Glorious Greens

I'm trying to make a habit of eating more greens.  I tend to go back and forth.  I do well when I have fermented veggies in the fridge because I always, always ferment greens of some kind.  But I'm fresh out and I need to make more.

There are several greens on my list that I've purchased and sampled over the years.  Some that I still buy and some that I may need to pick up again and attempt new recipes.  Kale and chard are my favorites.  I buy one or the other almost every week.  If I'm going to ferment vegetables then kale and chard are the first items on my shopping list.  I recently developed a love for broccoli too.  There was a time when I couldn't eat broccoli at all, but my body seems to love it now.  I seem to do best with it when it is raw, fermented or blanched.  I suppose lettuce is technically a green food, however, it isn't like the nutrient rich dark leafy greens.  I buy lettuce once in a while; we actually had lettuce tonight in fact.  I do want to have more of the dark leafy greens, however, so I don't focus on lettuce that often.  Spinach, I've eaten, but I've always been funny about spinach.  It is a wonderfully nutrient dense food, but I've simply never been much of a spinach fan for some reason I still can't explain.  Arugula I used to juice often.  Currently I juice once in a while, but I want to make it more of a habit in the near future.  I was rarely able to eat arugula because of it's bitter flavor.  I used to juice it with carrots, apples and sometimes even ginger; so I didn't really taste the bitter flavor.  Dandelions were another green food that I used to juice often, however, I don't see them in stores as much as I used to.  Dandelions are powerful blood cleansers.  I notice most cleanses that I've seen use dandelion root as part of the regimen.  Parsley and cilantro are the last on my list.  I used to juice parsley often as well.  Cilantro was something that I would eat with a tomato salad or I would sometimes juice that too.

So I guess I have many greens to choose from.  The challenge is washing them and making a habit of eating them more often.  This is why I love fermenting foods.  I'll spend a day washing and chopping but then for weeks I have ready to eat vegetables!  The next time I ferment foods, I will be trying a bunch of new green recipes.  I'll be sure to post my success.