Fall Garden Greens

My garden is rather bare at the moment.  I didn't manage to grow any winter lettuce or radishes.  The snails ate all the little plants and the bed is empty - except for some dandelion.
The savoy cabbage is a bit weak and the brussel sprouts are tiny.   But:  there are still lots of collard plants standing strong and growing beautiful big leaves.  The beetroot is waiting to be harvested and some carrots are still in the ground.   

It is the first time that I have grown collards.  To be honest, I have never eaten them before, either.  I think they are not so common here in Germany.  We grow more cabbage and kale and the collard seeds were sold to me as something special.  Well, they are!

Look at this: 190g (1 cup) cooked collard greens have a great nutritional value(%DV), as you can see below:

 vitamin K1045%

 vitamin A308.3%

 vitamin C57.6%

 folate44.1%

 manganese41.5%

 calcium26.6%

 fiber21.2%

 tryptophan15.6%

 choline14.2%

 iron12.2%

 vitamin B612%

 vitamin B211.7%

 magnesium9.5%

 vitamin E8.3%

 protein8%

 omega-3 fats7.5%

 potassium6.2%

 phosphorus5.7%

 vitamin B35.4%

 vitamin B15.3%

(Source: The world's healthiest foods)

I am looking forward to trying out different collard greens recipes.  Braised collards with tomatoes, ministrone with collard greens, collard greens with lemon ... hmmm, sounds yummy.  Martha Steward has posted quite a few lovely ideas with or without meat here.

Paula Deen's Collard Greens with smoked meat also sound delicious.  I wonder if it would be tasty to substitute the meat with dried tomatoes...  I will try that later.  :-)

There is also a video I would like to share with you.  You know how much I like wild edibles and I still have lots to learn about them.  That's why I found this really inspiring!

Enjoy!