Green vegetables in everyday meals

Historic, archived document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

\( • Get more of your vitamins and minerals the
green vegetable way.

• Keep on eye open for wild greens known to be
good eating — dandelion, lambsquarters, plantain,
I polce, purslane, wild chicory, dock.

t • Remember the greener the leaf, pod, and stem,
the richer in vitamin A.

^ # You can store vitamin A in your body for
*^ months ahead. When green vegetables are plen-
1 tiful, heap your plate high every day. They'll help
' you build your vitamin A bank for the future.

Issued by
BUREAU OF HUMAN NUTRITION
AND HOME ECONOMICS
Agricultural Research Administration
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D. C.
! January 1946

These recipes were previously published
under the title "Green Vegetables in War-
time Meals." AWI-54.

For sale by Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.
5 cents per copy, $1 per 100 copies

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16 3581)7-1'

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

PANNED VEGETABLES

Panning is a quick and easy, top-of-stove
way to cook many vegetables. It is thrifty of
food values, too, for the v^e table is cooked
and served in its own juices with just enough
fat to season.

Favorites for panning are cabbage, shredded
in narrow strips . . . kale, stripped from
the tough midribs . . . spinach . . . summer
sqvush, cut in small pieces . . . okra, with the
pods sHced crosswise . . , very tender green
beans, sHced thin.

For each quart of the vegetable measured
after being prepared for cooking, allow 2
tablespoons of fat.

Melt the fat in a heavy flat pan, add the
vegetable, and cover to hold in the steam.
Cook the vegetable slowly imtil tender, but
not mushy. Now and then give it a stir to
keep it from sticking to the pan, and when
ready to serve season with salt and pepper.

Drippings from roast meat, fried sausage,
salt pork, or bacon go especially weU as the fat
in panned vegetables. Or, if preferred, fry
some salt pork cut in small pieces, or bacon
sUc^e, use the fat in panning the vegetables,
then add the crisp bits of meat just before
serving.

Vary the flavor of panned vegetables by add-
ing a Httle chopped oi^ou, or leftover bits of
meat when the vegetable is almost tender.

Milk, slightly thickened, is another good
seasoning for some panned vegetables. Sift
flour lightly over the cooked vegetable and mix
well, add milk, and stir until thickened.
Season with salt and pepper.

Wilted Greens

First cousin to panned vegetables is the old-
fashioned way of wilting garden lettuce and
other greens.

To every 2 quarts of the greens, measured
after they are looked over and washed, aUow
one-fourdi cup meat drippings, one-half cup
vinegar, and if desired a small onion chopped.
Cook the onion in the fat until it turns yellow.
Add the vinegar, and when it is heated add the
greens. Cover and cook until wilted. Season
with salt and pepper and serve hot. Or let
cool and serve as a salad.

■ ■ ■ MANY WAYS TO !

5-Minute Cabbage

Heat 3 cups of milk, add 2 quarts of shredded
cabbage, and simmer for about 2 minutes. Mix
3 tablespoons of flour with 3 tablespoons of
melted fat. Add to this blended flour and fat a
little of the hot milk. Stir into the cabbage and
cook for 3 or 4 minutes, stirring aU the while.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve
at once.

Sweet-Sour Green Beans

A little vinegar and sweetened cream or evap-
orated nulk added to cooked green beans gives
that different flavor that your fanuly will enjoy
as a change.

Spinach Loaf

Spinach and kale are especially good in a T«ge-
table loaf. Prepare exactly as for creamed
vegetables, adding a Httle chopped onion for
flavor. Remove the center of a loaf of stale
bread, leaving a shell for the creamed vege-
table. (Use the crumbs in puddings or other
baked dishes.) Fill with the hot vegetable mix-
ture and moisten the sides and top of the loaf.
Bake until hot and crisp, then cut in sHces and
serve.

Peas and Potatoes

Cook 2 cups of peas and 2 cups of diced pota-
toes, new or old, with a Httle chopped onion,
until aU are tender. Add a little fat and season-
ing and serve at once.

Vegetable Omelet

To make an omelet that is "different" add a
cooked green vegetable to the egg mixture be-
fore cooking. Or spread the cooked vegetable
on the top of the omelet after it has set but
before it is roUed onto a hot platter to serve.

Have the vegetable drained and finely
chopped, and use the vegetable juice in place of
milk or water in mixing the omelet.

IRVE AND SEASON ■ ■ ■
Slewed Olcra and Tomatoes

Add about 3 cups each of diced okra and
tomatoes to 3 tablespoons of melted fat in a
saucepan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cover and cook for 10 or 15 minutes at moder-
ate heat. Remove the cover and cook a httle
longer for the liquid to evaporate. Serve piping
hot.

Squash used instead of okra makes another
interesting combination . . . follow the same
recipe as for okra and tomatoe*.

