I just discovered the most delicious kale salad at an Italian resto and re-created it at home. I'm totally on the kale bandwagon after this mouth-watering salad (a term I normally reserve for cupcakes). Sweet, salty, crunchy, satisifying. Bonus: Gluten-Free!

www.freshnessgf.com/tuscan-kale-salad-with-currents-and-parmesan/

Here's our favorite Kale Chips recipe. It's fast and easy and full of good nutrition!

The pizza at the top looks amazing! Thanks for all the tasty, healthy ideas!

I just hate kale. Hate it. I wonder if I just don't cook it long enough? It's a bit texture and a bit tasting like dirt and unhappiness.

I guess I'd like to know if people actually like the taste, or like that it's good for them? Is this a kale conspiracy? Sigh. Maybe i'll try it with bacon.

I can never get enough Massaged Kale Salad. So simple and so fresh with the lemon juice. Feels like I can make up for every holiday buffet sin!
http://www.careyonlovely.com/2012/10/simple-secret-massaged-kale-salad.html

I also vote for Massaged Kale Salad (see my version via the link below). We have it several times a week. I just do not like cooked greens much, unless they are playing a supporting role - such as in a pasta or curry, into which I nearly always add a bunch of chopped rainbow chard or spinach.

And, let's not forget about smoothies! Although sometimes a difficult idea to get my head around on chilly mornings - I just plan to have a steaming cup of tea immediately after.

http://saffroncrush.com/massaged-kale-salad/

Greens are my absolute favorite thing to eat! I think chard is my favorite, but I love kale, collards, spinach, beet greens, broccoli rabe.

I've made some nice kale dishes, lately. One with roasted chickpeas and cauliflower, raisins, almonds and manchego cheese...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2013/01/12/roasted-chickpeas-and-cauliflower-with-kale-raisins-and-almonds-and-manchego-cheese/

And a curry with kale and black beans in pumpkin sauce with pumpkinseed pesto...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2013/01/08/kale-and-black-beans-in-curried-pumpkin-sauce-with-pumpkinseed-arugula-pesto/

I love chard in tarts and pies...here's one with french lentils, butternut squash and walnuts
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2013/01/03/ring-shaped-pie-with-french-lentils-chard-walnuts-and-butternut-squash/

Chard, pistachio and golden raisin tart...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2013/01/03/ring-shaped-pie-with-french-lentils-chard-walnuts-and-butternut-squash/

a tart with chard, chickpeas and olives with a citrust quince glaze...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/06/27/chard-chickpea-and-olive-tart-with-a-citrus-quince-glaze/

I like chard and tomatoes sauteed and served over crispy cornmeal cakes...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/12/24/crispy-cornmeal-cakes-and-chard-with-chickpeas-olives-and-roasted-red-peppers/

And comforting and satisfying...chard frittata cake made with chickpea flour...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/09/12/chickpea-flour-chard-frittata-cake-with-olive-sofrito/

Lord, I could go on and on!

Here's one broccoli rabe recipe and then I'll stop! It's with ginger, cashews and apricots...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/05/27/broccoli-rabe-with-ginger-apricots-cashews/

Don't even get me started on spinach!
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/tag/spinach/

Technically, it's not 'eating' your greens, but a green smoothie is an easy way to get some extra fruit and green leafy veg for breakfast or after a workout. Incorporating kale and spinache has never been easier!

I first became acquainted with kale thirty-some years ago when I moved to the Netherlands. Here, it is pretty much only served mashed together with potatoes to make "boerenkoolstamppot", but I was taught from the start that one should really only buy and cook curly kale after the first frost, as kale - and collards, apparently - are sweeter then.
I just wish we could get different sorts here, and that it wasn't always sold chopped fine. :-(

"Dirt and unhappiness"! Yes! That's a perfect way to describe it. I'm another one who hasn't been able to get on board with the kale thing. I keep buying it and can't stand to eat anything I make with it, so it just feels like a waste of money and food to keep trying.

I'm new to eating kale and made the kale, butternut squash, bacon pizza at the top last night. It was really good. The squash was the strongest flavor but the crispy kale was nice. Also put kale in the smoothie this morning and it turned out fine.

These all look pretty dang good! I'm currently taking a page out of Tamar Adler's book and just cooking greens (whatever I happen to have on hand) in the skillet with tomatoes and garlic and plenty of olive oil. This new "staple" is in the fridge whenever we need a sandwich or appetizer or addition to a previously made dish to give it new life. T=

You're funny, and I know what you mean. I always buy kale and hen don't eat it.

Wow, did I ever need these suggestions, thank you so much! And thanks to all the commenters too for their suggestions! @Claireooto, you rock!!!

I like the taste of kale - raw and cooked. I like the texture too. I like chard as well, but I prefer the firmer texture and greater bitterness of kale.

Last night I cooked lacinato kale with olive oil, garlic, s&p, balsamic, red wine vinegar and a can of diced tomatoes - we ate it with tofu on quinoa and it was extraordinarily delicious. It was pretty quick as well. I wish we had more kale to make it again today!

Thank you! I am OB-sessed with leafy greens. I cannot eat enough and I am always looking for ways to incorporate them into every meal. This morning's breakfast was a kale and parsnip fritatta with a radicchio, orange and golden beet side salad. Breakfast salads have been on heavy rotation around here.

Can't wait to try some of these recipes.

