Lettuce (5)

Greens deserve a lot more credit in our dietary lineup than they often receive. Not only do they go swimmingly with many summer meals, but they are some the most nutrition-savvy add-ons we can join into our munching minutes.

With a European origin, Swiss Chard is in the family of beets. Red, green, and the delightfully-hued rainbow Swiss chard are similar to spinach in that they are tucked with phytonutrients—these help to prevent sickness and keep your body functioning healthily.

Mustard greens boast of vitamins A and K and carotenes and are known as the leafy vegetable carrying quite a bite of peppery flavor per chewing round. Coming in both flat and curly leaf growing styles, Asian varieties of mustards like Mizuna are milder and not quite as spicy in their palate persuasion.

With bluish green color tones in several varieties of cabbage-like sections, collard greens bring with them useful amounts of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber that assists in controlling LDL cholesterol. Collards are also well equipped in vitamin C, which means this veggie is in quite the nutritional competition with the iconic orange.

Kale, which manages to become sweeter as the cold weather approaches, is becoming increasingly popular in the oven realm. Bake cuts of well-washed kale doused in olive oil and pink salt or sea salt. Set the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and be sure to place the pre-chips on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until edges begin to brown, but be careful not to let the little crisps burn.

Another way to enjoy greens is by tossing frozen versions of spinach or kale into fruit smoothies when mixing up healthy medleys in the blender. Chopped greens you pick up from Wolff’s Apple House can be added to stir-fry as a great addition for both flavor variety and to boost more benefit to your immune system.

Try chopping and stirring spinach, kale, collards and bok choy into soups and hearty summer stews, too.

Steamed greens that are often large and flat, like collards, make for a wonderful opportunity for use as a wrap, pre-made by nature so you can steer a bit clearer of processed foods. Or throw onions and garlic into a skillet, sautéing them in a bit of olive oil, adding in greens of your choice until the blend is tender. Let the nommm factor play out well with you and greens.