One of the things that I learned years ago about eating local grown and raised foods is that there is a lot less waste.  The more effort we put into our food the more we tend to honor it.  For example, if there are leftovers on my kids plate of mac and cheese, breakfast cereal, or the corner of a sandwich I’m less likely to take a bite myself.  But when it’s food that has been grown, harvested, and prepared before my eyes I tend to want to make the most of each bite.

We had friends over for a quiet New Years Dinner and I made mustard greens.  It’s something I’m likely to do when we’ve had bacon for breakfast.  I just leave the skillet on the stove with a bit of bacon fat.  I slice the onions really thinly and caramelize them in the fat.  Then I chop up a mix of mustard greens from the field and cook them down.  A drizzle of the Stuarto’s Fig Balsamic makes them one of my favorite winter dishes.

This is what I fondly calling Mama’s will eat anything. Leftover mustard greens from the kids dinner plates and bits and pieces of bacon and eggs that were left behind from breakfast.