My friend Laurie gave me a cookbook called Wild About Greens* that just never fails. Most of the recipes call for one or more specific greens, but you can easily substitute. This recipe called for baby spinach, baby arugula, and dandelion greens, but I just used baby kale, which I buy in a big bag from Costco. I also substituted red wine vinegar for lemon juice and full size carrots for baby carrots, because that’s what I had on hand. I usually don’t like carrots, but this dish was just absolutely fantastic.

We served it for guests alongside cucumber salad, cornbread, Wagyu beef burgers from a new farmer, mashed sweet potatoes, and stuffed portobello mushrooms for our vegetarian guest. I stuffed the mushrooms with a mixture of bread crumbs, red bell pepper, Vidalia onion, feta cheese, and a mix of fresh herbs that I made in the Ninja*, topped with shaved Parmesan—basically whatever delicious I had on hand. Puddy grilled them with the burgers.

My adapted recipe for the kale:

EVOO

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, peeled and chopped (tip: I put the carrots and garlic together in my Ninja* and gave it a few whirls)

4-5 handfuls of baby kale

splash of red wine vinegar

12 mint leaves, sliced

3 chives, chopped

fresh ground sea salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and carrots and sauté over low heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the greens in batches. Once they wilt, move to the side and add more. Cook just until the greens are bright green. The entire process should take about five minutes or less.

Stir in red wine vinegar or another acid, mint, and chives. Season with salt & pepper and serve immediately.

*Affiliate link