Re: Pureed Chard, Kale, etc?

[Guest guest]

watercress - sautee onion or shallot in butter or oil until softened, add

watercress until wilted

but still bright green. add coconut milk or dairy yogurt and bring to a quick

boil

- then transfer to a blender and whizz. Season with salt and pepper.

That's good as a yummy sauce for fish or red meat or to eat on its own.

Mara

> Does anyone have any ideas on recipes/methods for making pureed

> greens? I'm going to do spinach today, which I think will be fine

> because it's very mild. However, other greens like kale aren't so

> mild. How would you prepare them pureed? Boil in chicken broth then

> run through a blender? Steam? Sautee? What spices do you think would

> be good? It doesn't have to be complicated or fancy, I just want to be

> able to eat some pureed greens without gagging I know there are

> some awesome cooks on here, so I look forward to any advice I get =)

> Thanks!

>

> Cheers!

> Alyssa 16 yo

> UC April 2008, dx Sept 2008

> SCD June 2009 (restarted)

> Prednisone 7.5 mg

>

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

>

[Guest guest]

At 08:40 AM 8/23/2010, you wrote:

I know there are

some awesome cooks on here, so I look forward to any advice I get =)

Alyssa,

One of the things I have found that works well with those slightly bitter

green is to add lots of pressed garlic to them while steaming.

Y'know how they recommend chlorophyll for bad breath?

Well, the garlic does the same sort of thing in reverse -- some of the

chlorophyll in the veggie goes to deodorize the garlic, and the veggie is

less bitter.

I fix chopped spinach this way all the time.

If you are cooking the stuff in the chicken broth, make it garlic soup,

essentially, then puree everything together.

Remember my savory smoothies? You can also steam the veggies and puree

them with some tomato juice. Since I throw some meat and some zucchini in

with most of mine, it makes a very hearty thick soup that goes great in a

mug when I'm hungry but not in a mood to eat much.

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

> One of the things I have found that works well

> with those slightly bitter green is to add lots

> of pressed garlic to them while steaming.

I like this garlic suggestion! I have a friend who also used to add butter and

lemon juice- delicious! I think that combo would be great with Kale

By the way, have you tried baking Kale yet? It makes my poo green, but

otherwise, I digest it way better than steamed veggies. The flavor is the same

idea- toss in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

-Joanna

[Guest guest]

At 09:09 PM 8/23/2010, you wrote:

Great ideas Marilyn, thanks so

much! That's a good idea to add it to tomato sauce; I was going to make

some tomorrow anyways, so I may as well sneak in a few

greens!

Exactly! A bit here, a bit there.....

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

Babette the Foundling Beagle

[Guest guest]

I'm glad the spinach was good. I love spinach but I do feel with greens

of any kind, they need help. I hope the green smoothies are OK

again real soon. I forgot to mention one thing I did with kale.

Last time I made kale chips I actually managed not to scarf them all down

that afternoon and I just crumbled some up and put it in an empty spice

jar and I like this for a " new " seasoning. But then, I DO

like kale anyhow. I also chop up a smaller leaf to put in my salad,

sort of like you would parsley.

Thanks for the ideas, ! I made pureed spinach tonight in chicken broth, and it definitely needed a hefty dose of onion powder before

it was edible =) I'm hoping I'll be able to re-introduce my green smoothies again soon so I won't have to worry so much about getting them cooked! Just waiting for a few days where nothing else is changing...

Cheers!

Alyssa 16 yo

[Guest guest]

Me too- in addition to olive oil I think they need something acidic like lemon

juice (or mustard or vinegar like Mara suggested). Sorry they were so gross- I

usually devour my pan before it makes it to a plate!

-Joanna

>

> I never do it just with oil. I like to use a garlic vinaigrette type thing -

garlic, mustard, olive oil, vinegar, salt,

> cumin.

[Guest guest]

I'm not Marilyn and she certainly has the ultimate authority on recipes

but I'll duck in anyhow as I consider my kale chips a success. The

original recipe I read (somewhere) said to bake for about 20 minutes. I

found this to be much too long. I set my oven around 325-350 and

usually about ten minutes does it. I use a spoonful of olive oil

and about an equal amount of lemon juice. They don't taste bitter to

me. But perhaps I should admit that I like sour things and bitter

up to a point. I'm using some very curly dark kale called

" Tuscan " , if that makes any difference. It's what DH finds at

the store.

Hey my Kale chips were bitter as all hell.. Is it just that i cooked

them too long??

[Guest guest]

I'm glad to know collards work. I tried Swiss chard, and they

flopped down onto the pan and stuck. I had to literally scrape them

off, so the second time I tried it, I used a non-stick pan. They still

stuck on hard, but it was slightly easier to scrape them off.

I have also made these chips using collards, which some people might find a little less bitter than kale. I keep threatening to try them with romaine lettuce, but... again, I end up eating the lettuce before I get around to trying the experiment.

— Marilyn

[Guest guest]

I will try parchment. Since kale works fine without it (maybe being curly

that helps hold them up?) it didn't occur to me to grab the

parchment.

>I'm glad to know collards work. I tried Swiss >chard, and they flopped down onto the pan and >stuck. I had to literally scrape them off, so >the second time I tried it, I used a non-stick >pan. They still stuck on hard, but it was slightly easier to

scrape them off.

That's why I place them on parchment and then on the pan.

— Marilyn

[Guest guest]

OK, got some kale. I was making chicken soup for dinner (due to a

disastrous trial of zucchini, which sure made me sick as a dog for a day

- no more of THAT for awhile!). I took a kale leaf and stripped out

the rib, and pureed the soup and the kale leaf. I didn't bother to

cook the kale first since I wasn't feeling good. Then heated it and

it was good! It was green. I guess I got Green Soup, or maybe I

should call it Hot Savory Green Smoothie! Since I was adding it to

already fixed soup, it did have onions and celery and herbs already. One

leaf to about a cup and a half of soup wasn't (to me) bitter. I'll

try cooking and pureeing more and see what happens.

> I'll put kale on the grocery list and do a bit of experimenting

and > report back.

Thanks for the ideas, ! I made pureed spinach tonight in chicken broth, and it definitely needed a hefty dose of onion powder before

it was edible =) I'm hoping I'll be able to re-introduce my green smoothies again soon so I won't have to worry so much about getting them cooked! Just waiting for a few days where nothing else is changing...

Cheers!

Alyssa 16 yo

[Guest guest]

I tried Kale Chips on my Presto Pizzaz pizza cooker last month.

5 MINUTES!

(I couldn't bring myself to turn on my oven in July, and my de-hydrator was

already full.)

BTW, if you leave Kale chips in the de-hydrator for about 12 hours, & then pack

with a paper towel, they will stay crisp for a day or two. They are very fragile

when you first remove them.

This seems hardly worth the trouble most of the time, but I did this before a

road trip, so I could have a healthy snack to take with.

[Guest guest]

Don't try them with lettuce. I've heard even spinach is not thick enough to

stand up the the dehydration. Can't imagine what lettuce would do.

[Guest guest]

Also, you can refrigerate them and then put them back under the broiler (with

the oven door cracked) for about 1.5 minutes and they will be crispy again!

-Joanna

> BTW, if you leave Kale chips in the de-hydrator for about 12 hours, & then

pack with a paper towel, they will stay crisp for a day or two. They are very

fragile when you first remove them.