Never Waste Your Veggie Greens Again! How to Make Greens Powder
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I’m going to be honest, greens powder sounds kind of weird, right?
With a seasonal diet, sometimes I can get a little tired of eating all the greens and I feel so BAD wasting all the greens!
Are you like me?
Ever just get some salad and have high hopes of eating it all but then fall short?
AND…The winter season is the season for GREENS!
Lots of GREENS everywhere!!
Even the tops of the roots crops are edible! (So those carrots with the luscious greens on them…you don’t have to throw those greens in the compost…you can eat them!!)
I know it can be hard to get through eating all the greens…there’s just only so many ways to eat a salad…so I want to show you one of my favorite ways to utilize ALL of the greens and have no waste left!!!
I like to make GREENS POWDER.
What is Greens Powder??
Greens powder is when you dehydrate all the greens…I’m talking ALL THE GREENS…that’s salad mix, lettuce, radish tops, turnip tops, bok choy, broccoli greens, mustard greens, ALL OF THE GREENS! Then blend them into a powder. It is super packed with all sorts of minerals and vitamins from all the greens you put in it.
And it will last you for the whole year…until next year when you’re ready for a switch from greens again.
This is awesome because you can have some greens in the summertime when you may be feeling like “too much cantaloupe is too much cantaloupe!” (There’s never too much cantaloupe!)
5 Ways to use the Greens Powder:
- Add to soup for a nice leafy flavor…plus it’s immune-boosting so a great addition to your soups to keep you well during the winter! This One Pot Swiss Chard Soup is amazing topped with the greens powder!!
- Add to smoothies for a huge nutrient boost! This is great for kids! I like to hide veggies in smoothies. My kids are always asking me “why is the chocolate smoothie green Mom!?”
- Sprinkle on pasta dishes to make them look like fancy, restaurant-style plates.
- Topping for baked potatoes…one of my favorite toppings for baked potatoes is broccoli…so naturally, the greens powder is going to taste delicious!
- Add to spaghetti sauce…another way to hide it from the kids!
**And a bonus extra way of using it, in the summer time you can sprinkle it over your cantaloupe!**
You can use this in just about any dish!!
Set it next to your salt and pepper shaker so you can sprinkle it all over your food!
AND…it’s a really simple, easy thing to make.
Here is What You Need to Get Started:
I’m going to be using the OXO salad spinner, the Ninja Foodi 9 in 1 Pressure Cooker...I call it Instant Pot on Steroids…and a Vitamix Blender. You can get all of these gadgets super easy on Amazon!
*You can use your oven to dehydrate them if you don’t have the Ninja Foodi at the lowest temperature you can get it and keep the oven cracked open with a spoon. Just layer them on a cookie sheet. It’s ok if they are not in a single layer.*
**If you don’t have a high speed blender like Vitamix (I HIGHLY recommend Vitamix. It is my most favorite kitchen gadget) you can use a regular blender or a pestle and mortar and grind the dehydrated greens up the best you can but it may not be as powdery but will still be ok.**
Let’s get started!!
Take ALL of your greens…don’t be selective! You can use ALL of them. Or if you want to play around with flavors, you can dehydrate them separately and have separate mixes.
I’ll be using our turnip tops, carrot tops, salad mix, and radish tops.
Make sure to wash them! You don’t want dehydrated bugs!!
Then spin them dry in the OXO salad spinner. This is a really important step!
If you’re like me with no patience for anything, you will want to spin the greens!! Leaving all that water on them from washing will take a lot longer to dehydrate. Another option, if you don’t have an Oxo Salad Spinner, you can dry them with a towel but just note it will still take longer to dehydrate than spinning them.
Add ALL the greens to the pot of the Ninja Foodi. It’s ok if they’re not in a single layer. As you can see in my picture, I just dumped them in there!
Set it on dehydration at 135 degrees for 4 hours.
At 2 hours open it up and toss the greens to get an even air flow. (They are going to already be super crisp…it’s impressive!)
Once your 4 hours is completed, take out the greens and add them to your Vitamix.
Blend on high for 20-30 seconds…until all the greens are powdered…you may need the Vitamix tamper to push them down into the blade.
You can then store the powder in a glass jar or a shaker jar (to be able to just shake it when you need it!) for up to one year!
Don’t let your greens go to waste again!!!
I LOVE hearing your success stories with our recipes…comment below and let me know how you like this one!! Feel free to share it with your friends on your social channels!!
