Sauteed Collard Greens

Collard Greens. My boys' faces crinkle up into painful expressions when I make collard greens. They see all the green happening and react with fear, thinking they will have to eat them. I get a kick out of watching their panic rise. But luckily for them, I haven't made them try them yet. Mostly because both my kids are pretty good vegetable eaters. 
I can get them to eat broccoli, corn, peas, carrots and salad pretty easily without too much of a fight. My nine year old will even eat Brussels sprouts, cucumbers and cabbage. That's a WIN in any parenting playbook, if you ask me!  So I'm not punishing myself trying to get them to eat collards. But I so wish they would! Because these are absolutely delicious! And just like my kids aversion to these beautiful vegetables, I suspect many adults, my hubby included, react the same when confronted with greens. Well, the good news is that I have the best recipe for collard greens. They are blanched at first to seal in their green color and then quick sauteed with aromatics and chicken stock that layer flavor into the tender leaves. You will never want them any other way. Enjoy!

PS. I love to eat them for breakfast when I have leftovers. Top them with an over-easy egg and some feta cheese...the perfect breakfast!  

Sauteed Collard Greens

(adapted recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva)
Serves 6

 2-3 lbs Collard greens, stemmed and chopped
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Bring 2 quarts of water to boil in a large dutch oven. Add salt and greens and stir until wilted. Cover and cook until greens are tender about 7 minutes. Drain in colander and place colander into ice water to shock the greens and stop the cooking process. Squeeze greens dry using a potato ricer. Roughly chop greens and set aside.

3 Tbsp bacon fat (or olive oil)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced.
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken (or vegetable) broth
salt and pepper
1 1/2 T apple cider vinegar

In a large saute pan, heat bacon fat (or olive oil) over medium heat and saute the red bell pepper until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and pepper flakes and cook until garlic starts to sizzle. Add greens and saute to coat with oil. Add 1/2 cup stock, cover and cook over med-high heat, adding more stock during the cooking process if necessary, until greens are tender and juicy and most of the stock has been absorbed, about 5 minutes. Season well with salt, pepper and vinegar to taste. 

Other recipes to try:

Brussels Sprouts w/Bacon Dressing

Kale w/Onions and Balsamic Butter

Shakshuka

Sour Cream Granola Cookies

Every once in a while I get a bug to bake. It's not too often but, the other day I wanted to make some cookies. So, I anxiously ran to my cupboard and realized I didn't have any chocolate chips. Total. Bummer. 
Instead, I had a half eaten box of Granola cereal. Yum! I grabbed a handful and what do you know...Still crunchy! Yay!
I continued to eat it as I rummaged through my pantry. Still nothing chocolatey appeared. Then, I remembered these chocolate chip cookies my friend, Sonia made one time. They were amazing! She said she added granola to them. I thought, well I don't have the chocolate but, maybe I can make a type of Oatmeal Cookie with them. I grabbed my Betty Crocker cookbook and started looking for recipes to convert with my granola cereal. Boom! Found it...Sour Cream Raisin Cookies became Sour Cream Granola Cookies. These turned out really soft and moist and not too sweet.  Enjoy!

Sour Cream Granola Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups plain granola + extra for topping
1 cup golden raisins

Vanilla Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2-1 tsp milk (to desired consistency)

Mix all icing ingredients together until you have a thin icing that ribbons when poured from a spoon. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a stand mixer, mix sugar, shortening, vanilla and eggs. Add remaining ingredient except granola and raisins. Stir in the granola and raisins by hand.

Using a small cookie scoop, drop small rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Top with extra granola. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating half way through cooking time, until light brown. 

Cool slightly and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Drizzle with vanilla icing.

Other recipes to try:

Lemon Butter Cookies

Blueberry White Chocolate Chip

Cinnamon Cheesecake Cookies

Chicken with Braised Carrots

March FLEW by and now look...April is nearly gone too! Where does the time go? I certainly haven't met my goal of blogging two recipes a week, have I? Sorry about that. I don't even have a good excuse other than things have been busy. Although, I admit I did work on a few Halloween dishes last week, so there is hope for me. One of the Halloween ideas turned out great, but the other one...well, it needs a little more work. 
Anyway, back to this delicious Chicken with Braised Carrots. This is an easy, one pan dinner that comes together very quickly and is perfect for those busy weeknights. I've lightened this up for Spring by using chicken breasts and serving it over rice, but this is dish is the ultimate comfort food when served with Garlic Mashed Potatoes...or as my boys call them, Smashed Potatoes. :)  I've made this with boneless skinless chicken thighs over mashed potatoes which is a rich and comforting dish that's perfect for a cool fall evening, or a cool spring evening! Whichever way you make it, you can't go wrong with savory carrots in a rich herbed sauce and Chicken. Enjoy!

Chicken with Braised Carrots

Serves 4

4 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp.salt 
1/4 tsp. pepper  
1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
4 carrots (I used multi-colored), diced
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 Tbsp. tomato paste 
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1/2 tsp. rosemary, dried 
2 tsp. thyme, fresh
1 bay leaf
parsley, fresh chopped
salt and pepper (to taste)

In a shallow dish, add salt and pepper to flour. Dredge Chicken breasts in seasoned flour mixture, shaking off extra and set aside. Heat butter or olive oil in a large skillet. Pan fry chicken breasts until browned but not entirely cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from the skillet and set aside. 
Add onions and carrots to same skillet and cook on medium high heat until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (~1 minute more). Add tomato paste and stir until vegetables are coated. Add wine, chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf and heat on medium heat until vegetables are soft and liquid in reduced by half. Add Chicken breasts back into the skillet with the carrots and cook over medium high heat until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. You will need to add more time if your chicken  breasts are very large. Cook until internal temp is 165 F.

Taste carrots and adjust with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve Chicken with Carrots over Rice or Mashed Potatoes. Enjoy!

More chicken recipes to try:

Easy Ranch Chicken

Honey Butter Chicken

Pineapple Chicken