I recently made a big pot of collard greens. I don’t make them the traditional Southern way (ham hock and lots of grease) but I think they are great. Maybe not quite as good as the greasy kind but really good. Lauren holds her nose every time I pull these out of the fridge. Dave won’t go near these. Carmen was my vegetable eater so if she could still eat, I bet she would like these! 
I’m as southern as cornbread and collard greens! What are you?
Collard Greens (NOTE: You could easily half this recipe as this makes a lot.)
2 lbs. collard greens, chopped and woody pieces removed
4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1-2T. olive oil
4T. white wine vinegar
2 t. sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Boil chicken broth, water, olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Add collards and sugar. Boil 30 minutes. Add more vinegar and sugar to taste. (The sugar is to cut the bitterness of the collards, not to make them sweet. So only add extra sugar to make them less bitter.)
Right there with you Lana… Enjoy some for me!
18 years in NY = Fast-paced, impatient, and brutally honest.
7 years in Texas = Slow-paced, still impatient, and more considerate.
I guess that makes me New Texan-ish: a very fast-but-slow-paced, impatient, and fairly considerate person.
Wow, Lana, those look good! And I like the recipe.
I guess I’m as Texan as anyone since I’ve never lived anywhere else. Of course deep east Texas on the Sabine River and miles from the nearest town (25 miles to Center which has population of maybe 5,000) is even slower-paced than most of Texas and that’s where I grew up. In addition to collards and corn bread we also ate poke salad, greens that grew wild and Mother served them like a salad with hot bacon grease poured over them.
We became much more civilized when we got a phone system (with 4 homes to each party-line) in our town in the mid 60s.
Hi Lana, I forgot to ask you, do you use a cast iron skillet soaked in bacon fat for you cornbread? That is the only truely southern way to do it ya know!
) Just a little tid bit for you today. God bless. In Christ, Joe
Yes to the cast iron skillet (cornbread isn’t cornbread unless made in a cast iron skillet!). No to the bacon fat. I put a little butter in the skillet and melt it on the stove top. I add the cornbread mix and let it bubble up for a minute or so. Then, I put it in the oven. Yes, there is a science to the art of cornbread making!
Oh and no sweet cornbread for me. I like the salty, dry cornbread from the South!
I obviously have no Southern inclination since I absolutely ONLY like sweet cornbread – esp. with a not-too-spicy chili!!
What am I? (your focus question for this blog) I am a mother, grandmother, New York State resident (NOT from “the city” or Long Island!!!), educator, and country girl who could easily miss the suburbs if I think about it for long. Forty years of upstate life, I think, makes me a little bit country!