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Monday, June 15, 2009

Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) ASSIGNMENT: GREENS

Yup, Ms. Kim, the Ungourmet has left me in charge of choosing this week's Blogger Secret Ingredient...and I choose GREENS. Collard, Turnip, Mustard, Beet, Dandelion...you name it. Your assignment is to create a recipe that features or incorporates Greens. Make sure you link back to me (preferably this post) and then email me with a link to your post. Or if you don't have a blog and would still like to enter, then just email me your creation and I'll include it, as well. Throughout the week as I receive entries, I will add them along with a link to your post at the end of this post! I will then choose my "favorite" entry and that person will receive a little prize from me. That will definitely be the hardest part. Please have your entries to me no later than noon, Eastern Standard time on Sunday, June 21st (so I can choose and post a winner ASAP)!
When I chose greens, I knew that they were an amazing source of antioxidants and that they had many health benefits...I just couldn't really remember exactly what those benefits were. So, I asked my friend Rebecca from Chow & Chatter (remember, she's a dietician) if she could refresh my memory on those benefits. Greens are rich in folate, iron and vitamins A & K. Vitamin A is great for your vision and your skin health. Vitamin K increases bone mass (ladies), helping to stave off osteoporosis. I do remember enough from my nutrition classes to know that dark greens contain good amounts of calcium & fiber, as well. So, are you convinced to go out and cook with greens yet? Get some of those beautiful leafy tops (and I gave you so many choices...you should be able to find at least one) and show us what you can do! A traditional way of cooking greens, especially in the South (U.S.) is with some fat back or smoked pork product. Yum. Rebecca reminded me that cooking with Olive Oil would be much healthier...but is it as tasty?
I found some beautiful Turnip Greens that I wanted to cook with this past weekend. Turnip greens aren't as dark as some of the choices, but they are still high in these vitamins and they add a nice bite!

Greens & Spicy Sausage Soup

yield: ~3 qts.

by girlichef

Olive Oil- 2 Tbs.

red onion, sliced- 1

garlic cloves, smashed-4

Hot & Spicy Smoked Italian Style Sausage, sliced on the bias- 12 oz.

canned, diced, fire-roasted tomatoes- 1 (14.5 oz) can

Cannellini Beans w/ their liquid- 2 (15 oz.) cans

Sprigs of fresh herbs- I used thyme, marjoram, oregano and some bay leaves

Crushed Red Pepper- to taste (optional)

Chicken broth/stock- 2 qts.

Turnip Greens (or another kind of green), washed well & chopped- 1 big bunch

Black Pepper- to taste

Red wine vinegar- 2 Tbs.

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high. When hot, add onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally until they start to soften, ~5 minutes. Add sausage and cook for a few more minutes, until everything starts to brown a bit.

Add tomatoes, beans and herbs and crushed red pepper (if using). Add broth/stock. Bring to a boil.

Add chopped greens and stir. Return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for ~15-20 minutes.

Greens will have cooked through and turned a deeper shade of green (and shrunk considerably). Remove from heat.

Taste for seasoning. The sausage adds a good deal of salt, so you may not need to add any. Add black pepper to taste. Stir in vinegar. Serve with a nice loaf of crusty bread for sopping up the juices.

How will you use your greens?

Here is a list of entries for this week's BSI: Greens-

Dinner at Christina's- Orzo Soup

Cookbook Cuisine- Sauteed Chicken and Baby Bella Mushrooms w/ Garlic Spinach

Chow and Chatter- Easy Spinach South Indian Style

Angie's Recipes- Escarole and Alaska Pollock Cutlets

Dianasaur Dishes- Fresh Greens with Buttermilk Salad Dressing in Parmesan Lace Bowls

5 Star Foodie- Collared Wrapped Sockeye Salmon with Shiitake Mushrooms and Fried Potato Cream

feeding maybelle- Red Veined Dandelion Salad with Roasted Chicken, Dried Cherries and Almonds

Baker's Corner- Bosnian Green Strudel

Health Nut- Radish Greens Brown Rice Soup

Cooking Stuff- Rotini with Broccoli, Peppers, Spinach and Italian Sausage

Once Upon a Gourmet Gin- Gin's Mustard Greens Fresh Pesto

DoggyBloggy- Green Genie

Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice- Kale w/ Garlic & Cranberries

Bread + Butter-Spinach Pizza w/ Cream Sauce

Johnstone's Vin Blanc- Spring Vegetable Lasagna

The Ungourmet- Wasabi Ginger Kale Slaw

(envision your name & dish here...updated all week)

Here is a list of BSI Assignments to date:

Week 35: Girlichef - Greens Week 34: The Ungourmet - Watermelon Week 33: Bread + Butter - Bell Pepper Week 32: Burp and Slurp - Corn Week 31: Say Yes to Salad – Kabocha Week 30: Thinspired – Bananas

Week 29: To Be The Whole Package – Almonds

Week 28: Kristas Kravings – Lemon

Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds – Coconut

Week 26: Plentiful Plants – Avocado

Week 25: Training Fuel – Eggs

Week 24: Dinner at Christina’s – Cabbage

Week 23: Hey What’s for Dinner, Mom? – Strawberries

Week 22: One Bite at a Time – Basil

Week 21: Just Sweet Enough – Black Beans

Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday – Kale

Week 19: What’s for Dinner – Orange

Week 18: BranAppetit! – Spinach

Week 17: Tales of Expansion – Dates

Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser – Zucchini

Week 15: Sweet & NaturalPeppermint

Week 14: bella eats [and runs] – Ginger

Week 13: Coffee Talk – Walnuts

Week 12: For the Love of Oats – Pumpkin

Week 11: Trying to Heal – Sweet Potatoes

Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate – Eggplant

Week 9: Itzy’s Kitchen – Pears

Week 8: The Fitnessista – Cranberries

Week 7: Tri to Cook – Lentils

Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests – Polenta

Week 5: Eating Bender – Butternut Squash

Week 4: Care to Eat – Apples

Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat – Mushrooms

Week 2: Hangry Pants – Tomatoes

Week 1: Sportsnutritionliving – Quinoa

I'm also sending this over to Deb (early) at Kahakai Kitchen for my contribution to this week's Souper (soup, salad, sammie) Sunday!

