While waiting for an iced coffee at Barnes and Noble the other day, I was perusing a Fine Cooking Magazine. It was chock full of recipes that include the very things I get from my local farm co-op each week. I ended up going through the cafe line again to purchase the magazine, because I knew it would come in so useful.

This issue had a section on many different ways to prepare lots of different GREENS – which is about all we get for the first few weeks at the farm. LOTS of kale, chard, arugula, spinach, bok choy, tatsoi, mizuna, and collards. Today I managed to finish off every last green, turnip, radish, strawberry, and head of lettuce that we picked up this week, and that makes me so happy! Oftentimes, I end up throwing things away because I can’t think of anything to do with the green stuff which is really disappointing. Here’s how they got used this week:

1. I boiled the turnips with potatoes and mashed them with garlic to go alongside of roasted chicken. (The turnip greens and radish greens became chicken feed.)

2.The lettuce and radishes became a tossed salad which served as a veggie side to the chicken and mashed potatoes.

3. The 2 tiny patty pan (or sunburst) squash got sliced and pan fried in a bit of butter – also as a small side dish for dinner.

4. Strawberries (the ones not eaten) got washed, placed on a cookie sheet, frozen individually, and then placed in a ziploc bag and put back in the freezer for future smoothies, baking, etc. (You’d be surprised how quickly low sprayed/fertilized strawberries go bad – like 24 hours and your eating chances are over!)

5. Garlic scapes were made into “garlic scape pesto” as suggested by the farm newsletter. It’s in the freezer, too, waiting for some future gluten free pasta dish or pesto pizza!

6. And the huge bag of kale turned into this dish which I took to our weekly small group Bible study to share.

4 Tbsp honey
4 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt

16 oz kale? (I used about 1/2 of a plastic produce bag packed fairly tight with kale)
2 – 4 Tbsp olive oil
2 vidalia onions
20 thinly sliced pepperoni (I like the kind from the Whole Foods deli dept – big thin slices)

6 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1.Whisk together honey, vinegar, and salt in small bowl or jar.

2. Slice vidalia onions and saute in 4 Tbsp butter on medium heat for 20-30 minutes until translucent and light brown.

3. Remove onions from skillet. Slice pepperoni rounds in thin strips, separate and saute in same pan as onions. No need to add more oil or butter. Saute until crispy – about 10 minutes.

4. Remove pepperoni from skillet, add 2 Tbsp olive oil and saute kale in batches until wilted and dark green – just 2-4 minutes.

5. Combine kale, onions, and pepperoni in serving bowl, toss with 2 Tbsp butter. Pour honey and vinegar mixture over and toss again.

Serve, and prepare for people to be amazed that green stuff could taste so good!