Prolific and inexpensive, greens are packed with an impressive array of vitamins and minerals including vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, and E, calcium, carotenes, copper, folic acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium.  Our immune systems are bursting with vigor from eating so much kale, chard, spinach, beet, turnip, and mustard greens.

Greens weren’t a part of my childhood.  I was raised in the north on northern vegetables, many of them frozen, taken from the freezer and plopped into the steamer as solid bricks of peas, corn, broccoli, spinach, lima beans or brussel sprouts.  My least favorites were okra, a slimy mound of fibrous discs and frog’s eyes and the whole leaf spinach which made me gag as the long veins worked their way down my throat.

It wasn’t until I was in my forties that I began cooking with fresh greens.  It began with stirring a pound of chard into a pot of curry and evolved into greens as a side dish in its own right. This time of year, we’re eating half a bushel of greens a week.

Each week we pick up our weekly half bushel of fresh picked produce from Edible Earthscapes.  This week it was packed with kale, chard, mustard greens, mizuna, carrots, and salad greens. This past Friday, Bob brought home a grocery bag full of kale and a half bushel of radishes, turnips and carrots, greens attached from Central Carolina Community College’s Land Lab.

The challenge of turning all of these greens into food can be daunting.  Last night while I stood at the sink, rinsing and chopping greens, I couldn’t help but stare at the enormous kale plant outside our kitchen window, crying out to be harvested.  “Any day now” I thought “Bob’s going to walk inside with his arms full of kale.”  I caught myself hoping today wasn’t going to be that day.

Last year I froze a fair amount of greens and that worked out great.  I just wash and chop and put them into plastic freezer bags and squeeze out the air.  We cooked and served these frozen greens at a New Years Day party and they were just fine.

This year, I’ve challenged myself to keep up with the greens by cooking them as I get them to eat that night or keep for another meal.  Save the freezer space.  Get the vitamins at their fullest. It doesn’t take that long to fix them up when we get them and a grocery bag full cooks down into six or seven cups which takes up a lot less space in the refrigerator.

Here’s what I do.  I chop an onion and sauté it in peanut oil in a large pot. I put all the greens in the sink and rinse them, then stack the leaves on the cutting board and chop them into bite sized pieces.  I’m finicky enough to remove the large veins from everything but the chard but that’s up to you.

Stir the chopped chard stems and the heavier greens (kale, chard, mustard greens and collards) into the onion, add a couple of tablespoons of tamari or soy sauce and cover to let them steam.  After a few minutes, I stir the greens up with the onion and add the lighter greens – spinach, turnip, radish and mizuna to steam for another minute.

This delicious green vitamin dish is now ready for storage or can be cooked a little longer and served immediately.  And that’s how easy it is to keep up with the greens!

Dear Nana,

Today is the 107^th anniversary of your birth.  For as long as I can remember, you’ve been part of my life.  Thank you for all that you taught me while you were here.  Thank you for thirty-five years of unconditional love.  I think of you every day and often long for your counsel.

I love you for your sense of humor, for your extraordinary sense of justice and for your fantastic cooking. I have many memories of sitting around the table after dinner laughing at the world together and at ourselves.  You were a passionate Democrat back in the day when that party championed social justice and you devoted many hours as president of the local organization.

Born in Poland, you came to the United States as a child to rejoin your family in New York City.  At fifteen, you began working as a servant girl to an Irish family.  You learned to speak English.  At seventeen you married Frank Illo and began a family.

Your life was not without struggle.  You made a bed for your baby in a hotel dresser drawer as you and grandpa toured with the Burlesque show.  Your second child, a daughter died at an early age.  Your oldest son lied about his age and joined the war.  At one point, you were subjected to electric shock treatments for depression.

As a child, I knew nothing of your past.  All I knew was that you baked the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten.  There was always a tin stocked with cookies in your kitchen. Your potato leek soup is legendary, as was your poppy seed cake.  On Summer Sundays, your two sons and their wives and eight grandchildren would gather on your lawn with Grandpa and other relatives for fried chicken, potato salad, corn on the cob and chocolate cake.

Everything you made was perfectly prepared, meticulously shopped for and beautifully presented.  I loved riding with you as you did your shopping.  We’d stop at a farm with a beautiful Jersey cow for cream and butter, the butchers for sausages, the bakery for bread and the grocery store for produce. You gave me an aluminum colander and a Pyrex bowl from your kitchen to start my own.  Thirty five years later, I still use them nearly every day.

There was always a dog named Susi in your home.  When one would die, the next new female dog to enter your household was named Susi.  You spoiled your dogs shamelessly, putting ice cubes in their water in the summer, setting down a bowl of warm coffee with half and half and honey on winter mornings, frying beef liver for their dinner and rubbing calamine lotion on their bug bites.

In return, the dogs babysat the grandkids, accompanying them through the woods and around the neighborhood.  Before I could walk, you’d place me on a blanket to be watched over by a big, black dog named “Sissy.”  I was Sissy’s little sister and took this to heart during my “dog phase.”  For a spell I ran around on all fours, barking and growling while the other kids behaved like human beings.

When I was tiny, you loaded me into the laundry cart and wheeled me around as you cleaned house.  I watched as you harvested tomatoes and chives from the garden. I listened to you sing your way through your day.  As I grew older, you taught me to cook, shop for clothes and apply makeup.  We had no secrets, you and I.  You cared enough to involve yourself in my headlong rush though life and I trusted you completely.

When I was in my twenties, I returned east and lived with you.  I remember drinking wine after dinner and dancing together in the living room. Your favorite song was “Those Were The Days.”  We’d sing it at the top of our lungs and cry along to the words.  And dance.

Love, Cookie

Those Were The Days – Lyrics

Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would do

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day

We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Then the busy years went rushing by us
We lost our starry notions on the way
If by chance I’d see you in the tavern
We’d smile at one another and we’d say

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Just tonight I stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it used to be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was that lonely woman really me

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days

Through the door there came familiar laughter
I saw your face and heard you call my name
Oh my friend we’re older but no wiser
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same

Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way.
La la la la…
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days