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Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3 (ZReboot) recipe.

Celebrity Chef Jernard Wells knows soul food. He’s originally from Chattanooga, and celebrates his southern roots. His show “New Soul Kitchen” airs on Cleo TV, and he’s also a contributor on the show “Food Fantasies.”  While a lot of his food is quite decadent, he also loves greens, and shared his wonderful southern greens recipe in a local interview. What’s great about it is it can easily be modified to fit ZReboot. His original recipe calls for 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar and 1/3 cup of sugar (eek), so we’ve made some modifications. By dialing back the vinegar and replacing the sugar with your favorite sugar substitute, you can still enjoy this delicious recipe.

You can even enjoy this in ZReduction – just don’t eat the meat when you eat the greens. Turkey legs and turkey bacon are no-nos on ZReduction, so give the meat to your family. The smoky flavor from the meat makes the greens delicious, so I would still recommend making the recipe as it is written unless you’re vegetarian.

For me, since I don’t like my greens to have a sweetish flavor, I skip the sweetener and nix the apple cider vinegar. It’s still delicious.

If you’re not sure how sweet you like your greens, you can experiment with the sweetener/vinegar ratio that works best for you. Start with 1 tsp each, and work your way up from there.

Servings: Serves…a LOT. You can cut this recipe in half and still have plenty.

Ingredients:

• 5 strips of sliced turkey bacon
• 2 smoked turkey legs, meat pulled off the bone (if you can’t find smoked turkey legs, smoked turkey wings will work, too)
• 2 medium-size sweet onions, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 (32-oz.) containers chicken broth
• 3  (1-lb.) packages fresh collard greens, washed and trimmed
• 3 Tbl granulated garlic powder
• 3 Tbl granulated onion powder
• 1 Tbl ground black pepper
• 2 Tbl sea salt
• 1 Tbl of red pepper flakes
• 2 Tbl of olive oil

If you like your greens to have a Southern vinegar kick (optional)

• 2 Tbl apple cider vinegar (or to taste)
• 2 Tbl sweetener or to taste (like Swerve or monkfruit – unless you’ve cooked with stevia before, I wouldn’t recommend using it in this recipe. Stevia sweeteners can have a metallic taste when heated)

Instructions:

Grab a big pot and set it to medium heat. Once the pan’s hot, add the olive oil to the pan. Add the turkey bacon into the pot and sauté it for four minutes to release flavor. Then add onions, and sauté for four more minutes. Once the onions are translucent, add the smoked turkey legs (or smoked turkey wings) and garlic. Sauté one more minute.

Then add chicken broth, granulated garlic powder, granulated onion powder, ground black pepper, sea salt, and red pepper flakes.

Next add the collard greens. Your house should smell great!

Cook on low with the lid slightly covering the pot.

Collard greens require at least an hour to turn tender, but after an hour, they may still not be tender for everyone. After 2 hours of simmering, they should be nice and soft. Some folks let greens cook all day. The longer they cook, the more mellow (and tasty) they become. Just remember, you’ll get more nutrients out of the greens when they’re on the firmer side.

You can also make greens in a crockpot. Just add all the ingredients to your crock pot, slow cook all day, and enjoy healthy winter comfort food later that evening.

Enjoy!

Cheers,