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The Balanced Kitchen

Time for food. Time for Life.

Honey Greens: A Taste of Spring!

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Early spring is by far my favorite time of year. I love it when the colors start to creep back in—the grass becomes more vibrant, the evergreen leafs get brighter, and the buds on the trees start to come to life. And then there is always that one day when it all suddenly POPS! As I was driving my kids to school yesterday I suddenly noticed how GREEN everything was looking and I realize that it was that POP day!

That green showing up everywhere always gets me thinking about and craving green vegetables. Sadly, though, salad greens are kind of tough and lame at this time of year, but the sautéing greens, such as kale, mustard, and chard, are all great, so I figured now is the perfect time to share my tried and true honey greens recipe with you!

Honey Greens


This is a spin off on a recipe my brother introduced me to years and years ago that used brown sugar instead of honey. Before having his version I had never really enjoyed chard or mustard greens, but once he put these sweet and sour greens down on my plate I was hooked! This is a recipe I often share with clients who are skeptical of greens and is also a side vegetable that I can (usually) count on my boys to enjoy with gusto. If you have lots of mouths to feed and will be doubling or tripling the recipe, I am a big fan of a mix of chard and mustard greens, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them!


Honey Greens
 
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Recipe type: Vegetable, Side
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Dash of cayenne (optional)
  • ½ cup onion, chopped
  • 1 bunch of kale, mustard, or chard greens. Stemmed, rinsed, and torn into bite-sized pieces.
  • 1 tablespoon rice or apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tablespoon honey (or more, to taste)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil on medium-high head in a large frying pan and add a dash of cayenne (if using).
  2. When the oil is hot and shimmering, but not smoking, add the onion and cook until it is translucent.
  3. Turn the heat down to medium and add greens, stirring constantly. When the greens have turned bright “army” green, turn off the heat.
  4. Add the vinegar and some salt and pepper. Stir to mix and then drizzle the honey over and give it one last stir. Serve immediately.

 

6 Winter Salads to Help You Survive ‘Til Spring

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It’s Ground Hog Day! The day when we hear whether we are going to have an early spring or a late one. This is a day when I always roll my eyes, chuckle about how it isn’t really true, and then desperately want to know what the outcome was. Did the groundhog see his shadow?! Is spring on its way?!

I am sad to report, in case you didn’t hear, that, according to Punxsutawney Phil, we’ve got 6 more weeks of winter ahead of us. (womp, womp). So what does that mean for those of us who are sick of our sweaters, desperate for the sun, and eager to eat fresh produce? We’ve got to get creative!

Last week I shared my Wild Blueberry Flavor Burst Smoothie, which has been helping on the fruit front (even my 8-year-old smoothie-hating son liked it!), but what about the vegetables? I mean, I love soups and stews probably more than most people but even this veggie-fiend can get a little desperate…


So this week I reached out to some of my food blogger friends to ask them to share their favorite ways to get more vegetables in during the winter months and they all shared salad recipes!…

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Wilted Kale Salad: A Cure for the Winter Blues

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Is anyone else overtired, stressed, or feeling sluggish? The other day as I was realizing that I was feeling really low energy and unmotivated. In theory, I was doing everything right—exercising, getting plenty of fruits and vegetables, sleeping (ok, maybe not sleeping enough, but getting some sleep)—but I was still dragging and then it came to me: greens. I wasn’t getting enough leafy greens.

Many (most) of us don’t get enough leafy greens, but they are so important. They are great for circulation and respiratory support, they boost our immune systems, and they provide a great energy boost. I hadn’t been eating them, though, because as the weather gets colder I am less drawn to smoothies and salads. So out came my sautéed and wilted green recipes to provide me some warmth, while still giving me all the benefits of the greens. And it worked! While I may not be stress-free and perky, I am definitely feeling much more alert and focused….

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3 Ways to Use Up Vegetables Before They Go Bad

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On Sunday I went to visit my in-laws who were preparing for a trip to Italy. As we were leaving, my mother-in-law presented me with baby spinach, red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, a bunch of zucchini, and two pints of blueberries that she wasn’t going to be able to use up. I was a bit reluctant to take it all since I knew my next farm share delivery was coming on Tuesday and I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able use it all up. But the idea of it all going to waste was too much for me to handle, so I agreed to take it. Then yesterday not only did I pick up my farm share, but a good friend also swung by with a gallon-sized Ziploc full of arugula that she wasn’t going to be able to eat. So suddenly I was absolutely drowning in produce, and some of it was on the verge of going off! But with a little thought and about an hour of time, I had taken are of much of it.