Photobucket

Would you like to comment?

  1. That looks like one excellent, healthy soup!

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  2. Leafy greens is a great choice right now! A friend of mine just gave me a bunch from her farm share. Only if I could come up with something creative, hopefully I will :) The soup sounds delicious!

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  3. 'Guilty' over here :) no greens to be seen since I arrived...well, do three asparagus count at dinner out the other day *looking down in shame*, but I will get on it tomorrow!

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  4. Your soup is screaming healthy. It really does look good. Great choice for next weeks BSI.

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  5. Will for sure come up with something...:-)) Green is unnecessary my fav. colour, but for sure the fav. food.

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  6. Fabulous Choice! I was so into greens a while back and then I quit using them as much. Time to get back into them again! You are right, they are so good for our bodies! I could tell a difference in how I felt when I ate a lot of them. I can't wait to come up with something for this challenge!

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  7. Your soup looks so good! Thanks for sending it to Souper Sunday. Greens are an excellent, healthy choice! ;-)

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  8. I missed on Kim's secret ingredient although I wanted to participate. Now I can't miss on this one, greens are my favourite. Your soup is delicious, I'll just have mine without sausage, thanks.
    see you

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  9. Girli, this looks so good! I would love a bowl of this soup!YUM!

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  10. Wow! Can anybody play? Greens are great and this soup looks fabulous!

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  11. ....Jamie- YES! Of course...anybody can play :)

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  12. This soup looks wonderful! I tried adding your blog button to my sidebar but it's not working for some reason. Not sure if it's too large, or what. I'll give it another try today :)

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  13. Greens with sausages and beans are the perfect combination! I have some kale and sausages in the fridge right now...I think I know what I'll be making! ;)

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  14. Your soup looks wonderful. I love greens, especially baby spinach. Can we submit a post we've already written if we update the post and re-post it? :)

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  15. A bowl of that would be great right now, it's all dark and dreary. :)

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  16. Wow, this week is going to be a challenge for me - I don't particularly like greens!

    Your soup looks terrific though!

    I'll have to come up with a recipe that "hides" the greens! :D

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  17. Mmmm, I LOVE greens. The Hubs won't touch 'em with a 10-foot pole though, so I usually buy the canned ones from Glory Foods and eat them as a veggie side. Nothin' fancy but they are well-seasoned and super tasty!

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  18. Dang you take great photos. Everything looks gorgeous. The veggies look fantastic, makes me want to go make a salad right now.

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  19. I love greens, especially due to the health factor. You should try roasted kale sometime, it's really good!

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  20. great soup, i need to try and cook with greens, I only use spinach great nutritional info love it thanks for the mention love ya rebecca

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  21. Greens-so cool!! We love greens-so this should be easy :)
    The spicy soup looks good-love the addition of greens!

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  22. The soup looks great! I love greens, I don't cook with them enough!

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  23. Greens! Healthy choice! Unfortnately, I don't think I can join in this week's BSI...I'll be off to a retreat soon, and I'll have to empty the fridge (into my tummy) before that...:-(
    But that soup looks GOOOD!

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  24. Wow! I love your soup those greens look sooooooooo. Delicious~~

    Thanks for sharing your recipe~

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  25. This is a fun one! I have yet to try out the BSI, so maybe this week will be the week. I'll be scratching my head!

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  26. Great pick, the greens are looking really good right now. And that is one healthy and delicious looking soup!

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  27. yeah seasonal and yummy! I just got a bag of rocket today so now I am scheming :)

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  28. I actually have a secret recipe with greens so I am on my way to the store. I hope that I actually do this one!! I wanted to do the watermelon one BUT summer keeps getting in the way!! Thanks for doing this....

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  29. mmm...I love greens and beans in soup!

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  30. I love that the soap has smoked sausage. Looks really good.

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  31. why do greens scare me so much?! LOL I've been wanting to try the southern version but trying to get a recipe out of my grandmother is like getting directions in the south....vague! LMAO Maybe I'm afraid I won't like them. hmmm should I do it? decisions decisions...(theres that little voice in my head that tells me...Face the Fear!! haha)

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  32. Great choice on this week's BSI!

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  33. Oh and I am going to send this post Spinach South Indian style to Girlichef for this weeks BSI, I noticed that cookbook cuisine used spinach and a previous post so I thought why not!

    This is really the only way I cook spinach its tasty, healthy and quick but I will learn more ways from my fellow bloggers!

    http://dietitianforhire.blogspot.com/2009/03/easy-spinach-south-indian-style.html

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  34. Here's my recipe for the greens - http://fivestarfoodie.blogspot.com/2009/06/collard-wrapped-sockeye-salmon-with.html

    Thanks!

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  35. Here I am, with my Bosnian Green Strudel:
    http://dajana-bakerscorner.blogspot.com/2009/06/bosnian-zeljanica.html

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  36. Darn, have I missed it? Just love your recipe too!

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  37. Here's my "oh so good" recipe for the BSI. http://johnstonesvinblanc.blogspot.com/2009/06/spring-vegetable-lasagna.html

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  38. I just emailed my entry for BSI to you! :0) Whew, just under the wire!

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