My Meals: 3/9/10 Breakfast

Okay, this morning I had a little extra time for cooking.  I got some great fresh collards from Whole Foods for only 99 cents a bunch.  I enjoy collards properly cooked and they provide great nutritional value, as they richly supply vitamin A activity, lutein (preventive for macular degeneration), calcium (266 mg per cooked cup), magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate. 

The values per cooked cup of collards according to the USDA database:

Nutrients in 1 cup collards, boiled and drained
Nutrient	unit	Amount per 1 cup cooked
Protein	g	4
Carbohydrate	g	4 (net)
Calcium	mg	266
Iron	mg	2.2
Magnesim	mg	38
Potassium	mg	220
Vitamin C	mg	34
Folate	mcg	177
Choline	mg	60
Vitamin A	IU	15417
Lutein	mcg	14619
Vitamin E	mg	1.67
Vitamin K	mcg	836

 
So to prepare them, I first put five slices of Farmland brand uncured bacon in my Crueset pot:

While it cooked I washed the collards (2 bunches), scallions (one bunch), and red pepper.  I strip the fibrous stem out of the collards and use only the leaf because the stem is largely indigestible and gives me gas.

Then I layer the leaves as above, and cut them lengthwise down the middle.  I stack the half-leaves and cut them into bite-size rectangles:

I like my bacon on the soft side, so when it had released much of its fat and was soft-crisp, I removed the bacon from the pot, leaving the fat.  I put in the chopped (2 inch long pieces) scallions in the pot first.  When they had wilted, I added the chopped collards.  I kept stirring the vegetables.  While the collards wilted, I chopped the red pepper, then added it.  I stirred for a few minutes, then put the lid on and let it all cook down for about 5 minutes.

While the vegetables cooked, I put the five slices of bacon, one can of sardines, and two soft-boiled eggs (leftover from yesterday) on my plate.  Then I added the vegetables and sprinkled black pepper on the sardines and eggs:

After I polished that off, I had a large orange and a half-cup of walnuts.  Delicious breakfast.