Have you ever made a dinner that you couldn’t even eat? Now, I have made some very healthy meals that I would not necessarily enjoy but because I knew their health benefits, I would force myself to enjoy it and encourage my husband likewise. Well my dinner last night was far worse. I am actually surprised this hasn’t happened before, as I don’t believe myself to be all that of an experienced cook. It was quite the experience though. Let’s just say we decided we do not like collard greens.
My awful dinner took 1.5 hours to make (that’s probably the worst part!), and included BBQ chicken marinated in my own homemade teriyaki sauce, collard greens with bacon and spices (a recipe that received great reviews from allrecipes.com) , and couscous. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well, it wouldn’t have been that bad, except for the fact that my teriyaki sauce didn’t work out like it had before…too salty and disgusting, marinated far too long, and the collard greens smelled so bad after they were done simmering (which took over 45 minutes), that I could only take two bites and then I had to get that dish off my table asap! I couldn’t eat anything else and felt sick to my stomach.
We quickly disposed of all remaining food items down the disposal and fled out of the house without another word. We drove immediately to our local Baja Fresh for a dinner replacement. Wow! That sure was good compared to that one awful dinner! (I just wish I had a picture to share…it did look awful as well ;( )
Maybe the collard greens were too old and overly bitter, or maybe I simmered it for too long, but alas my desire to eat this nutritious vegetable failed miserably. I don’t think it will be entering my house for awhile.
Got an awful meal story to share? Share a laugh with me!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!
Hello,
We eat our dark greens in salads, collards, kale, swiss chard etc. Buying organic helps with flavor we have found. In fact we taste our lettuce before we buy it. My husband, who is a little more picky than I am, will tear a small piece off, wipe it as much as he can and taste it. If it is bitter we don’t buy. I do like mustard greens steamed and spinach but have not tried collard greens. Don’t give up trying it different ways they are so good for you.
Just a thought… the way I normally cook greens is to steam them. They really have to be cooked al dente to retain all their nutrition and stay palatable. That toxic smell is the equivalent of milk going bad. When you break down all the nutrients, the result is not only less than nutritious but can actually be, well, stinky! At http://www.whfoods.com (The World’s Healthiest Foods, there is a demonstration using Kale, but the process would be the same. He boiled water and then placed the kale in the steamer basket for 5 minutes. He added a few more ingredients to up the antioxidant values and some more flavor, and made the comment that steaming even one minute longer could drastically reduce the level of nutrients available.
I know this post was from a while ago, so you may have already figured this out, but if not, I would encourage you to check out the site, or email me and I’ll fill in more of the details. Our new favorite with steamed greens has been swiss chard from our favorite organic stand at our farmer’s market. It’s heavenly!
hi lindsay
I’ve been lurking around your blog for awhile. I just thought I would say- don’t give up on collard greens. I’ve never had them until recently- but in a way you would not expect…and I did not gag. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of green smoothies, but I’ve been mixing in the dark leafy greens with fruit, yogurt, stevia and anything else you can think of and it is raw and provides all the good nutrition of greens that so many of us aren’t getting these days. try it and let me know what you think
if you need recipes let me know