any salad or sandwich.
Add chopped greens of any kind to sauces, pasta, stews etc just before serving and omelettes, pasties, pizzas... Basically anything.
Blend with spuds and onions or tom's and herbs to make soups.
Stir fried greens go well with anything Chinese and curried greens go well with Indian food or added to curry.
Wedges of cabbage coated in olive oil and salt and baked go well with everything.

Kale grows easily all year round in the garden. You can grown spinach and other greens too but it can be difficult to grow much in a window box this time of year.