I need to eat leafy greens every day on the detox diet I am on. But not just lettuce and spinach, which I can handle. These leafy greens must be parsley, kale, watercress, chard, cilantro, beet greens, collards, escarole, dandelion, or mustard greens (1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw). Just the leafy greens neither my mother nor I ever fixed! Except parsley as a garnish.
I love beet greens, but we didn’t grow beets this year, and I haven’t been able to find them anywhere for sale. I haven’t found kale, watercress, escarole, or mustard greens anywhere. I assume by dandelion greens, they mean go pick dandelions from your back yard. (Eewwwwww! Though we actually have enough dandelions in the back yard to stay on this diet indefinitely!)
I found chard and collards at the organic supermarket. The chard I have been putting into salad. I don’t know how much longer I can eat it that way, LOL. The poor collards are just sitting in my fridge, looking a little more forlorn every day, LOL. I have been staring at them every day, wondering what on God’s green earth to do with them. I have no idea how to fix these kinds of greens. If anyone can help me with recipes, I would so appreciate it! Please post in the comments, or you can e-mail me at alittleperspective [at] gmail [dot] com. Thank you!
Hey…I am thinking you should contact a local farm or co-op. They almost always have stuff like that. Also, the dandelion leaves would have any pesticides and stuff on them from your neighborhood, so I wouldn't go there!
Good luck!
Do you eat the greens raw or cooked?
Can you juice them?
If not, do a search for collard recipes on the internet, etc. I bet you'll find some.
I think I'll stick to my lettuce and broccoli. 🙂
I don't have any advice to offer. However, you are not alone. I am struggling with eating the leafy greens as well. Ya know, I just don't think they are tasty. I like most types of lettuce, except iceberg and I like spinach, depending on how it's prepared. I have found most other greens to be very bitter for my liking. FYI, I have many a time bought a green with good intentions, only to watch it wilt in my fridge. I hope you conquer this.
The dandelions in our back yard have never had pesticides or weed killer on them. But nevertheless, I can't bring myself to actually eat them. 🙂 Yes, I know my grandmother used to put them in salad every spring. I still can't bring myself to try it. 🙂 Thank you for the juicing suggestion, Joanna; it's a good one. I'm going to try it. I will also search for collard recipes on the Internet, and will let you know if I find anything palatable. 🙂
Hello I am Rosslyn from Australia. We used to dig up the roots to the dandelion. We air dried them, once they were dry after a couple of months, we roasted them in the oven, then put them thro6a branch smasher type apparatus, then we made a beautiful cup of dandelion tea. Yum
I like to saute greens. With collards and kale it is usually best to cook in boiling water until tender. This can take from 2-30 min. depending on the age of leaves, and how tender you desire them! I usually cut into bite size pieces before boiling. Drain well to get rid of excess moisture. I even use a towel or paper towels to dry. Next, saute in a skillet with a little olive oil, or veggie broth. I prefer oil. I like to add garlic and feta cheese, and of course, salt. With the detox diet you may be limited to broth. Cumin is another spice I sometimes add. Crushed red peppers would add some heat. You could also make a salad with the warm greens using olive or walnut oil, red wine vinegar and chopped walnuts. Mmmm! I think I'll pick up some greens on my next grocery shopping trip. Hope this helps!
Hi,
As part of my diet, I've tried to introduce green smoothies into my diet. Honestly, it is the best and easist way to get all those leafy greens into me. 😉
6 peaches, 2 handfuls of spinach leaves and water is easy. How about 1 part figs,
1 part banana, 1 part spinach and water.
But then I also start to add lots of other stuff like ground flax seeds, tahini, tsp of spirulina, anything that I *need* to put inside my body. 🙂
Oh, I also use my blender, not the juicer for the smoothies. There's so much goodness to be had from the greens that I simply juice my carrots or oranges and then add that juice to the blender along with the greens and then blend! Yeah, can take some getting used to but…it's worth it.
Spring has just begun here so I'm also in the process of doing a bodily spring clean. Hope all goes well for you.
Cheers,
Susan <><
Edited by HomeGrownKids on Saturday, September 10, 2005 at 4:54 PM