italian beans & collard greens

saturday's are my long runs.  today we ran 12.5 miles and so i definitely wanted to make sure i treated my body to a nutritious dinner.  luckily for me, my cousin keeps a similar blog and posted this recipe that  i thought looked delicious.  i showed the picture to the husband and asked him if i dared and he said "let's give it a try."


it was so good people!


i've never tried collard greens, have you?  i felt proud buying them for the first time, like i was really moving up in the world of nutritious dishes.
here's the craziest part, my kids really liked it.  gavin fed himself and ate every bit.  i was a proud momma tonight (thanks gwen).


so, here you go.   first, check out gwen's site to see how to prepare the collard greens.  she also recommends spicy italian sausage but i went with sweet italian turkey sausage made by jennie-o.  i used three links and sliced them when cooked only because the husband was hogging the computer and i was trying to remember the recipe without having access to it.  this worked out because i was able to convince the kids they were eating sausage just by the look alone and  they love sausage.


the only other thing i would maybe try different next time is to use my already prepared beans. tonight they were still sitting comfortably in the freezer and there was not time to thaw them so we went with canned beans.  i think this added a little to the sodium content but still, it's very healthy.


we don't make homemade bread around here (this needs to change) so i bought a loaf of fresh whole grain bread from the bakery.  it was delish!


italian beans and collard greens
1 bunch collard greens prepared
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 15 oz cans canelinni beans
1 can tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth (low sodium)
3 jenny-o turkey sweet italian sausage links
1 tbsp olive oil

directions:

prepare collard greens.

meanwhile, heat stock pot over med-high heat.

add oil.

cook sausage according to package directions.

remove sausage and throw onions in for 3-4 minutes (slice sausage while onions cook).

remove onions.

add collard greens and coat with oil in pan. stir occasionally while they cook down. about 10 minutes.

add sausage, onions, 

add beans, tomato sauce and broth.  turn heat down to medium-low, cover and cook another 15 minutes stirring occasionally.  (i actually brought everything to a simmer first and then turned the heat down because my chicken broth was cold when i added it).

YUM!

i'll be trying the carrot zucchini muffins in the morning so check back later!

soup nutritional information

1 serving (yields 6); 235 calories, 9.8g fat (1.9g saturated fat), 32mg cholesterol, 919mg sodium, 23.1g carb, 7.2g fiber,  5.4g sugar, 16.8g protein.