How to Get the Most From Your Greens

Hello all! Summer if officially here in WI, and our garden is loving it! That also means that it's harvest time for the Spring crops likes spinach, lettuce, and kale. With this being my first year of growing a garden, I wasn't sure how much of everything to plant this Spring. Apparently, I was a little overzealous...and I have a leafy green takeover going down in our refrigerator. Not to mention all those seeds that I planted again a few weeks ago that will be ready for picking in another 2 weeks or so....yikes!

Fresh kale

But, not to worry. With a few simple steps and tools, I managed to save every last leaf without any of it going bad, even the stuff that was picked over a week ago! And this doesn't just go for gardeners either. Maybe there's a good deal at your local super market on spinach or kale, or maybe  you stocked up at the local farmer's market, or an awesome friend or neighbor gave you their overflow. No matter how you acquired this tonnage of greens, we're not going to let any of it go to waste.

First off, the lettuce isn't really going to keep well any other way but fresh storage in the fridge. However, I will say that there's a key to making it last for weeks. Yeah, I said it, WEEKS! First, you're going to want to get yourself a salad spinner. As a Tupperware lady myself, I'm biased, but ours is the best! The other thing you're going to want to get is a good container. Oh look, Tupperware has those too! The FridgeSmart containers for fruits & veggies from Tupperware are nothing but amazing. They have a patented circulation system that keeps produce fresher for much, much longer. Just wash your lettuce, spin it out really well in the spinner, then store it in the fridge in the produce container and you're set with salads for weeks to come. Here's my arsenal for lettuce:

The spinach and kale can be preserved, per say, several different ways.

~First you can store the spinach or kale just like we did with the lettuce. What's even better is this way, it's all washed and ready to eat for a quick salad on the go or to pop in your morning smoothie.

~If you are a smoothie head like me, then you can simply freeze the leaves. They won't be pretty when they come out, but they'll keep this way and if you're just going to blend them to bits anyways, then it doesn't matter what they look like, right?

~The other way is my new personal favorite: kale or spinach cubes! I found these nifty herb cube trays at the store that also work great for this as well. Just add a little water to your leaves and blend together. Then keep adding more leaves until you have a nice green paste. Spoon or pour the green goop into these trays like this:

 

Then, just pop those trays into the freezer over night and they'll form these perfect little green kale cubes:

I just pushed them all out of the trays and put them into a freezer bag for easy storage. Now if I'm in a hurry, don't have fresh greens on hand, or just want my smoothie a little colder, I can just throw in a cube or two! These would also be a great way to sneak veggies into soups, chili, spaghetti sauce etc for picky men or kids.

That's a giant bowl of kale condensed down into a freezer bag of cubes, a major space saver. Kale yeah!