I recently received a huge box of all sorts of greens from the farmer’s market from my friend Rita and her husband Chris. You see Rita has become friends with one of the farm stand owners at her local Farmer’s Market.  Over time as she developed her friendship with this one farm stand vendor she started sharing a few of her homemade foods with him every time she stopped by the market.  On the occasions when Rita happened to stop by the market before it closed, her Farmer’s Market friend would give Rita all of whatever vegetables were leftover that morning. It could be any variety of vegetables depending on the season. This time in early spring Rita came home with a bounty of all sorts of greens. She had enough greens for herself, for a couple of friends, and a giant box of greens for me as well!  I’m talking over 20 bags of greens! And so began a Farmer’s Market friendship.

Rita dropped off over eight bags of arugula, a bag of baby spinach, couple bags of red and green Swiss chard, a bag of baby kale, eight bunches of what looked like collard greens, and a giant bag of spring greens salad mix. The box was like a Black Hole, more bags of greens kept popping up, there were three layers of bags of greens. Now I had to get creative with all these leafy greens.

I made a dish a day with all these greens over the course of a week.  I made Swiss chard sautéed in garlic as a side dish. I used the leftover chard the next day and made a chard yogurt raita.  I made spinach and cheese enchiladas.  I made a few huge tossed green salads.  I made an arugula and ridge gourd turmeric spiced curry in coconut broth. I made a super greens and paneer curry.  I also made a collard greens quinoa pilaf. It’s amazing how many bags of greens you can use up when you toss greens into any warm dish. The greens condense down to 1/5 their volume.  I used 10 cups of arugula in the ridge gourd curry alone.

saag paneer

Greens are soooo healthy for you. Packed with phytonutrients that help in anti aging properties, they help with good eye health and healthy nerve endings, and most importantly they are great for a healthy brain.

Moms sure know their stuff.I remember growing up hating eating spinach and other greens and I remember my Mom telling us kids “Eat your spinach, it makes you stronger and is good for the brain.”  Now I can’t get enough of spinach. I l love it!  Remember the cartoon Popeye? He knew a good thing too. Spinach! And he ate it by the can loads and became Superman instantaneously.

I found a great article by Joy Bauer on leafy greens that educates us on how beneficial eating greens are for our health and well-being.  Leafy Greens. How Food Affects our Health from Joybauer.com  Here is a brief excerpt from this very well written and very informative article:

“When it comes to leafy greens, you get a green light to eat as much as you want — that’s how good they are for you!

As a general rule, you should aim to eat at least five servings of vegetables daily (that’s about 2 1/2 cups of cooked vegetables), and that includes leafy greens. As long as they’re prepared in a healthy way, leafy greens, like other nonstarchy vegetables, are a great addition to your diet and offer countless health benefits.

Leafy greens are full of vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytochemicals. They are rich in fiber, an important nutrient for weight loss and maintenance because it keeps you feeling full and helps control your hunger. Fiber can also lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and help to temper blood-sugar swings by slowing the absorption of carbohydrates into your bloodstream after meals. This lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Leafy greens also contain a lot of water, which helps keep you hydrated and contributes to beautiful skin and hair.

Some leafy greens, like collards and kale, are particularly rich in calcium, which helps keep your teeth and bones strong and reduces your overall risk for osteoporosis….”

To read more about leafy green and their numerous health benefits check out Joy Bauer’s article in its entirety  Leafy Greens. How Food Affects our Health

I will post recipes for all the dishes I came up with to use the bounty of Farmer’s Market greens that Rita and Chris dropped off.  Rita, thank you for such a wide array of Farmer’s Market vegetables!!

Any way you have greens in your diet they are good for you.