On My Love Affair With Collard Greens

I'm so glad that I (finally) grew into my southern roots regarding my thoughts on collard greens. I love them. I mean, I really love them. I grew up hating them. Really hating them. I remember referring to them as poison on more than one occasion. I always hated New Years Day when I was a child because my mom would stink up the house by cooking her blasted collard greens.

I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I finally grew up. Maybe I never really even tried them when I was a kid, but was simply disgusted by their smell (which I still don't care for, by the way!). Anyway, back in January, my mom invited us over for Sunday lunch after church. She served collards. Among other things, of course. I wrinkled my nose when I came into the house and muttered to myself, "Great. Collards. I'm so hungry and she made collards. EW!"

Chris and I were fasting. Maybe our hunger had something to do with this! But anyway, I held my breath and tasted the small serving of collards my mother had placed on my plate. And...I fell in love with collard greens. To my surprise, they didn't taste like poison after all. They were delicious. I think I ate three giant helpings that day, and I took some leftovers home. I asked my mom how I could make them myself. She had a big laugh at my expense when I wondered where I had to go to pick them. I had no idea you could by them at Kroger! I've made them several times since then and my family loves them too! Even Jordan. They're so good. We can eat on one batch for several days, which eliminates me having to cook the next night. They're also good for you! And they're extremely low calorie!

I'm not sure why I felt compelled to write a post about collard greens. Maybe because I just had some for lunch (leftovers from Tuesday night's supper!). My nieces are visiting today, and one of them wouldn't touch her collards. Instead of insisting that she try them, I just laughed and gave her more chicken. She'll realize the truth one of these days. And in the meantime, it just means that there are more collards for me!