Collard Greens... an experiment!

I was very intimidated by Collard Greens. I never had them growing up and when I lived in Alabama I had them once or twice and loved them, but they were cooked for me and cooking them still seemed daunting. When I looked at my food basket this week and saw that they were coming I decided not to substitute and to get them and face my fear.

This is the recipe I am using. These greens are chock full of vitamins and minerals and this recipe seemed like it was pretty healthy also... not your typical bacon infused green recipe.

Ingredients:

2 pounds collard greens, washed thoroughly, tough stems cut out of leaves, cut or torn in bite-size pieces

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, or combination of basil, oregano, and rosemary

1 can (14.5 oz) tomatoes, chopped and drained, reserve liquid

Preparation:

Rinse torn leaves well; do not dry. Put wet leaves in a large pan and let wilt over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Add Italian herb seasoning and chopped tomatoes; continue to heat for about 5 minutes longer. Add liquid from the tomatoes. Heat for about 4 to 5 minutes longer, or until hot.

Salmon with Wild Rice

Take a filet of Salmon and cut it into filets. Preheat your oven to 400 F

Take 2 slices of salmon and put them in the middle of a large piece of parchment paper, add 2 tsp of olive oil some dill a slice of lemon and fold parchment paper so that it is sealed (this will steam the salmon) If you click on the fold parchment paper there is a quick video of how to fold the parchment paper, and a few good ideas for future meals.

Cook for 20 minutes and make your Wild Rice while the Salmon is cooking and walla! Dinner in 30 minutes!

Farm Fresh Pasta

I was at a Pampered Chef Party and the host made a wonderful dish. I decided to adapt it for those of us who don't have all the fancy tools. I made this for dinner last night and it was a total hit!

1 tub of grape tomatoes (grocery store size or costco size depending on how many people you are serving)

3 cloves of garlic sliced (not diced or grated... do not use the store kind in the jar)

2 TBSP of olive oil

Kosher or sea salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 375... in a baking dish and mix all of the above ingredients place in oven and cook for 12 minutes

While the tomatoes are cooking boil some whole wheat or gluten free pasta (1lb) Rigatoni, or bowtie would be great for this (you can boil it in chicken broth if you want to add a little more flavor to it. (Heck you could even microwave the pasta in 3 cups of chicken broth for 10 minutes and the pasta will absorb all the chicken broth and flavor)

While Pasta is cooking grill 4-5 (depending on how many you are serving) chicken breast or cutlets..I use one cutlet for each person. When done grilling cut up into bite size pieces.

When tomatoes are done crust them in the baking dish (I use a potato masher to do this) the tomatoes, garlic and olive oil will become a sauce.

Drain pasta.

Mix all the ingredients together in the baking dish and top with fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese to taste and serve immediately

It tastes so fresh you can taste each ingredient and it really just tastes great and is super easy!