Move Over KaleTurnip Greens Are A Nutrient Powerhouse!Easy Instant Pot Recipe

I'll share a secret ingredient that cuts the bitterness!

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Just a Few Seeds

After I planted one of my raised beds, I had some room between rows of bell peppers and eggplants. Since they tend to grow straight up and not spread out too much, I thought I'd throw a couple of turnip seeds here and there. I noticed that the top of the greens were growing nicely and weren't getting burned like chard usually does or attacked by aphids like my kale. Before I knew it, the turnips were ready to harvest and the greens were enormous. I was really surprised because the last time I planted turnips, I didn't have this kind of success.

Do Not Fear the Bitter Greens

I rarely go buy turnip greens because I love kale and always have tons of kale growing year-round in my garden. Also, turnip greens can sometimes be a bit too bitter. But with just a little balsamic vinegar, you can cut the bitterness of these nutritious greens and enjoy their wonderful and unique flavor. 

A touch of balsamic vinegar cuts the bitterness.

Move Over Kale

As far as nutrition goes, turnip greens can stand up to kale, the gold standard of nutrition. And in many areas, they outperform kale. Let's compare:

Turnip greens and kale are both low in calories, 29 calories vs. 36 calories per boiled cup and both have .5 grams or less of fat.

They are both very good sources vitamin A, C, K and B6 but turnip greens also provide 42% of the daily requirement of folic acid, 10 times the amount you get from kale.

In the mineral category, turnip greens and kale are both very good sources of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, copper and manganese. However, turnip greens have more than twice the calcium as kale providing 197 mg per cooked cup vs. 94 mg from kale. 

Turnip greens also have more than twice the vitamin E as kale, with turnip greens providing 14% of the daily requirement in one cooked cup. 

When selecting any nutritious food, I look to see its fiber content. Both greens have a very high fiber per calorie content but turnip greens have twice the fiber as kale with a whopping 5 grams per cooked cup versus 2.6 grams in a cooked cup of kale. 

Although kale has more protein than turnip greens, (2.5 g per cooked cup versus 1.6 g), turnip greens have higher protein quality. In fact, they contain all the essential amino acids and are a complete protein. 

I'll always love kale and I find it more versatile (I'm not inclined to throw turnip greens in my smoothie yet) but after looking deeper into the relative nutrition, I will seek out my bitter friend more often.

What About the Turnips

Today I'm cooking the greens with you but I am making a big pot of Zucchini and Turnip Soup with the turnips.

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Instant Pot Turnip Greens with Garlic and Onions

Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free

[makes 6 servings]

Requires Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 pound turnip greens

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 large onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or minced

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup veggie broth

Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the greens by washing and removing the stems.

 

Roll the leaves and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Set aside.

Set the Instant Pot on sauté. After it heats, add the olive oil, onion and garlic. Cook until the onion softens, several minutes. 

Stir in a large handful of greens. As they quickly wilt, stir in another handful. 

Stir in the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

Turn the Instant Pot off. Secure the lid making sure that the top vent of the pot is closed and hit the "manual" button. Set the pressure cooker time for 3 minutes at high pressure. 

When complete, hit the "off" button and do a quick release of the pressure. Open the lid carefully. Stir the greens and onions, adjust salt and pepper if needed, and serve immediately.

Nutrition

Per serving: 60 calories, 1 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 101 mg omega-3 and 119 omega-6 fatty acids, 2 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, 47 mg sodium (not including added salt and sodium from veggie broth).

 

Fresh Figs With Arugula And Romaine - Raw Vegan And Gluten Free

This delicious raw salad uses very nutritious greens.

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Figs, Finally!
My friend and neighbor has the most wonderful fig tree. By the end of the summer we are usually swimming in big, juicy figs. This summer, for some reason, they never came. But yesterday, after much anticipation, I received a big bowl of this delicious fruit! If you are lucky enough to have access to local, fresh figs, here's a lovely salad to make with them.

You many remember my article on selecting salad greens that showed how arugula and romaine lettuce were among the most nutritious of all salad greens. This salad uses a combination of both.

Fresh Figs with Arugula and Romaine Lettuce
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[4 servings or 2 large entree-size servings]

For the salad dressing
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon raw honey or agave nectar *
1/4 teaspoon salt


For the salad
4 ounces baby arugula (4 handfuls)
Small head, hearts of romaine lettuce (8 ounces)
2 large fresh figs, cut vertically into 8 wedges
1/2 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup raw English walnuts
Freshly ground black pepper


* I think the honey in this recipe tastes better than the agave nectar but for vegans who avoid honey, you can make it with agave.

Make the salad dressing by combining all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisking until they are well combined.

To make the salad, clean the greens and chop the romaine lettuce into bite-size pieces. 

Place the arugula, romaine lettuce and fig wedges in a large bowl. Add the desired amount of salad dressing and toss until well coated.

Divide the salad onto 2 to 4 plates. Top with the avocado slices and walnuts. Top with freshly ground black pepper, if desired, and serve.

Per serving (4 servings): 168 calories, 11 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 819 mg omega-3 and 3511 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 3 g protein, 24 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber and 161 mg sodium.

Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce - Serve On Pasta With Chopped Kalamata Olives

Serve this sauce over your favorite pasta and garnish with kalamata olives and chopped parsley

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One Final Recipe from the Visit
I've been featuring recipes that my children prepared during their visit. The first one was my daughter-in law's Garlic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing and the second was my son's slow cooked Red Bell Pepper Sauce which I love to serve on vegan apple sage sausages. Today I'm going to share my daughter Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce. 
She made it for me last year when I visited her in Minneapolis. I came home and tried to duplicate it and didn't quite do it justice. So during her recent visit, I took much better notes so that I could share it with you. For those of you who avoid honey, you may try making it with agave but I think the honey is key in this recipe as it pairs up so well with balsamic vinegar.


About Servings
I always struggle when I list how many servings a dish makes. Where a pasta or veggie recipe might be just a side dish for a meat eater, a pasta or veggie dish is going to be the main attraction for a vegetarian. So the vegetarian serving needs to be bigger. I get really annoyed at recipes that say they serve 4 only to find that they barely serve 2. So when I list a serving, it's usually a real serving!
When you look at the back of a box of pasta, it calls 2 ounces a serving. That would mean that 1 pound of pasta serves 8 people. If I ever served 8 family members only 1 pound of pasta, they would expect several more courses to follow! (Our family definitely does not fear the carb). So for this dish, I'm compromising and saying that 1 pound of pasta serves 6 even though I know the standard is 8 and in reality, 4 hungry people could polish off a pound of pasta without breaking a sweat! In any case, this is enough sauce to serve with a pound of pasta and the number of servings you get out of that is entirely up to you. Just enjoy!

My daughter, Linda, preparing the ingredients

After cooking the onions and garlic, push them to the edge.
Add balsamic vinegar and cook it down a bit

Then add honey 

Cook honey briefly until it bubbles and cooks down a little

Then add herbs and stir everything together

Add fire roasted tomatoes, stir, cover and cook

Linda's Fire Roasted, Honey Balsamic Tomato Sauce
[Enough for 1 pound of pasta, 6 servings]
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon raw, local honey
2 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
28 ounce can Muir Glen fire roasted crushed tomatoes
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1 pound of cooked whole grain pasta
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
18 or more kalamata olives, chopped


Heat oil to medium low heat in a Dutch oven or sauce pan and sauté onions for about 3 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. 
Push onions and garlic to the edges making a whole in the center of the pan.
Drop balsamic vinegar into the center of the pan and cook it down for about a minute. Don't let it get too dry.
Add honey over the reduced balsamic vinegar. Let it cook down about a minute until it bubbles and reduces slightly.
Add basil, oregano and black pepper and stir everything together.
Add crushed tomatoes and salt to taste. Add a few tablespoons of water to the can and swirl around to get the rest of the sauce. Add to pan.
Bring to a low boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes.
If sauce seems too thin, remove the cover during the last 10 minutes of cooking.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare pasta according to directions.
Spoon sauce over pasta and top with chopped kalamata olives and fresh parsley.
Serve immediately.


Per serving (sauce only): 94.8 calories, 2.3 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.3 g protein, 16.2 g carbohydrates and 0.5 g dietary fiber.


Per serving (sauce, pasta and olives): 371 calories, 5.2 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 9.7 g protein, 71.4 g carbohydrates and 8.5 g dietary fiber.

Karina's Garlic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing - Kid Friendly, Gluten Free And Delicious!

My daughter-in-law, Karina, cutting lettuce for our salad.
Thanks Karina for sharing your wonderful recipe with me and the Foods For Long Life followers!

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Recipes from the Visit
My kids and grandkids were here for the past week for our annual get together. Most parents feel overwhelmed when there are that many mouths to feed but luckily, all my kids are amazing cooks! During the week I not only got to cook them my favorite recipes but they cooked some wonderful dishes for me too! So this week, I'll be featuring their recipes.


How she get Kids to Love Salad
My daughter-in-law, Karina, is a fabulous gardener. Much of the food she feeds her family comes from her raised bed garden. Living in Portland, Oregon, she's able to successfully grow many types of lettuce both at home and at her children's school where she is active in their vegetable garden program. My grandchildren (ages 5 and 8), and apparently all the kids at school, love her salad and beg for more! (You would not believe how these little guys attack a bowl of salad!) I attribute this to her wonderful salad dressing. I have often asked her how she makes it and, like many cooks, she responded, "I add a little of this and a little of that.....". This time I wouldn't let her off the hook! I took a pad and pen and had her instruct me how to make it. She didn't know the exact measurements at first so it took a while to measure, taste, and adjust, but eventually we got a recipe for me to share with you! Here it is:

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Infused with crushed garlic, this dressing uses 2 types of vinegar.

My grandchildren adore soy sauce, but in this dressing they all prefer the taste of Bragg liquid aminos which is similar to soy sauce. Although it's gluten free, it does have more sodium than Ohsawa Nama Shoyu raw soy sauce (960 mg vs. 720 mg per tablespoon).