I have to say, I made the Crispy Pan-Fried Beans and Wilted Greens recipe a couple weeks ago and IT WAS DELICIOUS! Def going into the rotation :)

Thank you, Annie-O!!

These bean cakes are my fav way to eat kale: http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2012/05/white-bean-cakes-topped-with-kale-and.html
I'm a huge fan of all massaged kale salads and love it on top of my pizza too.
As for chard, Ottolenghi knows what he is doing with this one: http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2012/08/chard-cakes-with-parsley-sauce.html
the hardest thing about buying greens in the winter is that I know come summer I will be overwhelmed with them from my CSA. Mentally I feel like I should "save up" my greens craving for the summer. It makes no sense. To the farmer's market I go to find some nice winter kale!

I can't help laughing at (err, with) the kale-taste-haters. I LOVE the stuff. I can go through three giant bunches a week, just cooking for myself. Raw, braised, blanched, doesn't matter.

Now Swiss chard...THERE'S something that tastes like garbage. Heh heh.

If it's the taste of greens in general you don't like, the trick I used to start liking them is to hide the flavor, to gradually get used to it. That meant: 1) Throwing greens into strongly-flavored soups, and 2) Bacon. Bacon is your friend.

Standard greens recipe for #2, which works with kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, etc:
Chop 2 slices of bacon (rather finely) and start it frying in a Dutch oven. While it's cooking, mince 2 garlic cloves and chop at least 1 large bunch of kale. When the bacon is rendered and browned, add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add the kale, all of it, a big handful at a time, turning with tongs to coat with the bacon grease. When it's all in the pot, pepper to taste and then add a hearty (hearty!) tablespoon of smoked paprika. Really, don't skimp on that stuff. Then pour in a few glugs (half cup or so) of chicken or veggie broth. Clap a lid on it, lower the heat way down, and walk away. Revisit every 15 minutes or so to see if it needs more broth--there should be some liquid in the bottom at all times. The kale is done when the thick stem pieces mush a bit when squeezed with tongs, 45 minutes or so. Ideally you'll have about 1/3 cup of smoky red "pot liquor" at the bottom to spoon over a bowlful of your greens. Mmm, comfort food.

I'm telling myself it's a genetic thing, the way some people can't eat cilantro while I could possibly stuff it in my face by the fist full and be happy. Maybe it's because I never ate it as a kid. But who did? Is it just because I lived in suburban Pittsburgh growing up that I was never exposed, compared to my crunchy world of Cambridge in my adult life in which my CSA dumps kale on me? OR is this recent trend and I can assume the bandwagon will pass me by and I can be content with my delightful spinach in a year or two. I choose option 3.I like the quinoa trend better. not big on this salted caramel situation though. I digress.

OH Claireooto you are a chard goddess to be sure! I too LOVE chard & now I must make every one of those recipes!

I grow LOADS of chard during the summer & fall. Not only do I love the taste, but Rainbow Chard is SOOOO beautiful. I also grow baby greens in the winter under grow lights. The taste is not as intense, but still there.

Yes, some of these greens are an 'acquired' taste & they can taste of 'dirt' but somehow that is their charm for me.

If anyone has a Veggie Grill near them, try the All Hale Kale Salad & you will fall in love with kale!

:D

Katekgl: I grew up just south of the 'burgh (ie. the land of perpetual grey winters) and now live in the Boston suburbs, but I adore all greens! I think I was just exposed more veggies due to my Italian-descent mother's cooking.

I think the bitterness of many greens is the issue. Many of us love it (even crave it) especially in the winter months, but some people are just too sensitive of bitter flavors. How do you feel about romaine lettuce, beer, very very dark chocolate?

One thing that might help with that 'dirt' flavor/sensation: instead of rinsing greens, immerse and swish them in a full bowl of water, then lift them out - don't pour the water out around them (you may even have to do this more than once for really sandy greens). The dirt sinks to the bottom instead of getting caught in the folds of the greens.

I'll try it! I talked to my mom about this actually, and a) realized my original thought was silly because SHE grew up in Boston, and b) she also hates kale which is why we didn't eat it. Although..i also worked at a farmer's market (Soergel Orchards, if you know it :) ) and i dont remember ever seeing it in high school. hmm.

You see, i like the other things you mentioned a lot...So i will try the swish method, since my greens usually come straight from the farm actual dirt can be a significant contributing factor...and perhaps just trying some other recipes.

I also think i was overwhelmed by my CSA deliveries and perhaps THAT put a "bad taste in my mouth" for the greens that i couldnt recognize and filled my fridge. I am prepared this year though. Waha!

I am over-analyzing this.

These recipes are fabulous for greens lovers! Can't wait to try them all.

Katekgl, I also totally get what you're saying. I like kale quite a lot and buy it nearly every week, but I don't like it much at ALL in salad, or in kale chip format, which is where I feel like it is really trendy lately. It DOES have kind of a essence of dirt to it. Where I do love it is when cooked with something pretty acidic - I often put it in a stirfry with black bean sauce, or braise it for 15 or 20 minutes with caramelized onions then douse in balsamic. Or make it into a pasta dish with goat cheese and very flavorful tomato sauce. I think, for me at least, kale needs a lot of competing flavors, and a fair amount of actual cooking, to take away that earthiness that I don't love.

I looove how most of these recipes are main dishes that incorporate lots of seasonal veggies! I usually find myself making veggies on the side of the main dish, which really just gives me extra work. Can't wait to try the kale-egg-polenta recipe!