Magic? No. Here are some of my favorite ways to use up produce at this abundant time of year so that you can enjoy it throughout the week and even throughout the year:…

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Simple Grain Salad: A side dish without a recipe

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One of the recommendations I often make to clients and in workshops is to “cook once, and eat two, three or more times.” Many times, life can get so busy that meal planning seems impossible and all we can do is try to quickly figure out the next meal—tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s school lunch, etc. When we do that we are constantly searching for recipes and depending on our creativity, which can quickly burn us out and leave us resentful of having to cook at all. But, with a tiny bit of planning and maybe some flexibility we can turn one round of cooking into two or three simple meals.

One of my favorite ways to stretch the food I make farther is with a grain salad. If I am making a pot of grains—rice, quinoa, millet, couscous, etc.—I always make extra. So much can be done with leftover grains: you can turn them into breakfast porridge, throw them into a big green salad for some added heft, mix them into soups or stews, fold them into veggie burger batter, and, my favorite, turn them into a grain-based salad. Grain salads are great because they can serve as a hefty side dish and are so incredibly flexible—any leftover vegetables, cheese, or salad dressing you have lying around can get thrown in!…

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5-minute Breakfast Scramble: Getting vegetables into breakfast

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We all know we should be eating more vegetables. Many of us try to get them through salads at lunch or an extra serving at dinner, and those are great approaches. But what about breakfast? In mainstream U.S. culture, vegetables in breakfast is often a strange concept, unless you are having a fancy brunch with a frittata or quiche (which can also be easy and quick breakfast foods, like these spinach bites). Instead we often think of breakfast as the time for starches and fruit.

One of my favorite ways to get the veggies into my breakfast is with the 5-minute breakfast scramble. This easy, delicious, and fun option for breakfast is a great way to get everyone off on the right foot. It’s got protein, carbs, and vegetables, and can be adapted in countless ways….

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Eat Your Greens! Ways to get more leafy green goodness into your life

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When you hear leafy green vegetables mentioned what is the first thing you think of? Sad, limp steamed spinach? Bland broccoli? That thing that was on your plate as a kid that you either choked down to get it over with or pushed around your plate hoping that it would look like you ate some?

The truth is, many of us are not big fans of leafy greens and all of us need to eat more of them. Leafy green vegetables are amazing for our health and well-being. They give us energy, boost our immune systems, provide respiratory support when we have a cold, help to clean our blood, and improve our circulation. And they can also be delicious.

So now that we have reached the time of year when farmer’s markets, CSAs, and grocery stores are overflowing with green leafy goodness, how can we make it more appealing than those sad memories from when we were kids (or last week)?


Here are some ways to get more greens in that are fun, flavorful, and easy:…

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Carrot Greens Pesto (or ways to reduce food waste)

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I come from a long line of food-shouldn’t-be-wasted-ers.  While I wasn’t raised in a
“clean plate club” household (thank goodness!), my family, and especially my mom, made sure that whatever was left was eaten as leftovers or used in another meal later in the week. The little bits of meat ended up in a pot pie or a pasta, the bones were used for stock, the stale bread became bread crumbs and croutons, all of those things that have become popular again were present all throughout my childhood. And for that I am so grateful.

But as I have gotten more and more into my own version of making the most of my food there were certain things I noticed that I was still throwing away and it bothered me. Beet greens, carrot greens, fennel fronds, to name a few. The beet greens were easy- sautéing them as I would kale or chard is delicious, especially as a warm salad with roasted beets and some feta! The fennel fronds have been a wonderful addition to my stocks. But carrot greens?…

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Skillet Tomato Sauce

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Last week I had a great meal plan all planned out. The only problem was, I lost my momentum and excitement about some of the meals I had planned, which then left me looking at my pantry trying to come up with other ideas that would be more inspiring to me. Whenever this happens to me, I almost always end up turning to my go-to meal: a quick fresh tomato sauce. This meal is wonderful for a number of reasons:…

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