Five Happy Things
Favorite Leafy Greens
Spread a little joy today! Pass this along to someone who’d love it. 🥰
Did you make a resolution to eat healthier this year?
May I suggest some leafy greens?
The most obvious way to get those greens is in a salad, but in the winter I like my salads warm - usually with some kind of roasted vegetable.
In the spirit of Julia Turshen, this is the formula I use to build a winter salad.
The possibilities are endless!
Sometimes I toss my greens with dressing, sometimes just with a splash of vinegar and some salt and pepper.
Sometimes I add even more than what’s in this chart. The potato and pea salad is great with a chopped hard-boiled egg added to it. A little feta is nice sprinkled on the beets and cucumbers. But if you just add the five things in the chart, you’ll have a salad with a nice mix of flavors and textures so it’s not boring.
If you don’t have one of the ingredients, try some substitutions in the same category. No smoked almonds on hand? How about some crushed salty pretzels? Let yourself go a little crazy. What’s the worst thing that can happen?
For the roasted veggies I usually just toss them in some olive oil with plenty of salt and pepper and roast at a high temp until they’re tender. Easy peasy.
Here are four more of my favorite ways to eat my leafy greens. . .
Julia Turshen has a great post here telling you how to prep your leafy greens when you get back from the grocery store or famers market. Those bunches take up a lot of space in the fridge! That same post has a bunch of suggestions for what to do with your prepped greens, and her garlicky greens is exactly how I make mine. They’re great to top a bowl of beans and rice!
Kale and Quinoa Salad from Smitten Kitchen - I didn’t used to like kale in salads, and then I tried this one. It’s so good! I think it’s the addition of the dried fruit. I can never find ricotta salata, so I use feta instead, and sometimes I use cashews instead of the almonds. The leftovers are great - I just wait to add the cheese, nuts and fruit when I’m serving it.
If you don’t like your greens to look like leaves, try this Kale Chimichurri from Pinch of Yum. It’s delicious on fish tacos and also on fried egg sandwiches.
If you want something where the greens are just a sidekick, not the main ingredient, then I recommend this Italian Pasta and Chickpea Stew. (It’s an unlocked recipe from the New York Times.) Warm and delicious and simple.
If you have a favorite greens recipe, please share a link in the comments so everyone can give it a try!
You can find past newsletters with recipes here.
Enjoy!
Best,
Wendi
❤️
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Easy peasy!
Yes! Just what I needed. Sometimes you need a little boost to get yourself going. Thanks!