Green Beans, Cabbase, or Squash —
Flavored With Meat

Meat flavors, especially the salted, smoked,
or corned meats, add zest to any green vege-
table. Cover the meat with water and simmer
until almost tender. Use some of this Hquid
for cooking the vegetable — dilute if too salty.
' Simmer gently until the vegetable is tender, but
not broken. Season to taste.

Kale and Rice Ring

Cook 2 quarts of kale, drain if necessary, and
I add one-quarter cup of meat drippings. Make a
ring with 3 cups of hot cooked rice and fill the
center of the ring with the vegetable. Or mix
I the seasoned vegetable and the rice together
j and serve. Hot, fluffy mashed potatoes may be
used for the ring instead of the rice.

Scalloped Asparagus and Spaghetti

IV^ cups spaghetti. 1 cup thin white saace.

2 cups cooked asparagus.

Cook the spaghetti in salted, boiling water
until tender, and drain. Place layers of the
spaghetti and cooked asparagus in a greased
baMng dish. Add 3 or 4 iops of tabasco
sauce to the white sauce, and pour over the
contents of the baking dish. Sprinkle with
fine bread crumbs, and bake until golden brown
in a moderate oven.

Cabbage combines well with spaghetti, too,
in a scalloped dish — or try noodles for a
change. Melt a little cheese in the white
sauce, if you wish, to add more flavor and food
value.

SOUPS AND SALADS

Vegetable Soup Pot

Why not keep a soup pot always handy?
In it put bits of vegetables that would other-
wise go to waste . . . outer leaves of lettuce
. . . vegetable liquor . . . any leftover vege-
tables. If you have a meat bone, add it for
flavor. Cook the soup slowljr. Keep in a cold
place when not actually cooking.

Vegetable Cream Soup

Heat 1 quart of milk in a double boiler.
Blend 2 tablespoons melted fc and 2 table-
spoons flour. Add a Httle hot milk, stir until
smooth, and mix with the milk in the double
boiler. Add 1% teaspoons of salt and 2 cups
finely chopped raw cabbage or spinach. Stir
imtil thickened, cover, and cook about 10
minutes.

Use cooked vegetables, too, in delicious
cream soups. Foflow the same recipe only
cook the milk mixture a few minutes before
adding the vegetable. Heat again and serve.

Salad Suggestions

Green vegetables, uncooked or cooked, make
attractive salads served alone or in company.
Chop or shred vegetables just before serving.

• Shredded cabbage with chopped onion and
peanuts or with chopped or grated raw carrot.

• Cooked green beans and thinly sliced raw or
cooked carrots.

• Raw chopped spinach with diced tomatoes
or hard-cooked egg.

• Cooked peas and chopped onion.

These salad suggestions also make delicious
sandwich fillings. Cut fine and mix with
salad dressing or creamed table fat before
spreading on slices of bread.

Cabbage Slaw — Hot or Cold

Cut cabbage in quarters, wash thoroughly in
cold water. Drain, shred, and set aside in a
cold place until crisp. Pom* hot salad dressing
over the crisp cabbage; stir until well mixed.
Serve hot or cold. ie-38867^

• Get more of your vitamins and minerals the
green vegetable way.

• Keep an eye open for wild greens known to be
good eating — dandelion, lambsquarters, plantain,
poke, purslane, wild chicory, dock.

• Remember the greener the leaf, pod, and stem,
the richer in vitamin A.

• You can store vitamin A in your body for
months ahead. When green vegetables are plen-
tiful, heap your plate high every day. They'll help
you build your vitamin A bank for the future.

Issued by
BUREAU OF HUMAN NUTRITION
AND HOME ECONOMICS
Agricultural Research Administration
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D. C.
January 1946

These recipes were previously published
under the title "Green Vegetables in War-
time Meals," AWI-54.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

For sale by Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.
5 cents per copy, $1 per 100 copies

AIS-43

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16 ^35867-2

Out of garden or grocery, onto the toble^
With only a brief pause in salad bowl or cook*
ing kettle . . .

That's the vitamin- and mineral-saving way
with green vegetables.

FRESH

CRISP

CLEAN

• Use green vegetables fresh — the fresher the
better. Vitamins disappear as vegetables wilt
and wait.

• If you must hold them for a day or so, keep
green vegetables cool, damp, and lightly cov-
ered. Pile loosely to prevent crushing.

• Wash quickly, never soak, and lift from water
to free from sand and grit.

• To crisp up salad greens after washing, wrap
in a clean cloth or put in a covered dish and
let stand for a little while in a cold place.

• Save for the soup kettle leaves and stems too

SOME COOKED

SOME RAW

• Start green vegetables cooking in briskly
boiling, lightly salted w^ater . . . just enough
to prevent sticking to the pan, or with greens,
only what clings to the leaves.

