Carrot and Collard Greens Spread

Whew! The worst is over! Yesterday we did the finishing touches to the clean-up of our old apartments. We probably over cleaned both places but it's always good to leave a place better than when you walked into it. What a great relief to have that task out of the way and to finally settle in. If there's anything I hate most, it's cleaning. I don't mind kitchen clean up but house cleaning, hate it!

Also, after forgoing all my favorite activities due to the moving obsession, I'm back to my workout routine again. Yay!

Friday: A nice and easy yoga class for an hour and a half.

Saturday: Ran a mile to DFJ's old apartment to get our bikes then biked back, cleaned 2 apartments for a total of 4 hours plus some furniture moving. Cleaning counts, right? I probably wasted all the hard work after eating cupcakes and crazy awesome chicken tacos at my friend's daughter's birthday party afterwards.

Sunday: Bike ride to the gym, 1 mile run on the treadmill, Body Flow, an hour adventure walk in the woods with DFJ.

This afternoon, I spent a lot of time working on this week's Food Matter's Project, which is Updated Tea Sandwiches, chosen by Aura of Dinner with Aura.

Mark Bittman's Radish-Walnut Tea Sandwiches sounded so intriguing, so I chose to make an inspired version of this tea sandwich. Because there was no arugula in our house, I made use of other greens lying around from my farmer's market finds last Friday and made: Carrot and Collard Green Spread with Carrots and Radish Tea Sandwiches.

This tea sandwich is healthy and filling. It was good but not great and a little on the bland side. Mark Bittman's original recipe, which you can find in Aura’s website, I'm sure is great, so check it out.

Hear me out though! I was initially disappointed, mainly with the spread, but I did not give up and was determined to make it work. The secret was to pair it with a salty ingredient. So if you are interested in my version of this spread, add some deli meat to your sandwich… or you could use it as a spread for grilled cheese or bruschetta.

We had this bruschetta with dinner and it just stole my heart... The paste of bitter greens with hints of orange flavor, and walnuts went so well with the sharp taste of cheddar cheese. Melty cheese on top of good sourdough bread with the Carrot and Collard Green Spread was ultimate bruschetta perfection!  

Carrot and Collard Green Spread with Carrots and Radish Tea Sandwiches

2 small carrots, peeled and shaved

2 radishes, peeled and shaved

 

1 cup carrot greens, roughly chopped
1 cup collard greens, roughly chopped
½ cup walnuts, chopped
zest of 1 orange
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp orange juice, fresh squeezed
¼ tsp salt (or more to taste)
pepper, freshly ground

4 slices of bread (I used whole wheat sandwich bread)

Panela cheese

Using a vegetable peeler, shave carrots and radishes into a bowl.

Place the greens, walnuts, orange zest, and olive oil in a blender or food processor. Turn the machine on and blend until the mixture turns into a thick paste. Add the orange juice and blend some more. Add the salt and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper to your liking.

Spread a generous layer of the green mixture on each of the bread slices. Put cheese slices on one side of the sandwich and shaved carrots and radish on the other. Carefully close the sandwiches and cut in half or quarters.

Bruschetta with Carrot and Collard Green Spread

good sourdough bread, sliced

medium cheddar cheese
carrot and collard green Spread (see recipe above)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place sourdough slices on a baking sheet and top with cheddar cheese slices. Heat in the oven until the cheese begins to melt. Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and spread the carrot and collard green mixture on top. Pop back in the oven to let the spread warm up a bit, 2-3 minutes.

Serve immediately.

DFJ and I enjoyed our simple but lovely summer dinner out in our patio while gazing at our new view.

Moments like these are beautiful!