Karina's Salad Dressing
[makes 1 cup or 16 tablespoons]
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Bragg liquid aminos 
1 teaspoon raw honey *
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
* For vegans who avoid honey, substitute your favorite sweetener (agave, raw sugar, etc.).


It's important to really smash the garlic (I use the side of a big knife and my fist) and then finely mince it. This will allow its flavor to infuse into the dressing.
Combine all ingredients in a small jar with a lid. Tighten the lid and shake vigorously for one entire minute.
Let sit for at least an hour. In fact, the longer it sits, the better. It will last in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Toss desired amount with salad greens and serve.


Per tablespoon: 64.8 calories, 7.0 g fat, 1.0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.1 g protein, 1.3 g carbohydrates and 0 g dietary fiber. 

A Simple Arugula Salad with Balsamic Chive Vinaigrette

Arugula

My daughter loves arugula so it was no surprise to find a good portion of her fall garden packed full of it. During our visit she made us a simple and delicious arugula salad dressed with a lovely balsamic vinaigrette with chives, also from her garden. When dressing arugula, she uses a 2 to 1 ratio of extra virgin olive oil to aged balsamic. When dressing a regular salad, she prefers a 1 to 1 ratio.

Arugula is a leafy green, cruciferous vegetable that contains anti-cancer compounds called glucosinolates. These compounds have strong antioxidant properties and also stimulate the body to produce detoxifying enzymes.

Arugula is an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K as well as folate, calcium, manganese, potassium and magnesium. It is also a very good source of iron, phosphorus, and riboflavin.

There are only 5 calories in each cup of arugula so you can enjoy as much as you like. If it is too bitter to eat by itself, mix it with lettuce. But the bitterness in arugula also has beneficial properties as bitter foods can stimulate appetite and increase the flow of digestive juices.

* * *

Balsamic Chive Salad Dressing For Arugula

[makes 6 1/2 tablespoons]

1 tablespoon young chives, snipped or finely sliced

2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix together well and use as needed to dress an arugula salad.

Per tablespoon of dressing: 78.2 calories, 8.3 g fat, 1.2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3.0 g protein, 4.0 g carbohydrates and 2 g of fiber.

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Making Home Made Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing and Bread Dipping Sauce using a Ceramic Garlic Grating Bowl

Garlic grater bowl used to serve bread dipping sauce.

Grate garlic, make salad dressing all in one bowl.

Ceramic garlic grating bowl by Architectural Ceramic Design.



Home Made Salad Dressing
I like making my own salad dressing. It usually has a mere handful of ingredients and I know that it's fresh. Most ready made dressings have a long list of ingredients, many of which don't even sound like food. Let's face it, you've got to put a lot of things in a salad dressing to keep it from separating and to make sure it lasts a long time after opening. It's not uncommon for people to have 4 or 5 opened jars of salad dressing in their refrigerator for months, sometimes years!

A Garlic Grating Bowl, How Clever
I went to a silent auction a few months back with the usual hand-made soaps, bottles of wine, restaurant gift certificates and the like. Among these generously donated items were two small ceramic bowls with little inset edges at the bottom for grating garlic. How clever, I thought. You can grate your garlic or ginger and still have room to add the rest of your salad dressing ingredients! With 200 harvested heads of garlic in my cellar, I often grate a clove or two into my salad dressing. I immediately concluded that I had to have both of these bowls (one for me and one for my daughter Linda who is a salad dressing maker extraordinaire). I quickly put bids on both bowls and, throughout the evening, I kept upping my bids until I proudly went home with both garlic grating bowls.

Bread Dipping Sauce - Oil is a Healthy Alternative to Butter
Instead of fussing with garlic bread, I now grate a clove or two of garlic, mix it with some extra virgin olive oil, a bit of balsamic vinegar and some spices. I serve the dipping sauce in the same ceramic garlic grater bowl I made it in with a hot loaf of bread. One tablespoon of olive oil only has 1.9 g of saturated fat and no cholesterol where butter, bread's usual friend, has 7.3 g of saturated fat and 30.5 mg of cholesterol. Studies have shown that consumption of olive oil, typical in a Mediterranean diet, can lead to improved health and longevity.

If you are interested in buying a ceramic garlic grater bowl, just Google "garlic grater" and you'll find a number of similar bowls. The one which we are very happy with is made by Alan and Donna Podesto from Cloverdale, California. The company name is Architectural Ceramic Design

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Quick Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing [serves 4]
1 clove garlic
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon raw local honey
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Grate garlic in small ceramic grating bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour over salad, toss and serve.

Per serving: 103 calories, 10.5 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 0 g protein, 3.3 g carbohydrates and 0 g fiber.

Bread Dipping Sauce [serves 4]
1 or 2 cloves of garlic (to taste)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
Pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

of Sonoma County, . The garlic grating bowl is $16 and their website shows larger grater bowls for making marinades - also very clever. Grate garlic in small ceramic grating bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve dipping sauce in ceramic bowl with a hot loaf of whole grain, crusty bread.

Per serving: 123.5 calories, 14.3 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 0 g protein, 1 g carbohydrates and 0 g of fiber.