Grandma, I tried cooking mustard greens...

 

 

The photo above is my "Poppa" and Grandma [paternal side]. Salt of the earth, hard-working, proud Kentuckians who moved to Illinois when my daddy was 19. Poppa brought his family 'north' to find work. If not for that, my parents would never have met...but that is not what this post is about.

 

Grandma and Poppa always had a large garden, and that was their primary source of food all year long. They had loads of fresh produce in the summer and early fall, and in the winter they enjoyed what Grandma had canned. Grandma wasn't one to tolerate 'foolishness' in her kitchen, so if I was there my chores to help her were minimal - such as washing potatoes or getting out the bread and butter, setting the table, etc. She was the cook, as was my mother in my home growing up. Of course, Grandma and Poppa always had greens of some type, and I loved to eat them. Poppa showed me how to put vinegar and hot sauce and some butter on them to spice them up. I adored Grandma's greens and always looked forward to them. (She also made one dee-lish lemon meringue pie!!!)

 

Fast forward to yesterday. As stated a few days ago, a change in TM and my eating habits are in order! So, I thought cooking some mustard greens, fresh from the produce section, would be a tasty, healthy treat. Yes, we have eaten them from a can, but I want more fresh produce from now on - processed food is off our radar for now. Well, I sauteed an onion, threw in some red cabbage and low salt chicken broth along with several spices and then the greens. I cooked them for approximately 20 minutes. Apparently that was not long enough... they were still a little bitter. They sure did not taste like my momma's or my Grandma's used to. Next time, I will cook them longer and hopefully have better luck. Of course TM said they were fine; he is too sweet. All I can say is, "Grandma, I tried cooking mustard greens..."

 

Oh, taking trips down memory lane, especially connected with good food, can be cleansing for the soul. Thank you Poppa and Grandma for being the people you were!

 

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