Salad Topping or Soup Base or Bouillon

Greens. They are something that is not really part of our diet except as salads. Many people aren't aware of the variety of greens that can be eaten as salad. Or cooked. I can't tell you about cooking greens. I haven't done it, although it is on the list for experimenting. I can tell you that using a variety of lettuces, corn salad, kale, beet greens, spinach, and pretty much any other greens makes for a good salad that I rarely use salad dressing on. And my son never uses salad dressing.

But on the flip side is when we don't get around to eating all of them fresh. And some lettuces go bad faster than others. So I tried an experiment with the dehydrator. Any basic leftover greens are sliced up and dried. It turns out that dried greens provide tasty salad crumbles. That was a surprise but it works.  Even simple boring iceberg lettuce has flavor when it's dried.  But my current mix has lettuce of multiple types, kale, beet greens, and cucumbers.  (And poor iceberg lettuce is not in that mix.)

For cucumbers, I dice them in 1/4" or smaller cubes. For greens of any type I use these herb scissors. (https://amzn.to/2P8oV4A) If you try to dry whole leaf it can take days. When shredded with the scissors, they are typically done in 12 hours or less.  From there, I just add them to the gallon jug I keep the mix in.

This can be done with pretty much any vegetables you have left in your kitchen that need to be used. But I use only greens for this one mix. Lately I've also been adding a handful of the greens mix to roasts, stews, etc. They actually rehydrate surprising well for that purpose. And they add an amazing deep level of flavor. And nutrients. If you are used to the scent of onions making you hungry for a meal, the scent of greens on top of that adds a whole new depth to that craving.

And sometime in the next few months, I'll be experiment with making my own loose bouillon. I think the greens mix will be a part of that as well, except that I'll probably powder them for that mix.