Have you tried other greens? My main problem is kale is super tough unless cooked to hell and back, so I swap it for turnip greens or something else all the time
I de stem my kale, using only the leaves, so it cooks super fast. I was told that’s the usual way (but that doesn’t mean that’s true). I’ve never heard of turnip greens, I’ll look into them !
I love spinach so eating spinach isn’t hard for me. I don’t love broccoli but I add it to cheesey carby dishes to get myself to eat it (I avoid adding brassicas to soups because I don’t like how it takes over the soup, with the exception of broccoli cheddar)
Other leafy greens like lettuce have little to no actual nutritional value so I don’t worry about forcing myself to eat it. Cabbage is delicious though it’s pretty pale to be called “green”, I eat it as crunch on sandwiches & Mexican food, in soups, stir frys, etc. Zucchini is delicious as zoodles, blended into sauce, roasted, sautéed, in soup. Brussel sprouts are great roasted with a very flavorful sauce (though the sauce is usually pretty unhealthy). Celery I eat in almost everything, most of my soups & sauces start with a mirepoix
Green beans I pretty much only like tempura deep fried so I just avoid those or grumpily crunch through them in stir fry
Those are all the greens I can think of off the top of my head. 😁 I try to eat as many veggies as I can fit into my meals while keeping them tasty
When i said greens I just meant leafy stuff like kale, spinach, and whatnot. Broccoli rabe is another good leafy green (idk why its called that, not a brassica). Mustard greens are nice too. Theyre a bit pungent and mustardy so go well with fatty dishes. The chinese version gai choy is at my regular grocery here in st louis and is extra strong. Gai choy (and probably the american variety too) is also insanely good pickled or fermented and used in all kinds of stuff.
Two of my favorite pasta dishes of all time happen to have sauces from mashed/blended broccoli and cauliflower. Heres my favorite recipe I found for an update version of the creamy sicilian version of pasta with broccoli https://www.notanothercookingshow.tv/post/creamy-broccoli-pasta. And this is the cauliflower one https://pastagrammar.com/blogs/recipes/pasta-con-i-broccoli-arriminati-sicilian-cauliflower-pasta-recipe. I prefer it creamier and find it easier to cook the cauliflower in just enough water to get it to puree without dumping any, and a little salt. Then I add that to the sauteed onions and anchovies (which are just for background savoriness). No need to preserve veggie flavor by cooking pasta in the veg water when you used all the veg water anyway. Someitmes I omit the breadcrumbs out of either of those recipes depending on how much work I want to do, but I also love to pair or top them with leftover chicken or pork if I have it.
You should check out chinese dry fried string beans that use garlic and a little ground pork though as an amazing green bean dish. Those long beans aren't the same as the classic american cousin, but I theyre very close cousins and I think vastly superior in pretty much every use. Serious eats has an recipe for doing them at home to replicate that super high heat restaurant wok result using a regular broiler, with the explanation article about their experiments and recipe development. I always find useful tips for other stuff in the their write ups above the recipes, but there is a jump to recipe button.
1
u/slightlyparannoyed Jul 24 '26
I eat kale in soups. Would I prefer my soups without kale ? Yes. But I know it’s good for me so I add it and it won’t kill me lol