• Cover green vegetables to speed the cooking.
Or use a pressure saucepan to shorten the time
even more.

• Cook green vegetables only until tender,
season simply, serve at once.

• Drain no drop of good pot liquor down the
sink. Use surplus juices in soup, gravy, or a
vegetable cocktail.

• Toss together green vegetable salads just
before you serve; and to make your ration for
fat go further, be a miser with the oil in the
salad dressing.

Servings for Six

Recipes are planned for six servings. For
raw greens, press down firmly in measuring to
give the quantity called for in the recipe.

PLAIN BOILED

Best-known way to cook green vegetables is
to boil, but make it speedy. Cook with a lid
on, in lightly salted water, only until tender.
Use as Httle water as possible. Season with
salt, pepper, and meat drippings or other fat.

For a "different" flavor, add chopped pars-
ley, chives, or herbs just before serving.

Guide to Boiling

Minutes

Asparagus. 15-20

Beans, snap 20-30

Beans, lima 30

Beet greens 10-15

Broccoli [ 15-25

Brussels sprouts 15-20

Cabbage, shredded 5-10

Cabbage, quartered. 10-15

Collards. 20

Dandelion greens 10-20

Kale 10-25

Okra 10-20

Peas 10-20

Spinach 5_io

Summer squash 15

Turnip greens 10-20

CREAMED

Use a white sauce for variety in serving fresh
cooked green vegetables or in reheating left-
overs. To each 2 cups of cooked vegetable, add
1 cup of the sauce.

For a medium- thick white sauce, blend 2
tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of fat.
Add 1 cup of milk. Cook slowly and stir con-
stantly until smooth. Salt to taste. Use the
liquid in which the vegetable has been cooked
in place of part of the milk if you like.

With Bread Crumbs, Pour the creamed
vegetable into a greased baking dish, top with
bread crumbs, bake until Hghtly brown. For
added food value and flavor, melt cheese in the
white sauce or add sliced hard-cooked eggs.

Out of sarden or sroccry, onto the toble^
with only a brief pause in salad bowl or cook-
ing kettle . . .

That's the vitamin- and mineral-savins way
with green vegetables.

FRESH

CRISP

CLEAN

• Use green vegetables fresh — the fresher the
better. Vitamins disappear as vegetables wilt
and wait.

• If you must hold them for a day or so, keep
green vegetables cool, damp, and lightly cov-
ered. Pile loosely to prevent crushing.

• Wash quickly, never soak, and lift from water
to free from sand and grit.

• To crisp up salad greens after washing, wrap
in a clean cloth or put in a covered dish and
let stand for a little while in a cold place.

• Save for the soup kettle leaves and stems too
coarse to use "as is."

SOME COOKED

SOME RAW

• Start green vegetables cooking in briskly
boiling, hghtly salted water . . . just enough
to prevent sticking to the pan, or with greens,
only what clings to the leaves.

• Cover green vegetables to speed the cooking.
Or use a pressure saucepan to shorten the time
even more.

• Cook green vegetables only until tender,
season simply, serve at once.

• Drain no drop of good pot liquor down the
sink. Use surplus juices in soup, gravy, or a
vegetable cocktail.

9 Toss together green vegetable salads just
before you serve; and to make your ration for
fat go further, be a miser ^vith the oil in the
salad dressing.

Servings for Six

Recipes are planned for six servings. For
raw greens, press down firmly in measuring to
give the quantity called for in the recipe.

PLAIN BOILED

Best-known way to cook green vegetables is
to boil, but make it speedy. Cook with a hd
on, in lightly salted water, only until tender.
Use as little water as possible. Season with
salt, pepper, and meat drippings or other fat.

For a "different" flavor, add chopped pars-
ley, chives, or herbs just before serving.

Guide to Boiling

MiniUes

Asparagus. 15-20

Beans, snap 20-50

Beans, lima 30

Beet greens 10-15

Broccoli 15-25

Brussels sprouts 15-20

Cabbage, shredded 5-10

Cabbage, quartered. 10-15

CoUards. 20

Dandelion greens 10-20

Kale 10-25

Okra 10-20

Peas 10-20

Spinach 5-10

Summer squash 15

Turnip greens 10-20

CREAMED

Use a white sauce for variety in serving fresh
cooked green vegetables or in reheating left-
overs. To each 2 cups of cooked vegetable, add
1 cup of the sauce.

For a medium-thick white sauce, blend 2
tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of fat.
Add 1 cup of milk. Cook slowly and stir con-
stantly until smooth. Salt to taste. Use the
hquid in which the vegetable has been cooked
in place of part of the milk if you like.

With Bread Criunbs. Pour the creamed
vegetable into a greased baking dish, top with
bread crumbs, bake until Hghtly brown.^ For
added food value and flavor, melt cheese in the
white sauce or add sliced hard-cooked eggs.