Superfoods Friday ~ Collard Greens

Hello friends and welcome to the first post of

Superfoods Friday

I have decided to combine the Friday Foodie Feature with SuperFoods for Seniors and I do hope that you like the change. Each week in addition to listing several Superfoods with information on how they help us stay healthy, one will also be featured in a recipe.

This week’s Superfood Friday Feature is

Collard Greens

Before Kale became a popular Superfood, Collards were the better known green vital for bone health. My grandmother was born and raised in the south, Canton, North Carolina to be exact, so you know that we always had a big pot of greens on the stove every Sunday and holiday.

A tradition that I still have in my home to this day, thankfully they are pretty clean before being sold, so preparing them is uber easy. We don’t eat pork and most people no longer cook them in pieces of unhealthy Salt Pork, so instead I’ve used Smoked Turkey necks or wings.

I have since stopped adding any kind of meat so now I just cook them in a pot of water, with a little olive oil, vinegar, onions, garlic and a some seasoning sprinkled in.

Glory Foods also sells greens in a bag and they are just as healthy but I wanted fresh even though these looked like the bugs got to them, they were still good!

Start a large pot of water, more than enough to cover the collards, I don’t measure, so I just pour in some olive oil and Apple Cider vinegar. Chop up an onion and a few bulbs of garlic, which can either be fresh or garlic in a jar sold at Dollar Tree. You can also sprinkle in a little white sugar to cut down on the bitterness of the greens.

These greens were not gritty with dirt, but I still washed them before cooking as you should with any produce. You can also add baking soda to the water if you wish.

After washing, remove the stems then layer a few of the leaves together.

Roll the leaves like a Cuban Cigar and cut into pieces, the size is your preference.

The water should be boiling now, so put in the collards, onions and garlic, cover and boil for several hours or until tender.

Kitchen Tip: Don’t throw away the water after the greens have cooked, this “pot liquor” is very healthy so bottle and refrigerate to use as a broth or tea.

The Green leafy Superfoods

Having a diet high in green leafy vegetables you will have a far lower risk of heart disease and cancer
Fresh raw green leafy vegetables contain high doses of chlorophyll, which is an easily digestible proteins, enzymes and they contain a wide range of vitamins and minerals
Leafy greens act as mini-transfusions for the blood, a health tonic for the brain and immune system and a cleanser of the kidneys. Boil some parsley in water, refrigerate, then drink an 8 oz glass of it daily and you will notice a change in your urine.
Which of these green leafy Superfoods are your favorite and how would you prepare them?

Spinach, Dandelion Greens, Kale, Watercress, Parsley, Lettuce, Endive, Chicory, Broccoli Sprouts and Mustard Sprouts
Stay Blessed ~ No Stress in 2014!