Sally's GF3 thread

[fuzzi]

I just had collard greens for the first time. O.M.G!!! I freakin' LOVE these! I made them in my Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Collard Greens

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds collard greens (I think I had more like 3/4 lb)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Separate the stems from the collard green leaves. Dice the stems, and cut the leaves into thick ribbons.

Sauté the onion and diced stems in the olive oil until tender, about 7-8 minutes.

Add the garlic and cajun spice and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Turn the Instant Pot off, and stir in the apple cider vinegar, water, honey, salt, and black pepper. Stuff in the collard green leaves. Since I had about half teh collards the recipe called for, there was no need to stuff.

The original recipe said to cook for 20 minutes, so I did. Next time, I'm going to cut it back to 18 minutes. I think I'll cut the salt to 1/8 teaspoon too; I'm cutting way back on salt.

I don't have any idea how my gut will react, having never had them before. But, since I ate the whole thing, I'll know for sure if they agree with me. I mixed about a half cup of cooked brown rice in with my second bowl, to soak up the really delicious pot liquor.

A native Southern gal taught me how to cook collard greens with a ham bone and white potatoes. Yummy.

 

[Sally PB]

That sounds good too! Recipe...?

When I looked up how to cook them, ham or a hambone was in a lot of the recipes. And they said to simmer for a loooong time... one hour? two?

Thank goodness for the Instant Pot! I use mine 3-4 times a week, at least. If I had to pick ONE small kitchen appliance to keep, that would definitely be the one.

 

[fuzzi]

That sounds good too! Recipe...?

When I looked up how to cook them, ham or a hambone was in a lot of the recipes. And they said to simmer for a loooong time... one hour? two?

Thank goodness for the Instant Pot! I use mine 3-4 times a week, at least. If I had to pick ONE small kitchen appliance to keep, that would definitely be the one.

Sure. I was going to dig out the recipe, anyway, as I have lots of collards to cook for New Years.

 

[Sally PB]

I have lots of collards to cook for New Years.

I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh looking they were after sitting in the drawer in the fridge for nearly a week. I was afraid they'd be wilted. I got them, totally forgetting how much cooking I was going to do for the holiday.

I will definitely be growing some in the garden next season.

 

[fuzzi]

I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh looking they were after sitting in the drawer in the fridge for nearly a week. I was afraid they'd be wilted. I got them, totally forgetting how much cooking I was going to do for the holiday.

I will definitely be growing some in the garden next season.

I've been harvesting the lower leaves for my chickens, and BOY do they like them!

 

[pertnear09]

I just had collard greens for the first time. O.M.G!!! I freakin' LOVE these! I made them in my Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Collard Greens

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds collard greens (I think I had more like 3/4 lb)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Separate the stems from the collard green leaves. Dice the stems, and cut the leaves into thick ribbons.

Sauté the onion and diced stems in the olive oil until tender, about 7-8 minutes.

Add the garlic and cajun spice and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Turn the Instant Pot off, and stir in the apple cider vinegar, water, honey, salt, and black pepper. Stuff in the collard green leaves. Since I had about half teh collards the recipe called for, there was no need to stuff.

The original recipe said to cook for 20 minutes, so I did. Next time, I'm going to cut it back to 18 minutes. I think I'll cut the salt to 1/8 teaspoon too; I'm cutting way back on salt.

I don't have any idea how my gut will react, having never had them before. But, since I ate the whole thing, I'll know for sure if they agree with me. I mixed about a half cup of cooked brown rice in with my second bowl, to soak up the really delicious pot liquor.

Had collard greens for Thanksgiving. Have loved them all my life along with mustard greens and turnip greens.

 

[NanaK]

Had collard greens for Thanksgiving. Have loved them all my life along with mustard greens and turnip greens.

Yep! Me too!

 

[Sally PB]

I'm sure I'll try turnip and beet greens soon.

 

[Sally PB]

My last check up (last summer), my cholesterol was 241. 240 is high, and this has NEVER been an issue for me. It's been creeping up, but this is scaring me. I told the doc, no pills, not taking any pills other than the supplements I take now. He agreed, but said that the trend is something we need to reverse. Watch what I eat (more than I do already), yada yada yada. See ya next year.

So since it's the end/beginning of the old/new year, I thought I'd see what more I can do as far as diet and exercise. Thus the chard and collard experiments, as those are "s'posed to be good for ya." ("Hey Mikey!")

Hubby has decided that he's going to work out on the elliptical 10 minutes a day, no days off, in addition to our walks with Freya. I decided I would do it too. Well, we ain't in as good a shape as we thought. Figured that out on day one.

Looked up my target heart rate...
https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates
155-160 is the "max" for my age group. Well, 155 if I were 65, 160 if I were 60. Since I'm in the low part of that at 61, I'll just take the range and work from there. Target rate is 50-85% of the max, so I want to be getting my pulse up to 80-130ish. I can do that. Oh. For 10 minutes or 20 minutes...? Uh... Got some work to do, then. The 80 is something I can do, but it's going to be awhile before I can sustain 130 for 10 minutes.

Therefore, it's a goal. Gotta have goals, right?

Back to the diet thing. (I hope I'm not getting preachy here. I do not mean to push my "way" onto anyone else.) I looked up foods to help lower cholesterol. Turns out one of my favorites, oatmeal, is in the top 10 (or 5 or 8 or whatever list I looked at). A search on oatmeal as a good thing brought me here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5885279/

That was a very interesting read. I buy old fashioned oats, but I want to look for steel cut oats to "mix it up" a bit.

So I'm going to aim for oatmeal for breakfast 5 days a week. I have what I call "loaded" oatmeal. I mix in cinnamon, banana slices, and raisins. It doesn't need any honey to be sweet.

Yes, I am aware that the oats I've been buying are probably treated with glyphosate, if not when they're grown, when they're processed, to dry them out. I looked and found some that aren't at Costco. Quite a bit more expensive. So is Lipitor, which I wouldn't take unless I absolutely had to.

 

[saysfaa]

How far are you from an Amish store? That is by far the best place to buy steel cut oats. Or an Apple Valley Market?

Meijer has 24 oz for $7.19
Apple Valley has 32 oz for $6.48
Amish stores have it for $2.63 per pound.