Would you call that Hoppin' John or is that a little different? I have a leftover ham bone that I'm wanting to use with black-eyed peas.

Different this is more traditional in Appalachia. Hoppin John includes rice which is not part of heritage nor am I particularly fond of rice. Hoppin John is more traditional in areas where rice was grown. It is also more of a stew which may contain onions, green peppers and sundry other ingredients depending on local tastes. This one is simply what was grown on the farm and available in winter. I do substitute frozen green shellies for the traditional dried peas most years and use smoked jowl for seasoning . a little black pepper and I am ready to go. Ham hock should work fine if you cook it first and the add the peas. I also use smoked hog jowl to season the collards. Tradition from the days when we had hog killing Thanksgiving week.

Forgive my ignorance but are jowls the same as the trendy cheeks I hear about on tv?

Have no idea, I am so old that most of of the current lingo goes over my head. Jowl is the muscular part of a hogs jaw. Lower part of the head. In a human the part of the face that grows whiskers. If you read books written before WW II you will see it in reference to humans, but rarely today. Fortunately our local groceries carry sliced smoked hog jowls as I have not grown hogs in over 60 years.

Someone asked the kind of rutabaga I grow. Truthfully I don't know. I think I grew a Seed Savers variety called Miss Gladys McGee.
Joan is supposed to be good, developed by wild seed farm, I think the guy over there is Jim Morton.
In the past I grew Laurentian rutabaga, which is traditional purple top and yellow flesh. The one in growing this year is white fleshed and yellow colored top not purple. What I love about it is the greens are smooth and mild tasting, a cross between cabbage and kale. So I've really gotten a lot of use of it by cooking the greens and even serving them raw. Plus we can cook the roots, I like them mashed with butter and salt. Root veggies are great way to extend garden to winter.

Judy, that's interesting... I've never thought to eat the tops of rutabagas before! (I think the tradition of cooking "greens" is much more a southern thing, for some reason; that seems kind of strange when I think about it, greens of all kinds are certainly an easy crop for us to grow here in the north.) Must remember that

Hah I'm a born and bred New Yorker. Living in the South. I am a lifelong vegetarian do I eat more greens just by lifestyle. And I don't fry them in pork fat.

farmerdill - thanks for the explanation.
Judy - how do you get enough flavor into greens? Wasn't raised on cooked greens and I would really like to make them more appealing without using meat all of the time. Not a big fan of cooked spinach and need to find a way to cook these lovely greens.

Stir fry with garlic dash of salt and fresh ground pepper. Do not boil or steam. Works for any kind of greens. Another heartier recipe is to make pakora batter with greens and fry.

Anything tastes better fried in batter, of course. I'm with Judy, I stir-fry all sorts of greens in olive oil with whatever - garlic/onion/diced peppers/maybe some celery for a nice flavor. Throw in some cooked brown rice or quinoa and it's a fabulous meal all by itself. Secret is to throw the greens in last so that they are just barely cooked, bright green and almost not wilted even. Yum. Spinach, kale, broccoli leaves, beet greens all are delicious.

In this region, cooked greens tend to look like mush. Maybe why I never cared for spinach. Thanks for the tip on not over-cooking.

" cooked greens tend to look like mush"

That was always pretty much my impression of cooked greens too, Cindy! Then I discovered home-grown and home-cooked spinach, beet greens and chard, and discovered they don't have to be that way. They're quick to cook, as well. Now I just need to branch out into more varieties... I have some baby bok choi seeds coming from the beta swap, so that will be a good place to start, I think.

I like cooking chard by chopping up the stems and leaves separately, start with cooking the stem pieces, then towards the end add the leaves and cook just until they're tender. Salt and pepper, and maybe a dash of balsamic vinegar, is all I've ever added, but I'm sure there's room to branch out there, too...

Sandy - thanks for more green-cooking tips! I do have some small bok choy, kale and Swiss chard growing in my little cold frame. I've added bok choy to stir fries in the past and have added the others to beans and eggs. They've always been added ingredients rather than a separate dish. Now's the time to experiment before spring gardening begins. Do you have a favorite kale variety to grow? I've done mostly a type of blue curled Scotch or similar and it tends to be a little chewy.

Oh.. er.. um.. I keep growing kale and trying to like it, but I agree that it seems pretty chewy and just kind of unpleasant to me.

Amazing chard recipe: boil some pasta, while waiting for it to cook quickly stir fry a clove it two of garlic with 1 T olive oil just til its fragrant 30 seconds or so. Then throw in several large handful of chopped chard with stems and midrib removed. (If you want to be thrifty chop up stalks and mid rib and stir fry that before adding chopped greens). Then quickly add a bit of starchy pasta water if needed, salt and pepper and couple tablespoons of pignoli nuts. At last second as you take it off hear add zest of a lemon and the lemon juice. Have this over pasta with some grated Parmesan. Heavenly!!!

Even the small leaves can be pretty tough and strong-tasting. I put it in a smoothie at least once a week, and otherwise, slice it up thin for salads or mix it with other greens for stir-fry.

The Russian Red and related types seem a little more tender than the super-curly ones to me. They're really pretty, too.

I did harvest two large heads of kale back in the fall. Tore into pieces and flash froze and then into ziplock bags. Since they are kept frozen at 0 degrees, they crumble pretty easily right out of the freezer. Those tiny pieces cook down pretty easily but the bigger pieces - not so much. I do need to get back into the smoothie habit - that would be a good way to eat kale. :)
SC - lemon and garlic on pasta - sounds delicious!
dyzzy - I think I have some seeds for 'Russian Jack' or something similar and will have to try that this year.
Sandy - best Swiss chard in your opinion? I've been growing the rainbow stuff because it's pretty but maybe it's time to move on to something better.

dyzzypyxxy said: Even the small leaves can be pretty tough and strong-tasting. I put it in a smoothie at least once a week, and otherwise, slice it up thin for salads or mix it with other greens for stir-fry.

The Russian Red and related types seem a little more tender than the super-curly ones to me. They're really pretty, too.

Ah -- I think we've discovered part of my problem; I've only grown the curly types because I like the way they look!

Cindy, you keep asking me such difficult questions . I've only grown the rainbow chard too ("Bright Lights") because, again, I like the way it looks...

Judy, your chard recipe sounds great! Until a few posts back I didn't realize you were a vegetarian... now we know who to go to for veggie recipes!

This has been the most fascinating thread.....learning lots from everyone. I am a city girl (born & raised in Chicago). Greens were not something we were familiar with, unless you counted iceburg lettuce LOL. Love hearing how people use greens!

I love and grow bok choy (even indoors hydroponically in the winter) and swiss chard in the garden, but I have to use chard with something. We made chicken/chard enchiladas that were awesome,. but never quite like it well enough on it's own. We love baby spinach, and do use a lot of it in salads and other dishes (love it with sun dried tomatoes in meatloaf). Kale is fine if you make seasoned kale chips, but I know adding the olive oil when baking them negates any health benefits

Linda - sounds like we had "regional" no-greens upbringing. I can relate to your use of spinach! Haven't even tried kale chips - even store-bought - because they're so expensive. And I try not to do much frying here although I do get a craving for fried chicken sometimes. Sometimes I do make a lunch for myself from leftover rice, sauteed greens (not a lot) and an egg. Kind of like fried rice.