This edition of gardening’s Use it or Lose it series involves the greens your garden is likely ripening up at the moment. I know mine are! I’ll be sharing how you can use your greens in several different ways. We’ll start with the basics, lettuce, spinach and kale.
First let me show you some updated photos of my lettuce, spinach and kale. I planted these in the late fall and they wintered wonderfully and so they’re harvestable slightly earlier than if you would have planted them in the early spring.
This is one of my romaine heads of lettuce. Ready to become a salad! My plants range from fairly small to large enough to eat.
My spinach is doing great. This is my best crop of spinach so far. I don’t have much luck planting seeds in the spring or getting a fall crop but when I plant them in the late fall, for a spring crop, it seems to work great.
And of course kale, one of my very favorite greens. This is one of my new plants for this spring but I also have a few from the years past. They come back every year unlike lettuce and spinach (which could potentially reseed but not reliable).
So, what can you do with an excess of greens? Well that’s easy because greens are so versatile and can be used in so many more things than just salad.
Let’s start with spinach……I use spinach and kale almost interchangeably but they really are different so I’ll share some ideas with you on how to use the spinach. These can apply to anytime of course, not just in the spring when you have extra spinach. Here is a range of things I put spinach in.
Mushroom Spinach Fettuccine Alfredo with homemade pasta noodles
Spinach salad with olive oil, lemon juice and salt for dressing
Green Juice with spinach, oranges and carrots
The good old green smoothie as simple as strawberries, bananas and spinach
Now let’s move on to lettuce. Though it is less versatile than spinach or kale it can be used in many things. I try to sneak it in when there would normally not be any green.
Stuffing on a bed of lettuce with balsamic dressing
Cheese burgers with homegrown lettuce!
Tacos with lettuce and cilantro from my garden
Finally we have kale. One of my very favorite greens because of how tasty it is. It’s also one of the most nutrition greens AND a perennial so I consider it a triple threat! Kale can also be eaten in salads but I mostly use it for juicing, smoothies and cooking. Here are some ideas for your usage!
Reconstructed lasagna made with kale, sauce and cottage cheese
Green Juice with kale.....much richer and darker that with spinach
Integrating a little bit of your greens into every meal will help you to easily utilize what you have, even if it’s a very large amount! Don’t be afraid to get creative because greens are one of the most beneficial foods out there and when they’re from your garden they are faaaar too precious to waste.
I hope this was helpful for you! Gardening isn’t overwhelming and with rewards like this gorgeous food, it won’t let you down.
U make me want to start my own garden!
excellent post. I am going to make that lasagna and the alfredo.
yesss! love this post. I didn’t know kale was a perennial- that DOES make it a triple threat! I saw some of the plants/veggies that I want to plant but I didn’t see Kale – do I plant seeds for that ? in the fall ?